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How to Redeem Your SkyMiles on Virgin Australia Business Class

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Old Aug 14, 2010, 9:56 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by KVS
Actually, we are pleased to confirm that KVS Tool's award availability coverage now extends to V Australia as well, making it the 50th carrier, for which award/upgrades are known to be supported. The award/upgrade booking classes chart at http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes has now been updated accordingly.

BTW, does anyone know what VA's Economy award booking class is?
VA is to be searched using Sabre:FS, but how do you get FS to show up as an option?
I could finally get that to show when looking for availability, but it does not show Z class on VA
Last edited by ffI; Aug 14, 2010 at 10:13 pm
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Old Aug 14, 2010, 10:20 pm
  #17  
 
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Does anyone know much about VA's business class? It seems like a pretty cool airline.

Also, note that VA offers a trans-Indian Ocean flight from Johannesburg to Melbourne (I think?).

There are a fair number of options now for US-Australia travel: DL and VA direct or KE (Korean), MH (Malaysia), CZ (China Southern), VN (Vietnam), MU (China Eastern), CI (China) with connections in Asia (not entirely sure on legal routings though...).
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 12:43 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by kahuna613
Does anyone know much about VA's business class?
http://www.vaustralia.com.au/in-flig...ness/index.htm
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 6:08 am
  #19  
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Originally Posted by KVS
Actually, we are pleased to confirm that KVS Tool's award availability coverage now extends to V Australia as well, making it the 50th carrier, for which award/upgrades are known to be supported. The award/upgrade booking classes chart at http://Help.KVSTool.com/#Classes has now been updated accordingly.

BTW, does anyone know what VA's Economy award booking class is?
^

I think VA economy award booking is F.
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 7:58 am
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Originally Posted by kahuna613
Does anyone know much about VA's business class? It seems like a pretty cool airline.

Also, note that VA offers a trans-Indian Ocean flight from Johannesburg to Melbourne (I think?).

There are a fair number of options now for US-Australia travel: DL and VA direct or KE (Korean), MH (Malaysia), CZ (China Southern), VN (Vietnam), MU (China Eastern), CI (China) with connections in Asia (not entirely sure on legal routings though...).
It appears to be 2-3-2, which is disturbing. Also, the seats aren't the Upper Class Suites. I'm surprised they haven't updated these aircraft yet.

Also, the premium economy seats seem older too - they're 2-4-2.
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 9:08 am
  #21  
 
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VA's coach booking class is "F" - that's what they booked my (now former) Award Business Class booking into. I was not pleased when I went to select seats and found it was Economy.
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 10:51 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by ffI
VA is to be searched using Sabre:FS, but how do you get FS to show up as an option?
I could finally get that to show when looking for availability, but it does not show Z class on VA
It appears that the 'trick' to showing Z availability is to combine the long-haul VA flight it with an intra-AU segment, e.g:

[KVS Availability Tool 5.7.4/Diamond - Sabre: Availability/FS/US]
Code:
LAX  Los Angeles Int'l CA US [KLAX]
MEL  Melbourne Tullamarine VI AU [YMML]
SUN  28 Nov 2010

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  814     SYD   07:45     MEL   09:15     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  818     SYD   08:15     MEL   09:45     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  822     SYD   08:45     MEL   10:15     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  826     SYD   09:15     MEL   10:45     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         12      LAX   21:40     MEL   08:25     77W      J9 C9 D9 I9 W9 S9 R9 O9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 G9 E9 N9 V9 Q9 T9
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 1:34 pm
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by KVS
It appears that the 'trick' to showing Z availability is to combine the long-haul VA flight it with an intra-AU segment, e.g:

[KVS Availability Tool 5.7.4/Diamond - Sabre: Availability/FS/US]
Code:
LAX  Los Angeles Int'l CA US [KLAX]
MEL  Melbourne Tullamarine VI AU [YMML]
SUN  28 Nov 2010

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  814     SYD   07:45     MEL   09:15     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  818     SYD   08:15     MEL   09:45     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  822     SYD   08:45     MEL   10:15     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         2       LAX   20:10     SYD   06:05     77W      J4 C4 D4 I4 Z4 W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 V4 Q4 T4 F4 P4
 -> VA/DJ  826     SYD   09:15     MEL   10:45     73W      W4 S4 R4 O4 Y4 B4 H4 K4 M4 G4 E4 U? X4 L4 N4 T4 V4 Q4
VA         12      LAX   21:40     MEL   08:25     77W      J9 C9 D9 I9 W9 S9 R9 O9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 G9 E9 N9 V9 Q9 T9
When I try those exact specs, I recieve an "engine availability error"
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 1:43 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by damaxer91
When I try those exact specs, I recieve an "engine availability error"
What date are you entering? The [Sabre: FS] engine is currently unable to process requests beyond a 299-day range.
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 1:45 pm
  #25  
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The trick then is to filter it with Z & F - Voila - no extra garbage! Interesting.
I would have used up my skymiles and saved my US miles for Asia on SQ if I had known earlier.

[KVS Availability Tool 5.7.4/Diamond - Sabre: Availability/FS/US]
LAX Los Angeles Int'l CA US [KLAX]
AKL Auckland Int'l NZ [NZAA]
SUN 2 Feb 2011

Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------
VA/## 165 AKL 06:30 MEL 08:40 73H
-> VA 11 MEL 21:30 LAX 17:00 77W
VA/## 3084 AKL 06:40 CHC 08:05 73H
-> VA/EK 6003 CHC 17:00 SYD 18:20 77W
-> VA 1 SYD 21:05 LAX 15:50 77W Z4 F4
VA/## 3084 AKL 06:40 CHC 08:05 73H
-> VA/## 63 CHC 15:45 MEL 17:40 73H
-> VA 11 MEL 21:30 LAX 17:00 77W
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 2:06 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by bcphitau
VA's coach booking class is "F" - that's what they booked my (now former) Award Business Class booking into. I was not pleased when I went to select seats and found it was Economy.
Originally Posted by Wiirachay
^

I think VA economy award booking is F.
Thanks!
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 2:44 pm
  #27  
 
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Dude, awesome! I'm trying to piece together a DL award to Australia late next year and have the 300,000 mi saved up to burn. This will do nicely. Thanks for the great info! ^
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Old Aug 15, 2010, 4:00 pm
  #28  
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how to link with Virgin Blue flights?
I don't understand how to use DL miles for partner flights. Are there options for flights beyond SYD/MEL/BNE? For example CNS/ADL or even AKL? I'm not sure this is even an option. Any experts know how this works?

Thanks in advance
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Old Aug 16, 2010, 10:30 am
  #29  
 
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All of the domestic flights are operated by Virgin Blue, on which Skymiles redemtpions are not permitted. All of VA's routes are international.
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Old Aug 18, 2010, 10:01 pm
  #30  
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Here is an example of a LAX-SYD search, without any domestic segment required, at 331 days out:

Last edited by ExpertFlyer Voice; Aug 18, 2010 at 10:29 pm
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