Reduced Business Class on Partner Airlines

[iamsuperandrew]

Has anyone else noticed a significant reduction of return J seats with VA's partners like QR & SQ over the July 2026?

 

[Bolthead]

I guess it depends where you are flying to. We have also been looking at reward flights from SYD - Europe. (we are flexible on the city) I found plenty of flights to Europe on SQ however not so good to LHR. In the end we have decided to fly from SIN - FRA which there is a ton of flights in J (for 2 x Pax) As well we don't want to burn or all our points as we have another tripped planned for USA in 2027. (if the country is still standing)

I have also looked at QR however there seats seem all over the place and more of a lucky dip.

Have you tried to look for one way fares and also checked for departure from other Australian cities. I found a lot from Adelaide for instrance. But like I said I guess it depends where you are flying from and to. Good luck....

 

[iamsuperandrew]

I guess it depends where you are flying to. We have also been looking at reward flights from SYD - Europe. (we are flexible on the city) I found plenty of flights to Europe on SQ however not so good to LHR. In the end we have decided to fly from SIN - FRA which there is a ton of flights in J (for 2 x Pax) As well we don't want to burn or all our points as we have another tripped planned for USA in 2027. (if the country is still standing)

I have also looked at QR however there seats seem all over the place and more of a lucky dip.

Have you tried to look for one way fares and also checked for departure from other Australian cities. I found a lot from Adelaide for instrance. But like I said I guess it depends where you are flying from and to. Good luck....

I have booked our ticket to EU but the getting back to AU is that part I am having an issue with

 

[Bolthead]

Have you tried BRU or FRA or AMS or CDG or LGW

 

[iamsuperandrew]

Have you tried BRU or FRA or AMS or CDG or LGW

There is virtually nothing from SIN or DOH, I am assuming you mean to try looking for a married flight?

 

[Bolthead]

There is virtually nothing from SIN or DOH, I am assuming you mean to try looking for a married flight?

I think it is because VA haven't released any flights using QR. Between April and early June there is a heap of flights between LHR -SYD then it drys up. Because we are flying to SIN there is plenty of SQ flights from various cities. I also found that if you check around 23:45 and onwards there might be a better chance of snapping up some flights. (usually with SQ)

 

[Stealthflyer]

I have booked our ticket to EU but the getting back to AU is that part I am having an issue with

You could try searching for multiple legs. I couldn’t find a satisfactory J Europe to Australia in one booking, so I booked return Europe flights in three bookings: HBA- Europe (QR), Europe -Sin (SQ), Sin to HBA. It cost me more in points, but it meant I had a lovely stopover in Singapore on the way home.

 

[mattr00]

Yup. seats.aero shows no availability for SQ in J from SYD-SIN at all across all time period with Velocity. Happy to be proven wrong

 

[Bolthead]

Yup. seats.aero shows no availability for SQ in J from SYD-SIN at all across all time period with Velocity. Happy to be proven wrong

Do you have any dates?

 

[mattr00]

Do you have any dates?

Any dates that I'm looking for? Not particularly - just doing future planning.

No dates out of SYD or MEL in J. BNE, CNS and ADL still seems ok.

Air Canada also shows no availability for SQ out of SYD/MEL. KrisFlyer shows plenty of Saver rewards availability so this restriction seems to be coming out of SQ's end for partner redemption.

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[Bolthead]

Any dates that I'm looking for? Not particularly - just doing future planning.

No dates out of SYD or MEL in J. BNE, CNS and ADL still seems ok.

Air Canada also shows no availability for SQ out of SYD/MEL. KrisFlyer shows plenty of Saver rewards availability so this restriction seems to be coming out of SQ's end for partner redemption.

​

Fair enough. BNE or ADL shows better availability however for a short flight it may not me worth connecting from SYD or MEL.