Update: This problem has now been resolved. See our update on the United trans-Atlantic reward seat issue here.
As United Airlines is a partner of Virgin Australia, you should be able to redeem Virgin Australia Velocity points for United flights. Indeed, United reward seats from Australia to the USA can be excellent value when booking with Velocity points. But it seems that not all United routes are available for Velocity redemption bookings…
United offers many dozens of daily trans-Atlantic flights between the United States and Europe. But numerous AFF members have noticed that it’s never possible to redeem Velocity points for non-stop United trans-Atlantic flights.
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Non-stop United awards are available through programs other than Velocity
For example, if you try to redeem United MileagePlus miles from Newark to London, you’ll often find reward seats on multiple non-stop flights each day. The same applies if you try to book through a Star Alliance partner airline like Air Canada:
Even Emirates Skywards members can book reward seats on non-stop United trans-Atlantic flights using their Skywards miles on the Emirates website:
Velocity only shows connecting itineraries
Yet, if you search for reward seats on the same date as the above examples on the Virgin Australia website, only indirect United Airlines flights appear:
As you can see above, the Virgin Australia website is offering multiple connecting itineraries via Washington when we search for Newark-London flights. But interestingly, those Washington-London flights do not appear as an option if we search for Washington-London flights. Instead, Velocity offers one-stop itineraries via Newark…
Unfortunately, the Virgin Australia website also omits most of the available United Business Class flights across the Atlantic because there may not be any Business/First availability on the connecting domestic sector.
This isn’t unique to the Newark-London route. We can replicate the same thing on every single trans-Atlantic route that United Airlines flies. Occasionally, we also see this when searching for domestic itineraries within the USA.
One exception is United’s new trans-Atlantic route from Newark to Nuuk, Greenland, which will run during the 2025 Northern Hemisphere summer. This flight is available to book for 17,800 Velocity points + AUD49.90 one-way in Economy. But you would need to call the Velocity Membership Contact Centre because the Virgin Australia website does not recognise the Nuuk Airport (GOH).
AFF members have also struggled to find United reward seats to Pacific destinations such as Guam and Saipan through Velocity, even when there is availability with Star Alliance reward programs.
Why are non-stop trans-Atlantic flights unavailable through Velocity Frequent Flyer?
Unfortunately, we don’t really know the answer.
This has been going on for many months, and possibly over a year, so it’s not a new thing or just a temporary glitch.
We searched for United trans-Atlantic award availability through many different United Airlines partner programs, and Velocity was the only one with this quirk. But it’s not clear whether this is deliberate, and if so, whether United Airlines or Velocity is responsible. It could just be a bug with the Virgin Australia website that never got fixed.
Australian Frequent Flyer requested comment from Virgin Australia, but they did not provide a response to our questions.
For what it’s worth, we could not find a single Air Canada trans-Atlantic reward seat on the Virgin Australia website, either.
How to use Velocity points for non-stop trans-Atlantic flights
If you want to redeem Velocity points to fly between London or Manchester and North America, you could book a seat with Virgin Atlantic. Reward seats on Virgin Atlantic don’t appear on the Virgin Australia website, but you can book over the phone.
Otherwise, if you specifically want to book a non-stop United trans-Atlantic reward flight using Velocity points, there is one workaround. These award seats do appear on the Singapore Airlines website, and you can convert Velocity points into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles.
Unfortunately, you would have to pay more Velocity points to book this way. A direct United Economy reward seat between New York and London should ordinarily cost 22,300 Velocity points. But if you booked through KrisFlyer, it would cost you 30,500 KrisFlyer miles. That’s equivalent to 47,275 Velocity points after conversion.
It’s a similar thing for Business Class. United seats are available to book with KrisFlyer miles:
But instead of paying 49,500 Velocity points for United Business Class from Newark to London, you’d pay 81,000 KrisFlyer miles – converted from 125,550 Velocity points.
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