Virgin Business Class Tix- Syd-LA

[aiimmy]

Hi everyone, has anyone been able to find business class tickets from Australia to LA? I can find economy tickets but would like to use my points to fly business. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you. (Hope this is the correct forum)

 

[henrus]

Hi everyone, has anyone been able to find business class tickets from Australia to LA? I can find economy tickets but would like to use my points to fly business. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you. (Hope this is the correct forum)

There are a few things at play here.

Firstly into next year there seems to be similar demand (compared to pre covid) but less seats on DL/VA, it was often tough to get award seats precovid but now the only option is DL from SYD to LAX.

You've also got DL who has variable award pricing within their own program, so whilst DL members can redeem on DL flights (because of the variable pricing) they don't release the "precious" seats to program partners.

and finally the VA/DL relationship is at an all time low... as above, why would they bother releasing business class award seats to partner programs when they know the people most likely to snap it up would be VA members.

The new isn't all bad. VA has recently started the partnership with Air Canada, there has been a scattering of award seats from SYD/MEL/BNE to Vancouver which in relative terms is close to LAX when it comes to booking an award seat.

Hawaiian Airlines also has some award space from SYD/BNE to HNL where it's then possible to book a separate ticket from Honolulu to LAX using either Hawaiian or Delta. Finally a very long winded route could include Etihad from SYD/MEL/PER-AUH-LAX or Singapore airlines from SYD/MEL/BNE/PER/ADL to SIN and then onwards to LAX (however right now Singapore Airlines award seats aren't able to be booked - will have to wait until next year).

 

[jase05]

There are a few things at play here.

Firstly into next year there seems to be similar demand (compared to pre covid) but less seats on DL/VA, it was often tough to get award seats precovid but now the only option is DL from SYD to LAX.

You've also got DL who has variable award pricing within their own program, so whilst DL members can redeem on DL flights (because of the variable pricing) they don't release the "precious" seats to program partners.

and finally the VA/DL relationship is at an all time low... as above, why would they bother releasing business class award seats to partner programs when they know the people most likely to snap it up would be VA members.

The new isn't all bad. VA has recently started the partnership with Air Canada, there has been a scattering of award seats from SYD/MEL/BNE to Vancouver which in relative terms is close to LAX when it comes to booking an award seat.

Hawaiian Airlines also has some award space from SYD/BNE to HNL where it's then possible to book a separate ticket from Honolulu to LAX using either Hawaiian or Delta. Finally a very long winded route could include Etihad from SYD/MEL/PER-AUH-LAX or Singapore airlines from SYD/MEL/BNE/PER/ADL to SIN and then onwards to LAX (however right now Singapore Airlines award seats aren't able to be booked - will have to wait until next year).

Have been seeing some pretty good availability on HA SYD-HNL and then onwards to the US.
I’m struggling to find anything on DL even for domestic.
The fees can be a touch high but the long way round with EY is a pretty good use of points to get you to the East Coast. AC to Canada as suggested above has good availability but I’ve no idea about their product

 

[Mattg]

If looking at Hawaiian via HNL, you may be able to find award availability to LGB or ONT even if there is nothing to LAX.

 

[aiimmy]

Have been seeing some pretty good availability on HA SYD-HNL and then onwards to the US.
I’m struggling to find anything on DL even for domestic.
The fees can be a touch high but the long way round with EY is a pretty good use of points to get you to the East Coast. AC to Canada as suggested above has good availability but I’ve no idea about their product

Sorry what does HA and DL stand for ? Hawaii?

EY is Etihad ? I can’t get anything on Etihad on virgin airline website. I’ve got only velocity and Kris fryers points.

Thanks heaps

 

[odysseus]

Hawaiian Airlines, Delta airlines.

 

[jase05]

Sorry what does HA and DL stand for ? Hawaii?

EY is Etihad ? I can’t get anything on Etihad on virgin airline website. I’ve got only velocity and Kris fryers points.

Thanks heaps

HA is Hawaiian, DL is Delta
Yes EY is Etihad.
What dates are you looking at and for how many?

 

[aiimmy]

HA is Hawaiian, DL is Delta
Yes EY is Etihad.
What dates are you looking at and for how many?

Well I was just told we could go LA. So I’m looking from Sydney to LA anytime between 20th- 12th Jan. I need to be back to quanratine for two weeks for kids school to start. 2 adults and 2 kids but happy if I couldn’t just get two Business class as 4 is hard to get. Is there a secret to search ? Thank you

 

[jase05]

Well I was just told we could go LA. So I’m looking from Sydney to LA anytime between 20th- 12th Jan. I need to be back to quanratine for two weeks for kids school to start. 2 adults and 2 kids but happy if I couldn’t just get two Business class as 4 is hard to get. Is there a secret to search ? Thank you

I really think you will out of luck trying to get seats at this short of notice. Some Air Canada availability to Vancouver around your dates but nothing of anything else and nothing at all for the return unfortunately. No real trick to it but airlines are still running reduced services so much harder to secure seats

 

[jakeseven7]

Well I was just told we could go LA. So I’m looking from Sydney to LA anytime between 20th- 12th Jan. I need to be back to quanratine for two weeks for kids school to start. 2 adults and 2 kids but happy if I couldn’t just get two Business class as 4 is hard to get. Is there a secret to search ? Thank you

Sorry but you are SOL…. Even when VA1 was flying their own metal across to LA it was near impossible to get a seat. Sorry

 

[aiimmy]

I really think you will out of luck trying to get seats at this short of notice. Some Air Canada availability to Vancouver around your dates but nothing of anything else and nothing at all for the return unfortunately. No real trick to it but airlines are still running reduced services so much harder to secure seats

Is there seats to Vancouver? Even just one way ? How do I check? Thanks heaps.

 

[AIRwin]

Is there seats to Vancouver? Even just one way ? How do I check? Thanks heaps.

Looks like there are still seats on 31 December from a search on the VA website ("Use Velocity Points" option)... Happy New YVR!

 

[jase05]

Is there seats to Vancouver? Even just one way ? How do I check? Thanks heaps.

Air Canada can be checked and booked on the Virgin Australia website/app. Some days had 2-3 seats available
This was a random date in December

 

[Mattg]

There are 4x business reward seats on Air Canada SYD-YVR on 16 January.