Where are the Virgin Australia award seats to LA?
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Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Where are the Virgin Australia award seats to LA?
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on Where are the Virgin Australia award seats to LA?
dylanmalloch
dylanmalloch
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 16 Jul 2018
Total posts 34
I think the best way to achieve this would be to book economy seats and then upgrade with points. While there's no award seat bookings available... ever (so it seems)… there's always multiple of the extortionate 'any seat rewards' seats available, which indicates that there's probably spare J seats on most flights.
mcglynp
mcglynp
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Jan 2016
Total posts 48
Last edited by antkleve at Aug 16, 2018, 06.30 AM.
I'd disagree that frequent flyer points sole purpose is to offload unsold inventory. Clearly it is desirable for airlines to make unsold inventory available very close to the flight date for FF redemption. But that is a scenario that would suit very few of their customers, and if it was the only option for redemption would rapidly devalue their scheme.
A significant component of a frequent flyer scheme should be to encourage people to accrue points and in doing so create loyalty to an airline. Then allow them to use them in a manner that benefits both the passenger and the airline. That can mean providing the opportunity for the whole family to go in J at a date of their choosing. The entire context of this thread is based on the fact that this should be possible in J on VA to LAX. But it is becoming increasingly less common, and in many ways impossible.
reeves35
reeves35
Member since 24 Aug 2011
Total posts 82
You answer your own question. It is only beneficial to the airline if it is a seat that would have otherwise gone out empty. As may have pointed out, unsold seats will often become available a couple of days out and can be used as reward seats or upgrades. This is the yield management system at work. Filling a quarter of your available J class seats six months out for no direct revenue makes no sense to the hard-heads in the revenue management department.
Flying High
Flying High
Member since 13 Feb 2015
Total posts 3
Velocity used to be really good, but availability dried up around the same time the new Business Class was introduced. QF seems to be the much more useful rewards scheme these days.
reeves35
reeves35
Member since 24 Aug 2011
Total posts 82
Velocity is much better than QFF domestically. Availability of international is better on QF but points required tend to be higher. Additional fees on QF means redemption is often not worth it and its better to book economy and then try for upgrade.
willvill
willvill
Member since 17 May 2012
Total posts 32
I booked PE to LAX next April and there were NO seats taken at all on that flight in Business(Expert Flyer) . Yet after I booked PE and asked to upgrade, the reply was 'allocation exhausted' which I took to mean not released yet, so I duly went waiting List. So over time seats were filled and still not upgraded right up until the day of departure. So someone or noone got an award seat on that flight. And if they did get the allocated award seat why wasn't it me. Basically when you are wait listed you are in no mans land.....until the week before when they release revenue seats not taken up and then not to waitlisted Platinum flyers
reeves35
reeves35
Member since 24 Aug 2011
Total posts 82
When they come to allocate upgrades, airlines will always preference higher tier FFs first even if there are others who have waitlisted earlier. I don't know what level you are but I've always found upgrade requests on international flights hard to come by when I was anything less than Gold on QF or VA. I did luck an upgrade to J from Y to SIN as a Silver on QF but bizarrely I didn't ask for it so it didn't cost me any points.
johninoz
johninoz
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 01 Apr 2011
Total posts 9
When they come to allocate upgrades, airlines will always preference higher tier FFs first even if there are others who have waitlisted earlier. I don't know what level you are but I've always found upgrade requests on international flights hard to come by when I was anything less than Gold on QF or VA. I did luck an upgrade to J from Y to SIN as a Silver on QF but bizarrely I didn't ask for it so it didn't cost me any points.
Guess this lowly Red FF was very very lucky to get his Business class trip to LA and back in February 2017. If you are right, then I won't be enjoying it again unless I pay the big bucks, and that is out of my budget sadly.
morco
morco
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Dec 2011
Total posts 9
Isn't the points required to upgrade rather high?
Also, given difficulty with accessing VA to USA what about FROM Europe? (I already have outward leg flights)
morco
morco
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Dec 2011
Total posts 9
"Red FFs will never see a J class seat to LAX (maybe HKG also??) for points redemption, not sure about Silver."
Im VA Gold - is that easier?
kureus
kureus
Member since 15 May 2015
Total posts 2
I’ve managed to get 2x business class return from SYD to LAX every year using points on the cheapest reward tier (94k points now?) for about the past 6 years in a row, but I know my travel dates more than a year ahead because it’s an annual conference. I’m just very diligent checking.
Howdy1956
Howdy1956
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 20 Dec 2016
Total posts 2
ZT
ZT
Member since 07 Jan 2017
Total posts 12
A redemption seat is only available if it suits the airline.
antkleve
antkleve
American Airlines - AAdvantage
Member since 15 Feb 2013
Total posts 18
An old airline guy once told me that airlines "don't give away what they can sell."