Help Deciphering how to use my VFF Points for an Award Flight

[oz_ally]

I was going to post in the Help thread but I don't have enough privileges to post there yet So... next May I want to go to Hawaii and I'd ideally like to use my VFF points to snag a unicorn Business Award return if possible. I watched Matt's webinar on how to use the various websites to look for award flights etc. I test drove a couple but not all of them have the results for VA codeshare flights that I can use my points on. I only have VFF points (and a measly few QFF that won't get me anywhere) so no Krisflyers or AMEX etc. I signed up for the 7 day Pro Expert Flyer acount and put in SYD - HNL with Hawaiian Air like Matt suggested was the best route during the webinar (even though BNE is my closest international). I'm getting some results but I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I tried google to get answers but it's not getting any clearer.

Even when I put in SYD - HNL I got 1 result BNE - AKL - HNL which had award seats (I think I'm reading it correctly) The thing that is confusing me is that I am unsure of the difference between the awards - I THINK I know. There's Flex Award/Upgrade (P) and Saver Upgrade (A) . Does that mean (P) - I have to buy a Flex ticket and then can upgrade to Business with points? Is it a given that I can do that? Or do I have to wait until there's an offer?? What's the Saver one? I've only ever done one upgrade before and that was Bid for an Upgrade (pfft waste of money) oh and used my Plat upgrade ticket thingos when we could use them with choice fares. So I've no experience with this stuff. There's also another Upgrade letter - Saver & Partner Awards (D) so far I haven't seen one available - is that the one I should be looking for - probably is - isn't it No wonder I can't find any.

I'll attach a couple of screenshots of some flights I was looking at to gauge availability. If I have to fly BNE - SYD and then on to HNL I don't care about the domestic leg(s) not being Business - I'm really only interested in the International. I also looked at ANA - I honestly don't care flying to HNL via Tokyo - there was one flight with almost 24 hours stopover in Tokyo - cool - YOLO - plenty of time for a Japanese Cat cafe But Expert Flyer had no Award Availability dammit (as of the time I looked today). Also my cat lady friend is coming with me so I hope to get two Award seats Thank you for any help.

 

[deangelj]

not sure if I'm reading it correctly either but does the "First..." in the description mean these are First Class seat lookups?

Had a quick look on seats.aero and couldn't find any J reward seats around that time except for Jetstar on 8/2/24

 

[MG1]

I was going to post in the Help thread but I don't have enough privileges to post there yet

What privleges are required to post in the Help thread?

 

[oz_ally]

not sure if I'm reading it correctly either but does the "First..." in the description mean these are First Class seat lookups?

Had a quick look on seats.aero and couldn't find any J reward seats around that time except for Jetstar on 8/2/24

Thank you for that. I think Hawaiian calls their Business "First"?? I only have Velocity Points to burn on flights. I do have around 30,000 Qantas FF from everyday rewards but that's not gooing to get me far even on Jetstar . But I fly VA and have almost enough VFF points for a business reward flight (according to the Velocity app) it's just a matter of finding one. I can find economy rewards/awards.

I've not booked a reward business before except using my platinum upgrades when we could use them with choice fares so all this is new to me. Would it be best to:

(1) Pay for an economy flight first and keep looking (and hoping) that a reward J seat becomes available and upgrade with points

(2) use my current points to book an award/reward or whatever they're called return and if a J reward becomes available can I still use more points to upgrade?

(3) just keep waiting and checking on the chance a J reward becomes available and push my luck. My 7 day pro of Expert Flyer has finished but it confused the heck out of me so I just needed help deciphering first before paying for it. I did look at some of the other ones I learned about in the webinar but as I only have VFF Expert Flyer seemed to be the only one that had the airlines that I could use my points with.

What privleges are required to post in the Help thread?

I have no idea!! I went to post in there and a message popped up saying I didn't have the privileges to post in that forum. I thought but DYKWIA I'm a WP on VA and left with my tail between my legs and thought I'd come post here instead

 

[odysseus]

Each airline has its own program and codes. As you're searching under Hawaiian air, these are their codes, related to their program.

I'm not familiar with their HA program but did some searching to work things (I believe) out. Many FF programs have peak/off-peak or saver/flex pricing i.e. the traditional awards like you get with Velocity are classed as Saver in HA's program. However, they also allow you to pay more (typically double) for "flex" awards, which have better availability (velocity does this by offering points to substitute for cash cost, but it isn't the same thing). Also, airlines typically only offer the base (e.g. Saver) level to partners; though that may also vary/isn't exact.

Basically the info shown here doesn't apply to Velocity awards/redemptions but HA.

Hawaiian:
D = Their own Saver award/also likely bookable via Velocity
P = Their own higher cost Flex Award (and upgradable as well on Hawaiian bookings) - not available to Velocity
A = Their own Saver upgrade awards (for upgrades) - not available to Velocity.

Short answer:

1) You'd need to see D availability to redeem an award on Velocity.
2) You can't buy an economy fare and upgrade via Velocity. You'd need to book direct with Hawaiiian, have an HA FF membership, and enough points in their program to avail an upgrade with them.

 

[serfty]

Help thread but I don't have enough privileges to post there yet

Seems strange. What thread was that?

 

[MG1]

Seems strange. What thread was that?

It's the penultimate option available in the first group on the main page (AFF Connections & Resources). When I click on AFF Help Desk, I see this message at the bottom:
"You have insufficient privileges to post threads here."?
(I tried to add it as images but without luck.)