Best way to do SYD to YVR in Business

[Ribbo83]

Hi,

I will be going to Gold status in a couple of weeks. I'm looking to book a trip frin SYD to YVR probably via LAX over Christmas and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Ideally my wife and I would love to do both sectors in J or at least 1 leg. I only have around 60K in velocity points but around 500k Amex points I could convert.

Should I look for reward seats once I go to Gold or pay cash for a Y or W fare and use the points to upgrade?

Appreciate you thought and experience.

Thanks

 

[williamsf1]

Hi,

I will be going to Gold status in a couple of weeks. I'm looking to book a trip frin SYD to YVR probably via LAX over Christmas and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Ideally my wife and I would love to do both sectors in J or at least 1 leg. I only have around 60K in velocity points but around 500k Amex points I could convert.

Should I look for reward seats once I go to Gold or pay cash for a Y or W fare and use the points to upgrade?

Appreciate you thought and experience.

Thanks

reward seats in J to LAX are very hard to find at the best if times .... and over Xmas holiday period you can forget about it ( might find one or 2 on Xmas day) Upgrades would be the same story

 

[Ribbo83]

reward seats in J to LAX are very hard to find at the best if times .... and over Xmas holiday period you can forget about it ( might find one or 2 on Xmas day) Upgrades would be the same story

I had a feeling that might be the case. What bout booking an economy seat and upgrading to premium? Same problem?

 

[Mattg]

I had a feeling that might be the case. What bout booking an economy seat and upgrading to premium? Same problem?

I would say that the chance of upgrading is higher than finding an award seat around Christmas time (the likelihood of which is close to zero). But don't you have to buy a Flexi ticket on VA just to be eligible to upgrade? So you're potentially paying a fair bit of extra money, only to sit in economy anyway.

I guess that one way to maximise the chances of the upgrade being successful is to book on a date where the flight is less likely to be full. If you let us know which dates/flights you're looking at, we can perhaps offer some advice on that.

 

[darraghk]

There probably won't be much availability around christmas but you could check Air Canada for reward flights, they are part of Star Alliance so you could transfer the points to Singapore.
They have a new business class out around now which looks very nice and fly direct SYD-YVR.

 

[Mattg]

Air Canada do have some availability on their Brisbane-Vancouver flight around 12 Dec. Not sure if that's of any use to you.

I also notice there is reasonable availability on Air Canada from Tokyo (and possibly other Asian destinations as well) in the week before Christmas, if you're prepared to get a little creative with your routings.

 

[Ribbo83]

Thanks for the responses. Looking at flying out around the 16/17 of December? Happy to get a little creative but we will be taking ski gear so I would prefer not to be transporting on and off to many flights.

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for the responses. Looking at flying out around the 16/17 of December? Happy to get a little creative but we will be taking ski gear so I would prefer not to be transporting on and off to many flights.

Of the 16th and 17th, the VA LAX flights on the 16th have fewer seats already sold in business class (i.e. more likely to get an upgrade) but there are still 6 months for VA to sell all those remaining seats.

If you do go with the "book Flexi and hope for an upgrade" strategy, departing on the 14th of December could improve your chances. Also, the flights out of BNE to LAX appear a little less full if you don't mind connecting.

With all those Amex points though, I'd be looking for award availability on oneworld and/or Star Alliance via Asia.