V-Flyer

Hello!

Has anyone had any luck using their Flying Club miles to buy a partner airline reward to ticket to Sydney, since VS stopped flying there?

I'm actually trying to make the journey from the USA (JFK/EWR would be preferable, but LAX or SFO quite possible too) in business/first.

As far as I can work out, this is what I should need:
Air NZ: 125k miles (LAX-SYD return)
Delta: 150k miles (NYC-SYD return)
Virgin Aus: 188k miles (LAX-SYD return)

I have the miles, but there appears to be no availability for the dates ranges I need (outward 22-29 September, return 9-12 October).

To check the redemption availability, the Customer Service representative at Virgin has to manually try each date combination with each airline. I asked if there was not a simpler way to do this. She said, "no!"

Just wondering if I'm missing something really obvious, or if anyone has had any luck!

Best,

NYLON

No luck for me either NYLON I'm afraid .
I gave up trying to use miles on NZ to AKL/SYD via LAX a while ago due to complete non - availability and I was uber uber flexible with dates ( a shame as the NZ hard product is great and their lounges are better than most).
VA's redemption rate with FC miles is too high ( IMHO) and again availability on (lots of ) dates I've tried was zilch.
Haven't gone down the DL route but have booked BA (F)/ CX (J) for my next trip in January since VS pulled the plug .

DL

Same exp with Air NZ as Dragon Lady and I gave them almost a 10 month window - I've not read of anyone securing a Business Class ANZ flight out of LAX.

In the end i bit the bullet and paid for revenue tickets and as others have remarked it is a great product with very good lounges.

My last flight into Sydney was via VA - and pretty good it was too - we got the private row in Upper (3 of us) the one that's curtained off behind the bar and had a great flight - with great and attentive crew!

Andrew

Thanks, phantomtwin & DragonLady,

I wonder if anyone has had any luck with Delta. The representative at Virgin seemed to be able to search the DL availability much quicker than NZ or (oddly) VA.

However there was not one single Business/First reward ticket available for VS miles on DL for the whole month of September!

Is it just a bad time to fly, or are partner reward flights notoriously difficult to redeem on this route in particular?

I would have thought, with the withdrawal of the VS service to Sydney, the might have tried to make things a bit easier!

Thanks for your help.

I spent a long time with a virgin rep on the phone and he came up with two solutions..
London to van and then shuttle to lax for the v. Oz flight.

Or

London Dubai and then non partner to Nz.

I opted for the second ... But there seems to be a gap in the market here for va and I wonder if they will think of prioritising a solution.


Or they may have the same thinking as a my elderly grandmother who exclaimed last year, "why are you flying the Atlantic airline to Sydeny - that ocean is no where near Australia dear!"

Very good, Sam, love the grandmother tale!

It does strike me as odd that VS took out the Sydney flight without any real provision for making partner reward flights easier to book!

The DL deal is the best, I think, as it's one flat rate mileage from anywhere in the US to Australia (150k), meaning I can fly from NYC to SYD for the same mileage as LAX to SYD.

I may and up taking the VA flights from LAX, it's just that I think 188k miles return is a bit steep, as DragonLady mentions.

Well, any other words of wisdom from anyone else would be greatly appreciated!

NYLON wrote:It does strike me as odd that VS took out the Sydney flight without any real provision for making partner reward flights easier to book!

Probably because it was losing a shed load of money. Reward seats aren't high on the agenda for VS, they are a perk (if becoming a little diluted with add-on surcharges). Revenue seats especially in higher cabins are what count/ make a route pay.

Paying for a dXB to oz leg would seem illogical as these fares often little different to ones from the UK-Oz, you'll just end up wasting a load of miles to get halfway (and halfway doesn't equate to half the cost for the remainder)..

AUS/NZ - LAX normally has very poor availability even in the airlines (QF/VA/NZ) own programs. I guess with a large domestic network & base and only a few international routes all the Aus/NZ FF'rs from QF/NZ etc all use LAX as a gateway.

Don't forget Malaysian! - a few years ago we redeemed miles for First class to KL, then Business to Perth. I'm sure that they do Sydney (but you won't now be able to do first to KL - only business - but it's an A380 and looks as if it should be good)

Peter Stansfield wrote:-

Don't forget Malaysian! - a few years ago we redeemed miles for First class to KL, then Business to Perth. I'm sure that they do Sydney (but you won't now be able to do first to KL - only business - but it's an A380 and looks as if it should be good)

Malaysian is now part of the OneWorld alliance so doesn't use Flying Club miles. We recently flew business class on the A380 to KUL and it was a great product.

Daffodil

Although I don't think you can EARN Flying Club miles on Malaysian (since as you say they're in 'One World'), I'm sure you can still SPEND Flying Club miles. The website says you can, and I spoke to FC about this only a month ago...

Thanks, everyone, I really appreciate all your advice.

Anyone had any luck with DL since the tie-up?