Is Velocity or QF better for award booking availability ?

[kaz]

Hi

I'm currently VA gold and QF silver (QF silver for next 12 months only as I only accrued 15 SC in last 12 months but they still comp'd me silver for another12 months) :shock:
however all my business domestic travel is with VA (approx 2 flights per month) so my points accrual for flights goes to my Velocity account BUT my credit card purchases are made with my Westpac Amex Earth card and Woolworths QFF card so those both cards accrue to my QFF account.

I have just redeemed almost all of my QFF points for 2 x Syd - DFW trip next year, so now I'm reassessing which program I want to start collecting points to for future reward flights and I will change credit cards if I need to align with the correct rewards program.

I have been booking award seats with QF for over 5 years and I have never had any problems booking QFF award seats as I normally plan my international travel at least 8 months or more in advance and I travel outside school holidays ( I only use my points for O/S travel),

However when I search reward seating availability online with Velocity to assess flight availability for example to Syd - Singapore; I received the message 'No seats available for selected dates' and I searched for every month next year...so nothing available at all. !!
I found the same with alot of other destinations I searched for availability.

So my question is, do other Velocity members have any trouble redeeming reward seats through Velocity ? Is Qantas better for award seat availability ?
I don't want to apply for a Velocity partnered credit card to start accruing Velocity points only to find out that Velocity does not have a good redemption availability for flights overseas, as my credit card purchases will be accruing most of the the points I accrue.

My credit card purchases average $5000 per month (I put all purchases and bills on my credit card)

Any advise / thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks

 

[pat25d]

You need to call to get real availability - annoying I know.

I called re availability for SYD-HKG with Virgin Atlantic and there were still Y+ and J seats available on a number of dates only 4 weeks in advance.

 

[kaz]

You need to call to get real availability - annoying I know.

I called re availability for SYD-HKG with Virgin Atlantic and there were still Y+ and J seats available on a number of dates only 4 weeks in advance.

Thank pat25d
i did try to call Velocity today to enquire about flight availability, but was told the Velocity award booking section only work mon to fri. ( even more annoying.). Did you call today ??? If so, what number did you call.

 

[pat25d]

No it was a couple of weeks ago and yes I had to call before 8pm on weekday. I just called the normal velocity number and they put me through.

 

[Blinky]

Yes definitely call. Not only for seat availability, but the points the seats will cost. I looked on the website and J return seats to Europe showed up as costing far more points than I got them for (250,000x2). I had no trouble redeeming, but did book six months in advance.

 

[JohnK]

However when I search reward seating availability online with Velocity to assess flight availability for example to Syd - Singapore; I received the message 'No seats available for selected dates' and I searched for every month next year...so nothing available at all. !!
I found the same with alot of other destinations I searched for availability.

So my question is, do other Velocity members have any trouble redeeming reward seats through Velocity ? Is Qantas better for award seat availability ?

I found the same issues. Sometimes I just want to research what is available and I do not particularly want to call to find out. Velocity does not have that option.

Also I end up buying the cheapest airfares possible and find QFF much better than Velocity.

 

[mella2007]

Usually I find that very few legs internationally long haul are available online from Australia to wherever, but find lots of availability originating in Asia going forward that way (or return)
The frustrating thing is that often the points rate will be a lot higher over the phone when they check, as opposed to what is showing online.
Hopefully they'll fix all this when the new system comes in January