Originally Posted by
flyerguy68
Thought I would relate my dire experience trying to book a partner flight with VS miles Melbourne to NZ over the past few days.
Initially tried to book two economy on Singapore from Melbourne to Wellington - despite seeing availability and holding the seats, they couldn't book because they aren't "allowed" to book SQ reward flights between Oz and NZ. Was promised a call back while they checked what to do, but never got one. When I called two days later, was told they could book it and they cancelled the held booking.
Next up, a few days later, tried to book two economy Melbourne to Auckland on Air NZ. Award seats showed on all Star alliance partners, but Virgin couldn't see the seats. HUCA, they could see seats but only two days earlier, I said to go for those, but they couldn't book due to some system issue. Was promised they would create the booking and that I would get a call back within 30 mins. Never got the call back. When I tried calling again a few hours later, no booking had been made or put on hold, and the award seats had gone by that stage.
HOPELESS.
That sounds pretty bad. For what it's worth, my positive experiences booking redemptions on partner airlines using VS miles have been (In order of ease): DL, NH, CA // SA, SQ, NZ. There is a dramatic drop in availability and ease of booking - in my experience - between the first three and latter three airlines in my list.