virgin domestic business class rewards cut in half? Have I missed something? unable to book any flight PER SYD or PER MEL for 2 using rewards

[Canuk]

virgin domestic business class rewards cut in half on long distance routes? Have I missed something? unable to book any flight PER SYD or PER MEL for 2 using rewards. Can anyone finds 2 seats?

 

[Ade]

what dates are you looking for?

 

[Dr Ralph]

virgin domestic business class rewards cut in half on long distance routes?

Big claim. Any evidence?

 

[Canuk]

Cannot book 2 tickets on any flight I looked at to or from Perth. Would like to know if I have just not looked hard enough. Has anyone found 2 tickrets on the same flight to or from Perth to Eastern States

 

[RooFlyer]

Big claim. Any evidence?

It is framed as a question.

 

[jase05]

Cannot book 2 tickets on any flight I looked at to or from Perth. Would like to know if I have just not looked hard enough. Has anyone found 2 tickrets on the same flight to or from Perth to Eastern States

2x MEL-PER next Saturday but yes it does see to be limited availability award seats

 

[odysseus]

Yeah, I posted about this about a month ago in another thread, and it includes shorter distance flights e.g. SYD-BNE.

Some days had been entirely wiped to only have single seats redemptions (no doubles). Even days that still have them, most flights are single seats only, but with a couple of flights that have doubles.

It's not just a mess for the obvious, direct connection, but also causes trouble for those who need a connecting flight for international redemptions, if travelling as a couple or more.

 

[Kimster]

virgin domestic business class rewards cut in half on long distance routes? Have I missed something? unable to book any flight PER SYD or PER MEL for 2 using rewards. Can anyone finds 2 seats?

You are right, looked the other day for 2 J redemptions to PER from MEL, and half an hour spent looking ta various dates only to see 1 J available. As another poster has mentioned, looks like more reward seats open up for more immediate travel. Does not help for folks who want to plan their travel in advance

 

[Bagpuss]

Yup, I'm sure I have mentioned this ex Perth.
You will tend to find there is 1, but very difficult.
Attached is a random date I selected to explain...

 

[Must...Fly!]

Virgin has adopted the nasty habit of married sectors. Has made availability on direct city pairs much more rare unless booking days out. Then they become quite generous in Business with whatever is left

 

[ferntree]

I can confirm this iniquitous practice.

Up until recently I have been able to use points for J seats return in about 1 in 5 of my regular trips HBA to BNE (award seats were available on the others, just didn't have enough points).

Now, looking ahead, I see J reward flights HBA-BNE-HBA are about as rare as hen's teeth.

 

[RooFlyer]

I can confirm this iniquitous practice.

Up until recently I have been able to use points for J seats return in about 1 in 5 of my regular trips HBA to BNE (award seats were available on the others, just didn't have enough points).

Now, looking ahead, I see J reward flights HBA-BNE-HBA are about as rare as hen's teeth.

That sucks. I’ve been flying that route quite a bit lately but for cash as I don’t have enough points. I guess the best strategy would be to book an economy reward seat and as platinum (as I think you are) book row three for free, which has more legroom than business. Just need to self cater

 

[ferntree]

That sucks. I’ve been flying that route quite a bit lately but for cash as I don’t have enough points. I guess the best strategy would be to book an economy reward seat and as platinum (as I think you are) book row three for free, which has more legroom than business. Just need to self cater

Yes that's more or less what I'm doing, but on that direct route even Y reward seats are rare as hen's teeth now.

BTW, what's the chance our paths might meet one day! My next flight on VA702 in J is Wed 15 March.

 

[RooFlyer]

BTW, what's the chance our paths might meet one day! My next flight on VA702 in J is Wed 15 March.

i’m out on 10 March via Melbourne and back on the 14th on the direct flight. Both in economy X

 

[ferntree]

i’m out on 10 March via Melbourne and back on the 14th on the direct flight. Both in economy X

So we'll miss each other by a day!

 

[SYD]

So presumably those WP comp upgrades have been further enhanced?

 

[ferntree]

So presumably those WP comp upgrades have been further enhanced?

That's a hairy one. You can only get a comp upgrade if there is a reward J seat available on the flight. But an increasing number of flights have no J reward flights in the first place. Look at this (it's Jan 2024!)

 

[SYD]

That's a hairy one. You can only get a comp upgrade if there is a reward J seat available on the flight. But an increasing number of flights have no J reward flights in the first place. Look at this (it's Jan 2024!)

Yes, I know. SYD/MEL-PER (especially on the A330) was a sweet spot. Then they enhanced the eligible fare bucket and now they’ve enhanced the available seats….

 

[RooFlyer]

So presumably those WP comp upgrades have been further enhanced?

That's a hairy one. You can only get a comp upgrade if there is a reward J seat available on the flight. But an increasing number of flights have no J reward flights in the first place. Look at this (it's Jan 2024!)

I had a curious conversation with an agent just yesterday looking for a comp upgrade from my Brisbane to Hobart flex ticket. They said no, not available (which I knew from Expert Flyer) but they said call back in a week and it’s likely to be okay. I’m inexperienced with these, but that sounded optimistic or is that just wishful thinking?

 

[ferntree]

I had a curious conversation with an agent just yesterday looking for a comp upgrade from my Brisbane to Hobart flex ticket. They said no, not available (which I knew from Expert Flyer) but they said call back in a week and it’s likely to be okay. I’m inexperienced with these, but that sounded optimistic or is that just wishful thinking?

Oh thanks for this ... I was vaguely wondering if the staggering lack of reward seats everywhere might be some sort of massive stuff up rather than by design. I see a glimmer of hope that this might be so.