Booking Virgin Blue flights using Emirates Skywards points?

[louie]

Hello everyone. I'm not sure if this is the right place for this query, so feel free to move it if not.

I'm Louie, from near London at the moment, but emigrating to Australia in about 3 years and currently planning a holiday to Australia in February/March and I'm pretty new to this frequent flyer scheme lark. The international flights are sorted, thanks to the fantastic US Airways points offer, so we are now looking at internal flights.

We have very-nearly-enough points to do these using the Emirates Skywards points earned from our last flights to Australia, but info on the Skywards website is a bit lacking! (I tried to post the link but the system won't let me because I have not made enough posts, but if you are interested, go to the Skywards website, click on earn&spend/spending miles/partnerairlines/virginblue).

Does anyone know how availability of flights is determined? Is availability likely to be an issue? Would it be the same as for Velocity members? Which class would it book into? Do you have to pay for taxes, etc, on top of using points and if so, is that much?

Also, the website says "Date time changes permitted up until 24 hours prior to departure". Is that free of charge? If I booked and later wanted to change, would it be through Virgin Blue or Emirates?

Any help at all would be appreciated!!

[louie]

Can no-one answer any of my questions?

[dk4]

You may be interested to read this article - Emirates winds down air miles deal with Virgin Blue - The National Newspaper

Emirates Airline is downsizing its relationship with Australia’s Virgin Blue as Etihad Airways is preparing to create a wide-ranging alliance to boost passenger traffic between the two countries.
...
The Emirates spokeswoman said the reciprocal arrangement between the Velocity and Skywards programmes will end within six months, and that all Skywards members would be directly notified of the changes and the cut-off date for redeeming points.

NOTING: There is some speculation around at the moment that Emirates may be interested in changing marketing tact, and may actually be looking to join a global alliance (specifically oneworld). [From a purely Qantas perspective, the old adage - "if you can't beat 'em join 'em", may prove tempting.]

[dajop]

Can no-one answer any of my questions?

Although this is Australian Frequent Flyer, it can be very Qantas-centric as Qantas is the dominant player as far as airline loyalty programs go in Australia, and that is where most of the experience on AFF lies. On AFF, it seems that knowledge about Velocity is perhaps fourth in the pecking order (perhaps behind Singapore Airlines and AAdvantage), with Skywards further down the list. As for redeeming Skywards points on Virgin Blue, it is possible that no AFF member has ever actually done this.

My suggestion is to ask a basic question on Flyertalk Emirates forum anyone has ever redeemed Skywards miles on Virgin Blue or directly contact Skywards itself with your questions.

As for availability, I imagine it would come from a certain booking class, but it is difficult to correlate with Velocity reward seats, as Velocity seats are available on all flights - albeit at widely varying points requirements. If something is available on Velocity in the "Reward" category (as opposed to the "Any Seat" category), there perhaps is a correlation with Skywards, although that is just a theory, not based on any evidence I have.

Anyway, welcome to AFF, and if you do find out answers to your questions somewhere, please report back!

[louie]

You may be interested to read this article

Thanks. Well as my Skywards miles expire in March and we'll be in Australia in February/March, it's now or never! Let's hope I can sort it all out before it's too late.

[louie]

Anyway, welcome to AFF, and if you do find out answers to your questions somewhere, please report back!

Thanks for the welcome and for your other comments. I did actually post much the same queries at Flyertalk a week or two before I posted here (I can't do a link as I've not made the required 10 posts here) but got no response there either!

I'll let you know when I've made some progress....

[markis10]

Availability of award flights will be limited, I suspect it will be to routes/fares where they have "go" fares available for booking online. In terms of changes, I suspect after 24 hours its use it or lose it.

[davy57]

This might be old news but here goes

Velocity Rewards - Home

"
Emirates will no longer be a Velocity Program Partner as of 31 March 2011.


The last day Members will be eligible to earn Points for bookings made with Emirates is 31 March 2011. The last day to redeem a reward seat with Emirates is 31 March 2011, tickets will be valid until 31 March 2012 (no ticket reissues). Members will still be able to submit a retrospective claim for flights flown with Emirates up until 31 March 2011 as long as they were a Velocity Member at the time of flight."


Davy57

[louie]

Shame. Just as well I did eventually manage to book my flights - I think I've now got 43 Skywards points left.