V-Flyer

I am only speculating here, but I would guess that reward seats on the first months of flights to OZ will be very scarce.

That is of course unless the seats don't sell very well and they want to fill the planes.[:(]

Nick

I doubt it, that might be the aim for VS, but remember, miles seats are a burden for virgin and other airlines, and there's no regulation for an airline to have a FF program.

I don't think they HAVE to do anything - it's their airline;)

My understanding is that there are always 'a number' of reward seats on each flight.

The general concensus on other boards (Flyertalk) is that VS have good reward availability compared to most US airlines, but I would guess that they aren't going to give something away if they can sell it. That is just my opinion.

Nick

7E7

I don't disagree with your sentiments, I too have been frustated at not being able to get reward seats on the flights I wanted, even though I had a huge amount of flexibility.

The thing is though, the main reason for running an airline is to make money. If they can sell the seats they will do. The idea of reward seats is to fill up the 'off season' and less popular flights.

Nick

I never had a problem booking reward/companion seats

VSFC usually bend over backwards to help out
one time they even let me book a reward flight the day before I flew!! they usually want several working days notice!!

quote:Originally posted by Jonathan
I never had a problem booking reward/companion seats

My requirement was 2 x PE and 1 x UC to SFO (post suites) during August - a big ask at the best of times - impossible with only a few months notice.

Nick

yup we just tried LHR-SFO in October/Nov and had the same problems. We even tried changing to LAX but still the same problem. We nearly went for miles upgradeable PE but decided against it. Suspect it's a well booked route at the moment

As has been reported elsewhere, Premier Team have confirmed UC Reward Inventory is only two per flight so on popular routes they get taken up early, additional inventory may be released by Revenue Management depending on load factors, also for Golds and V50's extra inventory has been known to be released on occasions. With the expected popularity of the LHR-SYD route I don't imagine the Reward Inventory will be extended. One thing, if VS were to introduce the 84 UCS config I am sure they would increase it by at least a couple, but don't hold your breath on that one.