Long haul redemptions - what the?

[rtyuiop]

Hi folks,

I'm investigating a 2013 BNE to Europe J reward, and trying to figure out the points required. The redemption engine shows pretty good availability to some cities (certainly more than QF long haul J rewards!), but the points are inconsistent - for instance, Brisbane to Frankfurt on EY shows as 141800 + $94, where Frankfurt to Brisbane is 106700 + $145... The points tables suggest distance is the determining factor for point costs, but that doesn't seem to match what the website is saying.

Do VA rewards bookings come in different fare buckets or something? Or is the web site just massively broken as per usual? I note the calendar view of points/seats available doesn't reflect anything remotely like what individual days show when you click into them...

Danny

 

[pangwen]

I believe if you click through (and have enough points), the points plus pay "slider" will allow you to modify the points component down to what the points table requires. The additional charge on top may vary though, and I'm not sure why that would be (potentially caused by taxes on a different routing? i.e. one way is via SYD, AUH and the other one is via SIN, AUH?)

 

[rtyuiop]

Routing's the same both ways - AUH and SIN (although the SIN stopover is a stop as part of a flight). Wish VA would buy a few more 777s and get some more flights to LAX and AUH going out of Brisbane...

Even pushing the points + pay slider all the way to the points side shows 125000 + $258.62 for a one way Brisbane to Frankfurt leg (more expensive)... But then if I try to do a one way Frankfurt to Brisbane it only goes down to 125000 + 73.92. Weird! It seems like the points you see while searching don't actually have anything to do with what it eventually wants to charge you.

This also shows yet more website idiocy - I can't get to the slider for a return trip, because I don't have enough points for the initial (high) points cost, and therefore can't access the slider! Infuriating!

I can understand the taxes varying a bit, as arrivals/departures from various stops are often taxed differently. It's the points difference I don't understand.