Is International Virgin Reward availability now worse that QANTAS?

[gwilli1]

[FONT=San Francisco, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif]Here are some returns
[/FONT]
[FONT=San Francisco, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif]to SYD VA2 - 29th July 3rdAug 5th Aug [/FONT]
to MEL VA24 - 18th July
to BNE VA8 - 23rd July 29th July (VA6) 3rd Aug 5th Aug(VA6) 7th Aug

 

[Buzzard]

Nice data point gwilli1

 

[dimaz.pramudya]

What's happening with J award seats on MEL-HKG? Couple months ago I can see heaps of them, but I can't see any of them now..

 

[Demon_fan]

What's happening with J award seats on MEL-HKG? Couple months ago I can see heaps of them, but I can't see any of them now..

I'd also like to know the answer to this.

 

[gwilli1]

What's happening with J award seats on MEL-HKG? Couple months ago I can see heaps of them, but I can't see any of them now..

At the moment via the call centre, im led to believe. You can also check EF to see if they are available before calling.

 

[pauly7]

I'd also like to know the answer to this.

What's happening with J award seats on MEL-HKG? Couple months ago I can see heaps of them, but I can't see any of them now..

I THINK there may be something wrong with the website (again).... have you tried calling?

 

[dimaz.pramudya]

I found a few award seats opened on 5/6 June. But there's only one award seats per day available. ExpertFlyer does help.

 

[MiLK_MaN]

I've been out of the travel game for a while, but have over 300K VA points that I'm saving up for a US trip in Jan 2019. Should have about 400K by then if I'm lucky.

Will be a family of 4 (2A 2C - 12 and 10 at the time). VA is still 330 days at release point for awards right? To get something around NYE or just before, do I have to be stalking the site at T-330 to grab 4 x Y tickets return to say LAX or SFO before they are snapped up?

 

[Denali]

I've been out of the travel game for a while, but have over 300K VA points that I'm saving up for a US trip in Jan 2019. Should have about 400K by then if I'm lucky.

Will be a family of 4 (2A 2C - 12 and 10 at the time). VA is still 330 days at release point for awards right? To get something around NYE or just before, do I have to be stalking the site at T-330 to grab 4 x Y tickets return to say LAX or SFO before they are snapped up?

Will you be WP 6 months or more out?

Guaranteed Economy Reward Seats for an Annual Family Trip
[FONT=&amp]As a Gold or Platinum member, you can use your Points for a family trip for four each year. If you can’t find the Economy Reward Seats you want at least 6 months before your travel date, we guarantee to find them for you. That means you’re guaranteed your annual family holiday at Economy Reward Seat pricing every year.[/FONT][FONT=&amp]Gold members can redeem Points to any Australian destination, while Platinum members can redeem Points to hundreds of destinations worldwide*.[/FONT]

 

[MiLK_MaN]

Will you be WP 6 months or more out?

Probably only Silver unfortunately, just don't travel that often anymore. About 300 SC shy of Gold, and unless I do a status run, not likely to obtain it.

 

[gwilli1]

Anyone for last minute Biz awards seats to LAX in August ???

ex SYD VA1 - 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 21st, 22nd
ex SYD DL40 - 1st , 2nd, 11th
ex MEL VA23 - 1st , 3rd, 28th
ex BNE VA7 - 1st, 4th, 8th, 26th

 

[gwilli1]

Here are some VA Biz returns from LAX for August

to SYD VA2 - 12th, 16th, 29th
to MEL VA24 - 4th, 5th
to BNE VA6 - 19th, 26th

 

[gwilli1]

Anyone for VA Biz awards seats to HKG for Aug, Sept & Oct ...this is what I have found.

ex MEL VA87 - 2nd Aug
ex MEL VA89 - 5th Aug, 29th Aug, 12th Sep , 24th Oct, 26th Oct

 

[tirtytree]

Do you have to have status to book a rewards flight? I am looking at sydney to dublin. I can pick an any seat business but I cant pick a business saver. Its greyed out. any help would be appreciated

 

[ap_member]

This will occur if you don't have enough points for the booking.

 

[liamsal]

Lots of reward availability MEL - LAX in J in May 2018 for 2 pax if anyone's interested. Actually had the choice of several different days/connection times which was nice for a change

 

[serfty]

Lots of reward availability MEL - LAX in J in May 2018 for 2 pax if anyone's interested. ...

Yep, noticed today ... it's a 9 month reboot that I have seen before.

 

[smil3087]

Hi all, I've noticed a lot of problems gaining points upgrades (Premium to Business) lately, on the SYD-LAX or BNE-LAX sector. As in, I can never find them and my 'waitlist' never comes through. I use SkyScanner and others to be alerted to award seats if/when they become available, but still nothing.

Last trip, I bit the bullet and paid for the upgrade at the gate. But on board there seemed be a lot of regular, non-business travellers.

Question: is upgrade availability truly non-existent, in which case all the non-business people are forking out $$$ for a business class seat, or is there some other trick to getting points upgrades that I'm not aware of?

Thanks!!

 

[anat0l]

Hi all, I've noticed a lot of problems gaining points upgrades (Premium to Business) lately, on the SYD-LAX or BNE-LAX sector. As in, I can never find them and my 'waitlist' never comes through. I use SkyScanner and others to be alerted to award seats if/when they become available, but still nothing.

Last trip, I bit the bullet and paid for the upgrade at the gate. But on board there seemed be a lot of regular, non-business travellers.

Question: is upgrade availability truly non-existent, in which case all the non-business people are forking out $$$ for a business class seat, or is there some other trick to getting points upgrades that I'm not aware of?

Thanks!!

When you say "there seemed to be a lot of regular, non-business travellers", what do you mean?

Do you mean they aren't regular travellers, or Platinums, or the kind of people who don't look like they travel Business Class? Or do you think they were mistakenly selected for a points upgrade rather than you?

All I can think of is that those people which you might be suspecting may well be just "regular" travellers who may have stumped up the cash. Who knows, maybe some of them also did the bidding thing. Some of them may also be award tickets (don't forget that Delta can also book VA tickets)... be it they may be the luckier ones (or maybe they have an agent who has been holding out to grab any availability as soon as it comes up).

Assuming you are a Platinum, you have the benefit of confirming your upgrade before the flight. I suppose if you really fly with VA a lot, why don't you try asking the agents to see if they can force an upgrade seat to open if they can't see any?

 

[smil3087]

When you say "there seemed to be a lot of regular, non-business travellers", what do you mean?

Of the 4 passengers I spoke to in the bar, one was a corporate traveller ("work books my tickets, I would never pay for this myself" were his words), the other three "just used points" to get their seats.

My point is, there once seemed to be a lot of availability of reward seats and reward upgrades, and the immediate confirmation of upgrade was the most attractive part of flying with VA. These days, I can never find a reward or upgrade, even as a Platinum, no matter how many times I check back or monitor with Expert Flyer etc. Booking through Delta is a good tip that I might try next time.

Wondering if others have the same experience. If VA has lost this former advantage, then I may as well go back to Qantas!