Virgin Atlantic Rewards

[Kereng]

I’m trying to find reward tickets on Virgin Atlantic - I know that you have to contact Velocity to book Virgin Atlantic reward tickets, but is there an easy way of finding availability? i.e. If there’s reward availability with Virgin Atlantic do Velocity have access to them, or is it a certain type of reward fare only?

 

[bcworld]

I would try and find another Skyteam airline that shows VS availability online...VS itself may be likely to show availability that is only available to Flying Club. I don't think Krisflyer shows it.

 

[jase05]

I’m trying to find reward tickets on Virgin Atlantic - I know that you have to contact Velocity to book Virgin Atlantic reward tickets, but is there an easy way of finding availability? i.e. If there’s reward availability with Virgin Atlantic do Velocity have access to them, or is it a certain type of reward fare only?

The availability you see on the VS website is what should be available to book with Velocity points

 

[Kereng]

The availability you see on the VS website is what should be available to book with Velocity points

I just called Velocity to redeem and they said there was no availability for the date I’m looking at (5th June JFK to LHR) even though I can see flights on the Virgin Atlantic site. I’m not convinced the call centre agent knew what she was doing so will call again next week.

 

[bernardblack]

I have another datapoint with this same problem. The VS Flying Club website shows wide-open Upper Class JFK<>LHR award space for the flights in which I'm interested, but the Velocity agent couldn't find it. (And at first she came back with "success" only to offer me economy. LOL no way am I wasting points on that.)

I had a successful booking JFK>LHR in Upper Class made about a year ago for March this year, but I cancelled the day before in favour of a United Polaris EWR>LHR award which allowed me to use some of the LifeMiles I'm no longer comfortable holding.

 

[tmdl]

I find Virgin Atlantic's website very difficult and never easy to use

 

[bernardblack]

On the fifth attempt over three days (!) I managed to get 2x Upper Class (J) seats JFK-LHR-JFK for next July. I would have preferred to book two separate one-ways but she put it all together and since the previous four agents hadn't been able to even get one flight booked I went ahead.

I was quoted 238000 (59500 pp one-way) + ~AUD1180 total. So far I've been charged the $ but not the points, somehow, yet the itinerary shows as ticketed both with VA and with VS.

Also I think it's meant to be 49500 for that distance (it's ~3540mi, and 59500 band starts at 3600mi) so if they end up charging me I'll petition for the 40k total miles back, but even if it costs the full 240k it's a good deal. JFK-LHR booked a year ago was 49500 + ~AUD50 per person, but obviously there are much higher taxes exUK and the exchange rate has worsened somewhat.

Anyway, tips:

• Check DL or AF for space. They will show fewer options than VS' own website, but the availability lined up better with what the phone agent could actually book.
• Maybe booking roundtrip was the difference? I hope not, and obviously I've booked a VS one-way reward through Velocity in the past, but if you're trying to book what's actually a roundtrip as two separate one-ways, and the agent is striking out for one sector, maybe see if searching for a return itinerary helps?

 

[jase05]

On the fifth attempt over three days (!) I managed to get 2x Upper Class (J) seats JFK-LHR-JFK for next July. I would have preferred to book two separate one-ways but she put it all together and since the previous four agents hadn't been able to even get one flight booked I went ahead.

I was quoted 238000 (59500 pp one-way) + ~AUD1180 total. So far I've been charged the $ but not the points, somehow, yet the itinerary shows as ticketed both with VA and with VS.

Also I think it's meant to be 49500 for that distance (it's ~3540mi, and 59500 band starts at 3600mi) so if they end up charging me I'll petition for the 40k total miles back, but even if it costs the full 240k it's a good deal. JFK-LHR booked a year ago was 49500 + ~AUD50 per person, but obviously there are much higher taxes exUK and the exchange rate has worsened somewhat.

Anyway, tips:

• Check DL or AF for space. They will show fewer options than VS' own website, but the availability lined up better with what the phone agent could actually book.
• Maybe booking roundtrip was the difference? I hope not, and obviously I've booked a VS one-way reward through Velocity in the past, but if you're trying to book what's actually a roundtrip as two separate one-ways, and the agent is striking out for one sector, maybe see if searching for a return itinerary helps?

Not sure if the agent was correct but when I enquired once before I was told that VS have an off peak v peak period award setup.
Should be 47,500 points JFK-LHR but in peak that goes up to 57,500 points

 

[bernardblack]

Yes, that's what VS themselves are quoting through Flying Club. But according to the Velocity chart there's only a single level for each distance band, matching United, for VS flights.

 

[jase05]

Yes, that's what VS themselves are quoting through Flying Club. But according to the Velocity chart there's only a single level for each distance band, matching United, for VS flights.

Maybe the operator was incompetent or incorrect but she definitely said that the off peak/peak system would apply even if booked via VA. Sounds like I just got a poor agent

 

[bernardblack]

Maybe. It's also possible that they have a peak rate but haven't put it on the website yet. Anyway, I'll see what happens when they actually charge me the points.

