V-Flyer

Hello,

My family is plannig a trip to Sydney for a wedding next October and the flights have just become available to buy.

I would ideally like to purchase one return economy ticket with miles but at present none are available. Does anyone have experience of the general availability of reward economy flights to Sydney? Is it likely that they may become available in a month or two?

I should also have moved back up to gold by the time we fly to Sydney. I have enjoyed using the clubhouses in LHR and HK previously but I have never used a lounge in Sydney. Is the Sydney lounge a clubhouse or shared lounge?

If anyone has any ideas for must not miss things to do in HK with kids aged 9 and 11 and in Sydney I would really appreciate it!

Oh and finally, we would prefer to stay in self catering accomodation in Sydney... if anyone has any recommendations of somewhere that has a couple of bedrooms and is in a good location I would really appreciate if you could let me know.

Sorry for all of the questions and many thanks for any help!

Ant.

With only one flight a day and the obvious popularity of the route, SYD - or more specifically the LHR-HKG leg - is always hard to get reward seats on. Not helped by the fact a return trip involves finding availability for 4 separate legs, so matching up the dates you want isn't easy and you may have to be flexible and consider a night or two's layover in HKG.

Having said that it's by no means impossible - reward seats can appear at random at any time so it's a question of frequent checking, persistence, flexibility and booking one leg at a time as your chances of finding availability on all 4 legs at the same time are slim at best.

SYD doesn't have its own Virgin Clubhouse - its a shared lounge operated by Air New Zealand, not bad by all accounts.

Hi there

If the flights have only just become available then I'd say there is a reasonable chance that initial reward inventory may be yet to appear -- keep checking!

I'm sure others can help with suggestions of good places to visit with kids -- I would suggest the aquarium in Sydney. But there are (literally) loads of other things to do! Hong Kong is a different kettle of fish -- it depends what you like doing.

I stayed at the Quay Grand Suites (now the Pullman Quay Grand, I think) in Sydney. It was a nice place, with good friendly service, and my room was basically a self-catering suite. It wasn't particularly expensive (but this was a few years ago) and the location was terrific -- wandered down to the end of the road, not knowing what to expect, and there round the corner was the Opera House! They also allowed me to check in at 8 am after coming in on the VS200... lucky...

try looking at Rewardseats.com to check reward availability

showing plenty of dates for Sydney in Oct 2014, it depends what dates you are looking at

then go to VS site with those dates, looks like 90,000 miles return plus £518.05 taxes/fees

I wouldn't redeem FC miles for an economy ticket, simply because the financial saving versus doing the same for Upper is so minimal.

ant_flyer wrote:Oh and finally, we would prefer to stay in self catering accomodation in Sydney... if anyone has any recommendations of somewhere that has a couple of bedrooms and is in a good location I would really appreciate if you could let me know.

We're off the spend Christmas and New Year in a self catering apartment in central Sydney and will let you know what it's like. All I can say at the moment is that it's eye wateringly expensive as we straddle New Year's Eve..... :0

There are a lot of really pleasant looking apartments out there but many seem to be on holiday let sites that serve only to introduce landlord / tenant and provide no assurance that the landlord won't change their mind the day you travel and decide they don't want to rent the property out to you. We saw some really attractive properties but in the end opted for the guarantee of a formal contract....

clarkeysntfc wrote:I wouldn't redeem FC miles for an economy ticket, simply because the financial saving versus doing the same for Upper is so minimal.

What he said. Unless you get the free upgrade to PE with the Virgin Credit Card, then it just about becomes an okay deal.

On my recent trip to New Zealand I came back via Sydney and can confirm as an AU you are able to use the Air New Zealand Koru Club at SYD, it is pretty comfortable I had time for a shower and a bite to eat along with a beer or two watching the Airport workings.