Reward fares for 2020

Jan 1st and Jan 2nd 2020 are now “within range” for booking however there doesn’t seem to have been ANY reward seats loaded for any route, for any class between the U.K. and the US.

The day I actually want is Jan 4th which would be available this coming Thursday but I’m just wondering why VS haven’t loaded any reward seats at all for 2020 yet. Is this usual? Do they normally not release very early January seats exactly “on time” ?

I got our UK to US flights exactly 330 days out without any problems. I don’t remember a delay in the release of early January seats for the return journey when we did the same route 2 years ago.

It's a manual process and theres no pattern to it either. Keep checking because they may appear at any time.

VS may have also decided not to release any on those dates for internal reasons. Who knows?! Only someone in revenue management would know for sure.

You may also want to try calling. I've had a couple of occasions where the gold line staff saw availability that I did not on the website, so its worth a shot.

I wouldn't worry just because reward seats havn't been released immediately.

You can say the same about the lower fare bucket revenue fares - it always takes a couple of days for those to be released as well.

Given that VS don't guarantee to release a particular number of rewards at a particular time it does give them some flexibility as to when they do release them.

As others have said earlier in the thread - well worth checking daily to see if what you want has been released ….. there are certainly some transatlantic reward fares already released for 2nd January on VS website tonight e.g. JFK-LHR and EWR-LHR both have availability in Premium (55,000 miles + £464.12) so worth another look for the departure airport(s) you are interested in for the date(s) you prefer. It also shows some availability after that on the same routes (though too early to let you book the 4th) e.g. return legs on 1st, 2nd and 4th January in Upper (but no Upper availability on that route - yet ! - for 3rd or 5th).

Thanks for all the positive messages.

I’ve been looking at the VS website obsessively the last few days. I’ve noticed today that UC availability has appeared for Jan 4th from JFK so I think I’ll try and get those tomorrow and then keep looking to see if any UC Miami get loaded so then I can change them. I know that it’s not ideal but at least that’s the transatlantic bit sorted if I can get them.

What I sometimes do is check for rewards seats a week or two ahead of when I actually want.
Sometimes you see a pattern emerging and can predict when the one you want will come up.
One year we were on holiday in Wales when I predicted our MCO flight for the next year would be released.
Wifi was no good in the apartment so at 6 a.m. I was in the garden outside the reception office to get a signal and sure enough two reward seats to Orlando became mine.
Just keep checking.
Dick D

I’m sure you’re aware, but reward seats are now available for most US destinations for the start of Jan.

... including MIA on the 4th.

The moral of the story - as ever with reward seats - is to be patient!

i can only see economy on 4th - no PE or UC am i missing something

Yes, Premium is available on both MIA flights and UC (3 seats) on the later flight.

Thank you. I see it for MIA-LHR but was hoping for other way MIA-LHR - can't see those yet.

Ah, well Gs are always much more elusive on the ex-US red-eyes. Many employers have a policy that allows Business Class on overnight flights but not on day flights, so demand for UC tends to be higher.

Yes I’m also looking for MIA-LHR

I managed to get the only 5 Gs offered so far for JFK-LHR for Jan 4th so fingers crossed they will eventually release some MIA-LHR ones

So I just had a chat with VS ff club to see if they could see any reward UC fares ..... they couldn’t but the lady did say they usually load the most expensive fares first then a couple of days later load the cheaper ones and then load the reward fares. Aledgedly there are currently only the expensive fares loaded for MIA-LHR for Jan 4th so other fare types may follow.

One can only hope !

Without wishing to be blunt, you have 11 months, don't panic just because they haven't appeared in the first few days...

While anything can happen (and quite often does), I think you’re being pretty optimistic hoping for 5 Gs back from MIA on the last day before everyone goes back to work/school after Christmas.

While anything can happen (and quite often does), I think you’re being pretty optimistic hoping for 5 Gs back from MIA on the last day before everyone goes back to work/school after Christmas.

Whilst I do agree with you Gumshoe I did manage to nab what appears to have been the only 5 Gs released on the JFK-LHR route for the 4th so I will continue to live in hope, however misguided that maybe

Without wishing to be blunt, you have 11 months, don't panic just because they haven't appeared in the first few days...

Ta !

It’s my OCD that just takes over. I do like to have all my ducks in a row

I did manage to nab what appears to have been the only 5 Gs released on the JFK-LHR route for the 4th so I will continue to live in hope, however misguided that maybe

JFK is a very different animal though. Hardly any business travel over Christmas and multiple daily flights = lots of Gs.

But the biggest cruise port in the world, in sunny Florida just after Christmas = a totally different market with a lot of demand for J among leisure travellers. On Jan 4th seven cruise ships arrive in Miami with capacity for 25,000 passengers, hundreds of whom will be flying back to London that night.

Ta !

It’s my OCD that just takes over. I do like to have all my ducks in a row

Haha, as someone who is similar I can absolutely understand that!