Is International Virgin Reward availability now worse that QANTAS?

[ozjuice]

So am i correct in saying that the new layout has reduced PE seating? 24?

 

[Quickstatus]

So am i correct in saying that the new layout has reduced PE seating? 24?

Yes but apparently more leg room. I think they have made the seats thinner - therefore some have suggested it will be harder to sit on.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/virgin-australia-pushes-back-boeing-777-upgrade-to-2016..see the dark purple PE seat photos

 

[cjm007]

im finding it really hard to get a decent reward flight in J to europe around august/september, have i just left it way too late or am i doing something wrong?!

 

[Quickstatus]

im finding it really hard to get a decent reward flight in J to europe around august/september, have i just left it way too late or am i doing something wrong?!

What day of the week are you looking. It appears from recent posts that the best chance of an reward flight is midweek tues, wed, thurs with occasionals on other days

 

[TSOOBI]

im finding it really hard to get a decent reward flight in J to europe around august/september, have i just left it way too late or am i doing something wrong?!

Plain and simple there just aren't very many. I have been looking for J awards to a lot of places and they are rare as rocking horse poo !

 

[Quickstatus]

Plain and simple there just aren't any. I have been looking for J awards to a lot of places and they are rare as rocking horse poo !

Some days there arent any but other days in the week some people have got 4 per flight. See recent posts in this thread

 

[cjm007]

What day of the week are you looking. It appears from recent posts that the best chance of an reward flight is midweek tues, wed, thurs with occasionals on other days

i was looking all days late september/early october. It appears it has availability for the departure (late august), but not for return (late sept/oct). Could it be that they havent opened those seats yet? Does anyone have any luck from other secondary airports, i'm not fussed which airport we fly out of

 

[Quickstatus]

Reward seating for J cabin usually released around 300 days out. Other posts here and elsewhere suggests that sometimes occasional seats are released adhoc the closer to the flight. sometimes even 2 weeks out. This does not help you as the window for cheaper revenue seats whatever the cabin narrows the closer to the flight it gets. Partner rewards are going to be even rarer. However all VA marketed rewards has to be booked via the Velocity website anyway. Have you tried SIN-SYD? or JFK-SYD?. ....Yes JFK-SYD or LAX-SYD. Going via secondary airports might be expensive as you will have to book a one way to that airport.

The other option is to look at the Etihad website - require an Etihad frequent flyer account which is free and have a look at their availability for coming back to Sydney. If they have reward availability then ring the VA guest centre and see if you can use VFF points to book those seats.

 

[theblank]

im finding it really hard to get a decent reward flight in J to europe around august/september, have i just left it way too late or am i doing something wrong?!

I dont know what J means, but I am looking at reward flights to UK, in July, and there are not many, whether it 62500 Economy or 125000 business. But when breaking up the trip, there are reward flights between AUH and UK every day, but its just the AU to AUH leg that is limited in availability.
But if you search on AU to AUH legs only, there are more rewards flights available than on the relevant longer trip, which doesnt really make sense.

 

[Quickstatus]

I dont know what J means, but I am looking at reward flights to UK, in July, and there are not many, whether it 62500 Economy or 125000 business. But when breaking up the trip, there are reward flights between AUH and UK every day, but its just the AU to AUH leg that is limited in availability.
But if you search on AU to AUH legs only, there are more rewards flights available than on the relevant longer trip, which doesnt really make sense.

Sorry theblank,

you will find many abbreviations in this forum. J = business, Y = economy, PE= premium economy

The AU-AUH legs are generally provided by VA (Virgin australia) while AUH-UK are provided by EY (Etihad).

VA does not fly further than AUH.

Perhaps EY is providing more rewards for their sector and VA is putting less rewards on their sector. Often the case. I would suggest looking at the EY FF (frequent flyer) website to see what availability they have for the AU-AUH-AU sectors. If they do then ring VA guest centre to see if they can be booked using VA points as a "VA partner reward"

It is also common for VA FF members to book AU-AUH as a reward when available and then buy a revenue seat from AUH to St Elsewhere. Is your return during the Sept-Oct school holidays?

I know it does not help but the ideal time to look at these flights would have been in Oct/Nov last year

Bear in mind that VA status does not seem to play a part in the availability of VA reward flights

 

[theblank]

The AU-AUH legs are generally provided by VA (Virgin australia) while AUH-UK are provided by EY (Etihad).

Thanks for info, some of this I already know, appreciated.

Every flight I have seen are always EY flights from AU to AUH? I dont see any VA flights at all.

If they do then ring VA guest centre to see if they can be booked using VA points as a "VA partner reward"

yeah, I was thinking of doing that, i have notice some discrpancy between the Etihad rewards availability and Virgin on same dates.

It is also common for VA FF members to book AU-AUH as a reward when available and then buy a revenue seat from AUH to St Elsewhere. Is your return during the Sept-Oct school holidays?

thats interesting, i might consider that.

