I believe the best value for points is going Business Class from Sydney to LA on the a330 with Virgin Australia. The business class is the absolute best on the airbus. I believe it's 92k each way.
The problem is that regardless of what date I put its impossible to use my points to book a seat even picking the furthest dates in advance, am I missing something?
Is there a better point to dollar ratio for a flight?
I like that method, the upgrade is a good use but Business reward outright is definitely better value, this is a good backup.
Award availability has always been an issue with Virgin on their transpacific routes, nothing new here. You have to literally wait for the moment they're open to get any sort of good availability.
seems that way
I was just looking at similar flight. And there were tickets available in rewards.
No need to come to such radical conclusion and making headlines. Maybe it also worth to try other Australian cities?
yes, other cities are quite easy, it just seems that route which is the best route. VA1 VA2, bar on board, a330 lie-flat seats. I doubt you saw that route exactly with the reward business.
That's why it's the hardest to find availability for.
It's almost as if because that's the "best" route and everyone wanted reward seats on that route that….it would be hard to find reward seats on that route. I wonder why that is? The mysteries of the universe astound me every day.
@Kenb0: Also the fact that people actually want to pay full fare for that route. That could be a reason just maybe…
Virgin use Boeing 777s on transpac routes.
Very good find, but most dont click on the link, which would be a pity because it gives some great info, and just what the OP needs.
For the lazy here is some quotes from Meho2026's well found link. (Get better insights by following their link for more detail)
Redeeming Velocity points to North America is possible……….But Virgin Australia does not generally release Business Reward seats to Los Angeles until around a week before the flight.
Then some other insights
Virgin Australia’s policy is the exact opposite of Qantas. Qantas normally releases a few reward seats to its Gold, Platinum and Platinum One members exactly 353 days in advance. Any remaining seats are then released to Bronze and Silver members around 297 days (9.5 months) before departure.
That article is great and thanks to Rocky for explaining it. I was always under the impression of book way in advance. The more you know….
Happy New Years OZBargainers
Tag-a-long question - i recently flew return in Business Class to Fiji, however only one leg was in 'the business' - how can you tell which aircraft or what type of business class will be available as both bookings were identical?
It usually says in your booking confirmation what kind of aircraft it is. B787 is domestic Business Class like Sydney to Melbourne, whereas A33 is 'the business' like Sydney to Perth (sometimes)
So no real way of telling before confirming the booking??
Yeah there is. It says what kind of business class it is, and what aircraft. This is assuming you're using the Virgin Australia website to book.
Oops, meant B737, not B787
When booking the flight, expand the flight box and it will tell you exactly what aircraft you are flying with. You can then cross-reference that with a website called SeatGuru. Its very handy and will explain everything, but if its long haul and says airbus a330 then you know you are going to be sleeping like a baby on your lie flatbed, well worth it.
Yes the flight to Fiji was THE business with the lie flat seat and so impressive - but the return was not, felt like premium economy with better food…
and sadly costs the same in points.
Slightly different, but I did an upgrade on a BNE - LAX flight around this time last year. When trying to narrow down the dates, I actually found the call centre more helpful than the booking website. They were able to provide me with real-time availability over the phone to ensure I could book in economy, then immediately upgrade both myself and muffinwoman.
I'm sure there are others with much more knowledge than me who will provide some valuable advice, but if you have a rough idea of preferred dates it could be worth giving Velocity a call to see if there's anything available.