Reward seat available but not available

[bion]

So I booked Freedom fare between Perth and Sydney on Tuesday and called customer service to use my complimentary upgrade to business for WP and was told that there are no reward seats available. However reward search "Points+Pay" shows business class seat available.

Work this out....

 

[blackcat20]

So I booked Freedom fare between Perth and Sydney on Tuesday and called customer service to use my complimentary upgrade to business for WP and was told that there are no reward seats available. However reward search "Points+Pay" shows business class seat available.

Work this out....

Point+pay is a revenue seat, you need an actual points seat.

 

[bion]

Where do you search for that?

 

[Bolthead]

So I booked Freedom fare between Perth and Sydney on Tuesday and called customer service to use my complimentary upgrade to business for WP and was told that there are no reward seats available. However reward search "Points+Pay" shows business class seat available.

Work this out....

So I had a quick look and @1220 and there are 2 x flights with reward seat available from PER - SYD for the 9th APR. VA552 and VA572 both have reward seats available. So if you are booked on the other flights then you are out of luck. If you are flexible with your time then maybe change your freedom fare to either of those flights above. Being Plat. they should be able to do the flight change and rebooking and upgrade all at the same time. I have often called the Plat line and they have booked the Fredom fare ticket and then done the upgrade all with the one phone call without any other charge.

 

[bion]

So I had a quick look and @1220 and there are 2 x flights with reward seat available from PER - SYD for the 9th APR. VA552 and VA572 both have reward seats available. So if you are booked on the other flights then you are out of luck. If you are flexible with your time then maybe change your freedom fare to either of those flights above. Being Plat. they should be able to do the flight change and rebooking and upgrade all at the same time. I have often called the Plat line and they have booked the Fredom fare ticket and then done the upgrade all with the one phone call without any other charge.

I'm on VA564 at 4:20pm. I'm driving from Albany so there is no chance I'd get there for earlier flight. Plus VA564 is on A330. VA CS put me on waiting list, she said there are still 9 seats in business class available for sale and they might release more reward seats closer to departure. My travel is book by our corporate travel agent. I have to wait for them to confirm tickets and then try to upgrade.

 

[Bolthead]

I'm on VA564 at 4:20pm. I'm driving from Albany so there is no chance I'd get there for earlier flight. Plus VA564 is on A330. VA CS put me on waiting list, she said there are still 9 seats in business class available for sale and they might release more reward seats closer to departure. My travel is book by our corporate travel agent. I have to wait for them to confirm tickets and then try to upgrade.

OK well good luck with that.... hopefully they will open up some more seats.

 

[serfty]

Where do you search for that?

Just do you normal rewards search.

There are two types of Business Result, "Business Reward" and "Any Seat"; you need a 'business' seat to be available to upgrade.

Here's a search with only Points plus pay available, so no upgrades currently on VA564 , but there are on VA572:



Note with the above, "Any Seat" is actually 'elevate' economy at 55,900 points..

Select to see the humongous 316,600 points cost for "Any Seat Business":

 

[theoracle30]

As a Platinum, I've had very good luck getting a business upgrade even if there are no reward seats within 48-24 hours of the flight, by calling up and them unlocking a seat.

From one week out, check every day or consider setting a flight alert with ExpertFlyer which would ping you if an upgrade becomes available (use the 5 day free trial).

If a reward seat pops up, call up immediately to confirm it. Otherwise, call up every day. As long as there are still a few revenue seats on sale soon before the flight, you'll have a decent chance.

 

[cqtiger]

Speaking of reward seats disappearing I was wondering if anyone had noticed when you click on a rewards business seat to europe the returning reward seats either disappear or are severely diminished.Even when i click on the return seat first the departure seats disappear