Post automatically merged: Nov 2, 2023

Certainly this is for a peak period (July) when my previous VS booking through Velocity was for off-peak (March).

 

[Kereng]

Anyway, tips:

• Check DL or AF for space. They will show fewer options than VS' own website, but the availability lined up better with what the phone agent could actually book.
• Maybe booking roundtrip was the difference? I hope not, and obviously I've booked a VS one-way reward through Velocity in the past, but if you're trying to book what's actually a roundtrip as two separate one-ways, and the agent is striking out for one sector, maybe see if searching for a return itinerary helps?

Thanks for the update. I haven’t signed up for AF yet to see their availability and Delta only shows an 8am flight which means a waste of an expensive NYC hotel night. I only need one way as have already used QF points for J on Fiji Airways from SYD-LA for the start of my trip ($120 in taxes as the only cost was too good to pass up!)

It’s frustrating that there’s no easy way to see Velocity availability for VS but I’ll give them a call again next week and see if I can get a better result. If not I’ll hope for a Black Friday VS price drop

 

[Kereng]

Update on this: Following the advice above I signed up for AF to check VS reward availability there and on Delta. They both showed a lot less than on the VS site to LHR, however they both showed availability to Manchester. Since my final destination is Edinburgh that works for me. It took 47mins on the phone with Velocity (about 30mins of which was her trying to do the quote) but it was 49,500 points and $49 in taxes for Upper Class so can’t complain too much. They then called back to say they’re having difficulty processing the points deduction but it’ll happen at some point.

 

[bernardblack]

I still haven't had my points deducted for a booking made more than four days ago at this point. I got a call about two days ago saying a similar thing about them having trouble, and to make sure the points are there when they go to deduct otherwise they'll cancel the booking.

It's still not the right quantity of points (59500 pp when it should be 49500) but if they ever deduct them I'll follow-up.

 

[bernardblack]

Closing the loop on the above:

1. My Velocity points were finally debited on Thursday, more than two weeks after the original booking (whereas the taxes copay was pending on my card immediately).
2. They did indeed charge me 238,000, being 59,500 x 2 pax x 2 directions.
3. I sent an email to the Velocity Platinum contact centre, but they called me back saying it couldn't be fixed by email and I'd have to talk to the booking team by phone. They offered to connect me but I had a meeting and I missed their call back later.
4. When I called and eventually got through to the right booking team, she put me on hold for two extended periods doing calculations and talking to her supervisor, but eventually agreed that the correct single one-way fare for VS Upper Class JFK<>LHR should have been 49,500.
5. They couldn't fix this except to cancel and rebook. So she put me back on hold while she made sure the same itinerary was available, confirmed, copied across the passenger names, then cancelled my old booking and rebooked the new itinerary.
6. The good news is that, after the ~90min I spent on the call, I came out 40k Velocity points ahead (198,000 being the correct original total I expected) and there was even a reduction of ~AUD60 in the taxes. So now I just need to watch for the refund for the old taxes.

 

[bernardblack]

And I can now confirm that the refund on the old taxes came too, showing on my card account less than 48 hours after the cancellation. And there's definitely a net improvement in the taxes copay as well.

 

[cjb91]

I've been trying to book VS Upper Class LHR-BOS for 2+ weeks now, searching on VS + DL websites shows multiple days with G class award availability, but every time I call to book, the VA agent advises there are no seats available! Have tried multiple departure dates that all show as available and always told there are no seats..... NFI why this booking is so hard to secure. When asking the VA agents if they know when or how the VS reward availability comes through they don't have any idea either. You'd think VS + VA would have a better interface between companies.
Does anyone know much more on this ? It seems the trick to search on the VS and DL websites does not help.

 

[Kereng]

Does anyone know much more on this ? It seems the trick to search on the VS and DL websites does not help.

I ended up using both the Air France and Delta award searches to cross check VS availability - both had a lot less than the VS site but Virgin Australia could see the awards that DL & AF had, they couldn’t see everything that VS itself showed.

 

[jase05]

I ended up using both the Air France and Delta award searches to cross check VS availability - both had a lot less than the VS site but Virgin Australia could see the awards that DL & AF had, they couldn’t see everything that VS itself showed.

Yep. Have a feeling VS are releasing far fewer seats to partners now and the DL and AF award searches seem to give a more accurate availability of what VA would see

 

[cjb91]

I ended up using both the Air France and Delta award searches to cross check VS availability - both had a lot less than the VS site but Virgin Australia could see the awards that DL & AF had, they couldn’t see everything that VS itself showed.

Interesting, So I checked the same date across AF, DL & VS and they all showed availability and Virgin Aust. still said there is no velocity point redemption seats on this date .... beyond frustrating. About to offload these VA points to KrisFlyer and use QF.