Is it Becoming to Hard to Use Velocity Points or Is It Just Me?

Is anyone having a better experience with using Velocity points than me? I've never found any PE or Business options to the US except for the standard, exorbitant options. The ability to upgrade off a Freedom fare is frustrating as you're not guaranteed yet have to fork out the extra 30 - 50% cost of the Freedom fare upfront.
I have been able to get flights to the Vanuatu in economy once... which was great... but now all I can find is domestic economy.

I'm at that point where I'm going to admit defeat, ie swap my cards and flights for QF and convert all my velocity points to KrisFlyer.

I dont look for USA rewards but don't have problems whenever looking for flights through singapore. Most of the time i book 2 to 3 days before the flight and no probs.

It's not just you, it is getting harder. Certainly compare to before.

I think VA Business class would sell out very quickly as they have an awesome product (wide bodies). I recently redeemed 5 business class seats fully on points from BNE-DUD return. Even before the refurbish, their business class was selling out as the demand for the traffic (Direct) to the US is very high

Don’t pay for the Flexi economy ticket unless the reward seat is there available. Then call Velocity and book the flexi seat and upgrade it at the same time

Yes I think it is becoming much harder to get any seats on routes to and from the US. It seems as though they are offering less reward seats. It seems to be getting harder to upgrade on points as well. I have failed to get an upgrade from PE to Business the last 3 times i've flown between Aus & LA, whereas in the past I would get them most of the time.

velocity points are a disgrace

I have noticed previously where i think it must have been nested to a fare class now they just blanket block out peak flights domestically.

For flights to the USA, call Velocity and ask about booking Hawaiian Airlines to Honolulu from Sydney or Brisbane (which you can book with points in business class or economy). From there you can connect to a variety of mainland destinations with Hawaiian, including the biggies of LA and New York, although Hawaiian Airlines is in the higher of the two Velocity redemption tables so you'll need a few extra points than flying with VA or VA+Delta.

These rewards don't show via the Velocity website, but booking over the phone is relatively straightforward, and could be a good way of getting to where you're headed in the USA by still using your points. :)

HAve come to the conclusion that Kris Flyer points are much harder to use now that Perth is in the South West Pacific area.  ANyone else cross about this?

Managed to recently get the US redemption I wanted. VA9 in premium and VA1 in business but I was super flexible with dates (VA9 only runs on a Sunday night and it was what I wanted however I was happy to fly any time) and looked at all east cost options.

I used Velocity points for flights on Hainan from XIY to PEK and Hong Kong Airlines From PVG to HKG and Virgin from HKG to MEL without any problems back in October.. but just last week I couldn’t get a flight from HKG to ICN on Hong Kong Airlines using Velocity Points and had to pay cash.. it’s hard for me to make a definitive call at the moment.. but 3 out of 4 ain’t bad..

I just got 2 one-way business class seats from SYD to LAX in late December 2018 on DL40 at the cheapest reward cost (95,500 points each seat). I was amazed when they appeared and I grabbed them straight away. I know to get these seats you have to grab them as soon as they appear, but I assumed Virgin didn't give away any award seats around Christmas time (they would fill these planes with full fares easily at this time of the year, so I couldn't believe my luck!)

So far, I have flown to LAX at least once per year, every year, for the past 7 years and always managed to get the cheapest business class reward seat when I knew the date I wanted to fly a long way in advance. I agree it is definitely getting harder, but if you know a long way in advance when you have to fly and/or are flexible (e.g. I know the dates of a US conference I will be attending 18 months ahead of time) it is generally achievable if you are diligent in checking regularly.