Is International Virgin Reward availability now worse that QANTAS?

[hummel]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

Have got 30K MR, (Another 110K soon if I manage to get the explorer signup bonus today/tomorrow)

CX flights were booked on QF, so whatever their cancellation policy is (5K points?)

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If I was in your situation I would just wait and see. Perhaps you could look SQ SFO-SIN-PER. No point throwing it away just yet, plenty of time for glitches on VA IT system!

 

[deva22]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

Yeah, I'm not ready to throw it in, I *really* want to do this trip.

The SFO > SIN > BNE availability is poor, but haven't tried other AUS destinations yet
Travelling with a 16 month old, so minimising stops will be crucial to everyone's wellbeing.

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If I was in your situation I would just wait and see. Perhaps you could look SQ SFO-SIN-PER. No point throwing it away just yet, plenty of time for glitches on VA IT system!

 

[hummel]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

Yeah, I'm not ready to throw it in, I *really* want to do this trip.

The SFO > SIN > BNE availability is poor, but haven't tried other AUS destinations yet
Travelling with a 16 month old, so minimising stops will be crucial to everyone's wellbeing.

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Not sure why I was thinking PER You'll be out of luck anything on AirNZ trans-pac too. Maybe Fiji airways using QF points? I'm not super familiar with the route/booking but others are.

 

[deva22]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

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Not sure why I was thinking PER You'll be out of luck anything on AirNZ trans-pac too. Maybe Fiji airways using QF points? I'm not super familiar with the route/booking but others are.

No more QF points to burn unfortunately Otherwise I'd just take CX or QF home (LAX > BNE or ORD/JFK/EWR > HKG > BNE)
I've seen some SFO > SIN > BNE availability pop up around my dates, but then disappear. And I don't enough to book them yet (waiting on AMEX MR)

 

[deva22]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

I get what you're saying, however, if the award seats are only to fill up vacant slots, how come they make them available so far in advance?
If that truly was their only purpose, wouldn't it make sense to release them much closer to the travel date?

CJEMNMAC is right on the money.

In addition to the comments, it's important to note that award seats are NOT to reward you for being a loyal, or valuable customer.

They are there purely as a mechanism to drive revenue to the loyalty program and airline.
The loyalty program (Velocity, in this case) wants you to take out more credit cards.
The airline (Virgin Australia, in this case) is allowing the purchase of seats using Velocity Points in place of cash, to fill the planes.

As such, the airline will release award seats when the flight is under-sold, or the chances of selling a seat for cash are lower than usual.
There is no requirement, nor incentive for award seats to be released at set time-frames.

 

[CJEMNMAC]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

deva22

what are the rough return dates if you don't mind advising ?

 

[deva22]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

*hoping* to return super early Jan. Like 2/3/4/5 Jan 2018.

My hopes are currently resting on 2x J award on HA with Velocity points. But I have to call every day.
I can see availability on hawaiian miles, but obviously no idea when this availability goes over to velocity.

deva22

what are the rough return dates if you don't mind advising ?

 

[serfty]

Re: Reward flight BNE > LAX > BNE - Xmas time in J

...
If that truly was their only purpose, wouldn't it make sense to release them much closer to the travel date?

If the only source of reward points was from flying (as it was in the beginning) it does make sense (as was the case).

These days these points/miles have become profit streams with competition. they can be garnered though credit card spend, insurance affiliations and many other sources.

"Customers" expect some availability and some certainty well in advance/ So airlines feel the need to make some availability other than late unsold seats. It's a fine line the "Yield Management Guru's" tread.

 

[Charleston]

Business Reward LAX => AU Any

Hi all,

I'm hunting after a flight from LAX to Australia (will be going to Perth, happy to transfer to domestic economy anywhere) for January 2018.

I've been keeping at eye out daily, and the only options I've seen are Singapore Airlines, but it's a considerably longer flight.

Does anyone know what the availability is like on these? and when they seem to be released? Do these flights even exist?

Thanks!

 

[CJEMNMAC]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

Hi all,

I'm hunting after a flight from LAX to Australia (will be going to Perth, happy to transfer to domestic economy anywhere) for January 2018.

I've been keeping at eye out daily, and the only options I've seen are Singapore Airlines, but it's a considerably longer flight.

Does anyone know what the availability is like on these? and when they seem to be released? Do these flights even exist?

Thanks!

Hi Charleston

You might find these 2 threads interesting to read as your question is quite a common one. There is no easy answer except I can suggest regularly checking back and checking each port of entry


http://www.australianfrequentflyer....velocity/reward-flight-bne-lax-bne-80991.html

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ness-class-rewards-return-brisbane-81154.html

 

[serfty]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

They don't appear so much at 330 days, try 314,300,285.

Look for one-way single sectors first LAX-BNE, LAX-MEL & LAX-SYD; then if found look for appropriate connections.

Other than that keep looking.

 

[Charleston]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

They don't appear so much at 330 days, try 314,300,285.

Thanks!

I'll keep an eye out, especially at those intervals.

 

[deva22]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Basically I'm just checking several times a day, every day.

 

[CPMaverick]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

Honestly if you are going to PER, a Singapore award with one stop in SIN isn't a bad option.

 

[Buzzard]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

A Singapore Airlines considerably longer flight seems like the way to go for me.

 

[CPMaverick]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

It is considerably longer because of the connection times?

Mileage is 11190 LAX-SIN-PER, and 9529 LAX-SYD-PER. That's only 17% longer. I doubt the flying time is more than 3 hours longer. Considering how much easier it is to transfer in SIN instead of SYD, I reckon I'd prefer connecting through SIN. But I'm sure there are fewer flight time options SIN-PER than there are SYD-PER and vice versa.

 

[Mattg]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

You could always call KrisFlyer and check to see if there is trans-Pacific availability on United (LAX-MEL or LAX-SYD)? If so, you can transfer some Velocity points to KrisFlyer and book on United. Admittedly it would be a little more expensive, and perhaps not as nice a product, but worth considering if there are no award seats on VA at all.

It is considerably longer because of the connection times?

Mileage is 11190 LAX-SIN-PER, and 9529 LAX-SYD-PER. That's only 17% longer. I doubt the flying time is more than 3 hours longer. Considering how much easier it is to transfer in SIN instead of SYD, I reckon I'd prefer connecting through SIN. But I'm sure there are fewer flight time options SIN-PER than there are SYD-PER and vice versa.

Don't SQ's SIN-LAX flights go via Tokyo or Seoul?

 

[Guvner]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

wrong thread.

 

[Guvner]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

You could always call KrisFlyer and check to see if there is trans-Pacific availability on United (LAX-MEL or LAX-SYD)? If so, you can transfer some Velocity points to KrisFlyer and book on United. Admittedly it would be a little more expensive, and perhaps not as nice a product, but worth considering if there are no award seats on VA at all.



Don't SQ's SIN-LAX flights go via Tokyo or Seoul?

Seoul. It's a pain too.

 

[CPMaverick]

Re: Business Reward LAX => AU Any

I stand corrected. I'm kind of shocked they don't service LAX directly. Sounds like they plan to in 2018, but probably not by January.