I am only going for two weeks returning End of July. It seems that period is very scarce for the flights coming back from AUH for 29-31st July. Maybe end of school holidays, I donno.
My current plan which changes daily is to travel Business Rewards to UK, and economy back. But because I dont have enough points, and I cant sit down for an hour (sensitive sacrum), I am contemplating flying from DUB - AUH - BKKorKULorSIN - BNE, and spending one night in each city, and only have pay cash for one of those legs, probably $400 on an LCC. Pain in the cough trip, but flying for me always is.

 

[Quickstatus]

theblank


The other aspect of this is that VA has suspended the AU-AUH sectors between Apr and Jul while their B777 are being refurbished. I think this is the reason if your flights fall within the dates below

https://www.virginaustralia.com/cs/...ent/~edisp/comm_policy_777_reschedule_dec.pdf

Don't forget that VA normally operates VA29 SYD-AUH on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and VA30 AUH-SYD on Wednesdays, Fridays and Mondays. So VA operates flights on this route 3 out of 7 days.

(No BNE/MEL to AUH direct on VA)

 

[Ben6]

Sorry, using other redemption terminology. I meant 4 x J Reward Seats and to top it off, they are J Reward all the way (MEL-BNE, then BNE-LAX). I had tried everything to get these seats when they were first released but there was just no availability, so I ended up using the WP guaranteed international reward option to get the whole family to IAH (Houston). It was 270,000 points and $750 for 27 hours and 4 legs (MEL-BNE-LAX-SLC-IAH) of Economy hell (last 2 legs with Delta). My new option is J from MEL-LAX (via BNE), then 1 direct UA Y flight to IAH from LAX which was 50,000 + $39 for the 4 seats (booked through Krisflyer). Total damage 418,000 + $543

The J Reward seats are on a Tuesday and there was no availability days either side so feeling very lucky!!

You mean 4 J reward seats. J saver seats implies a non reward seat. And MEL-SYD/BNE revenue seat then reward from SYD/BNE-LAX?


But yes reward availability has gone up. Which day of the week are your reward seats on. Recent posts suggest availability only on Tues, Wed, Thurs and only occasionally on the other days.

 

[Quickstatus]

Sorry, using other redemption terminology. I meant 4 x J Reward Seats and to top it off, they are J Reward all the way (MEL-BNE, then BNE-LAX). I had tried everything to get these seats when they were first released but there was just no availability, so I ended up using the WP guaranteed international reward option to get the whole family to IAH (Houston). It was 270,000 points and $750 for 27 hours and 4 legs (MEL-BNE-LAX-SLC-IAH) of Economy hell (last 2 legs with Delta). My new option is J from MEL-LAX (via BNE), then 1 direct UA Y flight to IAH from LAX which was 50,000 + $39 for the 4 seats (booked through Krisflyer). Total damage 418,000 + $543

The J Reward seats are on a Tuesday and there was no availability days either side so feeling very lucky!!

would have been cheaper to just pay for a normal discounted UA Y seat x4?

 

[Ben6]

No, that was $39 taxes for all 4 seats, current ticket price for same leg was US $260 each

 

[clipped_wings]

Our SYD-LAX PE flights for August had J Rewards one day, then gone the next, just disappeared off the selection page. Interestingly, no new bookings in J were recorded for that flight.
We want to upgrade with points after SG is reached in a couple of weeks, but feel we may have missed the chance.
Does anyone know if those Reward Seats randomly return, or is the window of opportunity a one off?
Thanks

 

[justcallmeryan]

Our SYD-LAX PE flights for August had J Rewards one day, then gone the next, just disappeared off the selection page. Interestingly, no new bookings in J were recorded for that flight.
We want to upgrade with points after SG is reached in a couple of weeks, but feel we may have missed the chance.
Does anyone know if those Reward Seats randomly return, or is the window of opportunity a one off?
Thanks

They seem to fluctuate a bit so I would keep my eye on the website and as soon as you see them available snap them up. I had looked and looked for March/April way back in August and nothing was available. Then one day I happened to be perusing the site and low and behold one became available.

 

[clipped_wings]

They seem to fluctuate a bit so I would keep my eye on the website and as soon as you see them available snap them up. I had looked and looked for March/April way back in August and nothing was available. Then one day I happened to be perusing the site and low and behold one became available.

Yes, I think that's the way to go. I do check on a daily basis and hopefully can secure a couple of seats between now and August.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Cryptarcadian]

What's the deal with all the inbound trips to Australia in late Aug-mid Oct?

Looking for 2x J reward seats, I've found 1 single day where there's been availability from AUH to SYD in that entire time (and nothing at all from LAX, which I checked out of interest). BNE and MEL had nothing whatsoever in Sep either, and a handful on Oct.

It's a very different story on the outbound leg though... that's what puzzles me.

 

[Kilo]

I'm trying to find SYD to JFK J in Feb-March 2017 and coming up with zero.

Am I crazy to be considering going the opposite direction via AUH on Etihad? (30 hours) They have a lot of availability