Many Velocity Partner Redemptions Becoming Unattainable

[odysseus]

They were unattainable for those dates that I looked. If you want to go for other dates, you might find something you could use. I was trying (unsuccessfully in your eyes) to point out the stupidity of quoting 1M+ points redemptions.

So if the point was actually that they have 'points plus pay' redemptions that cost 1m+ for international business class flights (despite the misleading title), this was something that's been around with Qantas for much longer.

And yes, it's not good value - but that's long known and established. Fortunately Qantas have recently made a change to deprioritise them, whereas VA now litter the results with them, but that's just something you have to avoid.

Annoying, yes, but doesn't say anything about award pricing or availability.

 

[Mattg]

I was refused redemption on a couple of UA flights. Turns out the VA/UA agreement excludes the western Pacific (ie anything in/out of GUM and SPN). No idea why, QF let me redeem JL out of GUM.

Really? I've never heard of this.

(Not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard of that being a thing with the VA/UA partnership. Is this written anywhere?)

 

[jase05]

Personally I don’t think there is any program that is perfect but in the last 18 months with Velocity I’ve been able to score 4x J tickets on SQ BNE-SIN-HAN, 2x EY J KUL-AUH return, 4x SQ J ADL-SIN return and currently have booked 2x QR J DOH-ADL for a few weeks time, 2x SQ J ADL-SIN return for July and 2x QR J ADL-DOH return for November so I can’t be any happier as they are all within 1-2 days of when I needed them. Of course YMMV

 

[bcworld]

That's fine if you are completely flexible and have no commitments whatsoever (as I'm sure most people don't). Yes, they are randomly out there and have a nice co-payment as well. But it doesn't justify the 1M+ points offers that come up too, and they weren't points+pay (does VA even have that?)

The thing you're so offended by is no different to using the Qantas points plus pay slider at the end of the booking process. It is simply the option to pay the cash fare in points.

As for flexibility...you couldn't find the exact date you needed booking less than a month out but there were options at ±3 days. I showed you Qantas reported nothing in a 14 day range. But that was ignored.

And "high co-payments"...you've never booked EK awards on QFF...the highest there is!

 

[ANstar]

You can't really have a whinge when you are wanting a reward seat 1 month out and during school holiday peak. you need to have some flexibility.

I've found Velocity has overall better premium cabin award availability than QF.

 

[masco131]

The thing you're so offended by is no different to using the Qantas points plus pay slider at the end of the booking process. It is simply the option to pay the cash fare in points.

As for flexibility...you couldn't find the exact date you needed booking less than a month out but there were options at ±3 days. I showed you Qantas reported nothing in a 14 day range. But that was ignored.

And "high co-payments"...you've never booked EK awards on QFF...the highest there is!

Literally 1k plus for one-way ticket. As said in earlier responses. THERE IS NO PERFECT AIRLINE REDEMPTION PROGRAM. That is why you need to be flexible and use the one that suit your gun at the time.

 

[clifford]

Well, thanks guys for all your constructive (and other) replies.

It got me thinking a bit more and have now concluded that VA intl redemption availability is really not too bad, once you filter out the carp.

In fact, as a result of some the comments, I have researched and taken out a subscription with seats.aero (hadn't previously checked it out) and now the world looks a little more rose coloured.

I'm certainly not a fan of dynamic pricing for rewards, as is the trend (hey Qantas enhancements), and where I think the points + co-payment cost is too high, I'll purchase a cash ticket. I've done this a couple of times so far this year (MNL-GVA return in J on EY), but seats.aero does allow one to see the bigger picture and make a more informed choice.

 

[bullerdude]

VA reward seats are reasonable, if you are flexible, but I’ve also observed a general decrease in the number of premium seats available. In the past, I’ve been able to get up to 4 J reward seats on some domestic flights but more recently I’ve only seen 2 J reward seats on most flights (searching up to 330 days out). Internationally, getting seats on Singapore is usually pretty good but getting more than one premium seats on ANA, Air Canada and United are mostly non-existent. Etihad and Qatar tends to be a mixed bag.

 

[justinbrett]

Really? I've never heard of this.

(Not saying you're wrong, I've just never heard of that being a thing with the VA/UA partnership. Is this written anywhere?)

I haven’t seen it written anywhere, but the routes can be searched on VA’s site but come up empty for any date. I can see availability on UA’s and TK’s website. When I call VA they tell me no reward seats are available. I called serveral times over a couple of months and calls were escalated to supervisors but each time confirmed no inventory released to VA for any of these routes on any date. I also looked at GUM-NRT and GUM-HNL but same result.

It is annoying as I’m flying SPN-GUM which is expensive Y fare but excellent candidate for points being only a 45 minute flight but just can’t be done on VA. Unfortunately I don’t have any UA miles and I don’t have enough TK miles. I looked at transferring to SQ but the points required is around 21,000 VA points making it around the same value as the cash fare. I just booked a cash fare in the end.