Expensive VA flight redemptions, one year out

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Mattyana2003

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Feb 24, 2013
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Hi
I usually book Qantas and am unfamiliar with the VA booking system. Any ideas out there why VA points redemptions are so expensive when trying to book one year out? Last year I booked four months out for BNE LAX business class return for about 160K points. Now looking to book 11 1/2 months out for the same flight it shows 300K+ points. Any ideas why and when the price usually goes down? Thanks.
 
I assume you're looking at an 'anytime' redemption instead of a 'reward' redemption. reward is the usual cheaper one, anytime is points converted into $, basically a revenue ticket.
The availability of AU - US rewards seem to be very low, so they may not show when searching.
 
Yea the website design doesn't make it clear that there isn't availability as an award seat and just shows the points plus pay option which is generally always much more than a standard award seat.
 
Yea the website design doesn't make it clear that there isn't availability as an award seat and just shows the points plus pay option which is generally always much more than a standard award seat.

The true "reward seat" availability (rather than just "anytime seat") can only be found if there is a "Reward" column in the search engine. Also, all such fares are tagged in the search engine results by a "V tag" icon.

If you don't see a "Business Reward" fare column, there are no reward redemptions available on that day. The "Business Class" column, when you are searching in Points + Pay mode, only contains anytime seat fares.
 
For example

Wednesday 1 Feb. It should look like this for a "reward" seat. 94K points plus tax

VA.png
 
Thanks for all that info. I also looked on Feb 1 just now and can't see the same cheap points fares you havelock my IPad but I can see them on my iPhone. Maybe I'm clicking on a wrong box or maybe because I'm just a lowly red member. Any hints? I went right back through the year day by day and these reward fares pop up very, very rarely.
 
Thanks for all that info. I also looked on Feb 1 just now and can't see the same cheap points fares you havelock my IPad but I can see them on my iPhone. Maybe I'm clicking on a wrong box or maybe because I'm just a lowly red member. Any hints? I went right back through the year day by day and these reward fares pop up very, very rarely.

They may have been taken (or reserved, not necessarily booked but not released back to the system) whilst you were browsing.

I do all my searching on my laptop, not a tablet or even smartphone, so I'm not sure if platform plays any part in what seats are shown (or not).

In any case, the reward seats you are looking for are quite rare. Whilst you can always try looking for them the very day the reward seats are released, after that you can only check often to see if reward seats are still left (e.g. unbooked after release, or released back to the system after a cancel, or VA release more seats).

I have no idea if VA show different inventory online depending on status. My gut tells me "no", but I would not be surprised otherwise.
 
Thanks for all that info. I also looked on Feb 1 just now and can't see the same cheap points fares you havelock my IPad but I can see them on my iPhone. Maybe I'm clicking on a wrong box or maybe because I'm just a lowly red member. Any hints? I went right back through the year day by day and these reward fares pop up very, very rarely.


It is still available.

1 person, one way search.

I am not logged in so this is just a public search. Nothing to do with status
 
I looked backwards from 8/3/17 and the earliest business redemption flight I can find is 2/2/17 and one of the very few between now and then. Maybe I just lucked it last year getting business return three months out or maybe I hit the point when reward seats are released back into the FF system after not selling. Any ideas when they are usually released back into FF?
 
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I looked backwards from 8/3/17 and the earliest business redemption flight I can find is 2/2/17 and one of the very few between now and then. Maybe I just licked it last year getting business return three months out or maybe I hit the point when reward seats are released back into the FF system after not selling. Any ideas when they are usually released back into FF?

I have been looking every day for at least month LAX-BNE/SYD/MEL for 2 seats (even searching for 1) for ~12/1/17 and nothing.
 
Sometimes with 1 guest the system will show a reward, but for 2 guests no rewards are available. However, if you search for 1 reward using different browsers / computers at the same time they will both reflect an award being available. If you want through the separate bookings would both complete or would one error? Been wanting to try but too risky.
 
Sometimes with 1 guest the system will show a reward, but for 2 guests no rewards are available. However, if you search for 1 reward using different browsers / computers at the same time they will both reflect an award being available. If you want through the separate bookings would both complete or would one error? Been wanting to try but too risky.

And if you had 10 computers/browsers open at the same time......

I suspect 1 reward = 1 reward and only one would go through
 
And if you had 10 computers/browsers open at the same time......

I suspect 1 reward = 1 reward and only one would go through

That's what I think... Just wondered if someone has been game to try it.
 
Given imminent devaluation of Velocity points for Eithad redemptions and some others - I suspect those more attuned have taken the opportunity to harvest the available award seats that will be going up in price.

Could be wrong of course...
 
Given imminent devaluation of Velocity points for Eithad redemptions and some others - I suspect those more attuned have taken the opportunity to harvest the available award seats that will be going up in price.

Could be wrong of course...

The Trans-Pacific seats have always been a rarity. None of these are EY operated.

The prices of Business redemptions on VA are going up soon, but the increase is superficial... 1.5k - 2.5k points.

DL used to report that they got great availability of VA J seats, and hence was exploited as such by those members. This does not appear to be the case any more.

Some report that checking the availability just as they are released or so is an excellent way to grab some seats. Apart from seasonality, there's not much else anyone can do, except to keep checking.

Finally, as most people who play the award seat games know, getting 2 seats in J (or F) on the same flight is almost always more than twice as difficult as finding 1 such seat.
 
Maybe there will be more business seats released once the redemption price goes up? How much are the prices going up by?
 
Maybe there will be more business seats released once the redemption price goes up? How much are the prices going up by?

As I said, for Business class on VA operated flights, something between 1,500 to 2,500 points compared to current prices.

For EY Business, prices will mostly substantially go up. SQ Business it will be variable.
 
just had a quick look around Sept / Oct


2 x pax VA7 J 23/10


2 x pax SYD-BNE-LAX J 20/9 and 21/9 or just VA7 BNE-LAX 20/9 and 21/9
 
But still nothing at all for 2017!


Whats wrong with J at 94k points for 1 pax searched only..

Jan10 BNE-SYD-LAX
Jan 10 BNE-LAX

Jan 11 same as above

Jan 12 BNE-LAX

Jan 24 BNE-SYD -LAX

Feb 1 BNE-LAX


Jan 24 LAX-BNE

Jan 30 LAX-BNE

Jan 31 LAX-BNE


I only looked for Jan 2017
 
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