dhuey

Click Elevate/Redeem Points, then scroll down below Redeem With Our Airline Partners. You'll see from/to airports. Change them to NRT and SIN and you'll see the VX points (thousands) required on Singapore: 20/70/90 for Y/C/F, plus $55.

Zacnlinc

About 4 months ago I was able to book 2 RT UC on VS using VX miles (SFO-LHR). The entire process was "easy". I say "easy" only because I had to wait 3 days for the VS seats to become available in VX's system even though VS showed availability (agent at VX was very knowledgeable indeed!!).

VX booked my outbound seats to hold them for the reservation and called me back 3 days later as promised she would to let me know seats were now available in UC for the return to complete my reservation.

Taxes and duties paid were paid then and maybe 3 days later the miles were deducted from my account. All in all, it was a good experience indeed.

lsed

Weird thing today... VX seems to be charging full YQ on SQ redemptions.

In Dec (and the for the past last 2 years) I redeemed SIN BKK SIN, I was always charged around $45 - $50 per pax for taxes and fees.

Today I called in for another SIN BKK SIN and it was priced at $145. Agent priced it out three times and was still the same.

Anyone having the same problem?

travelerp

Really disappointing experience with VX and trying to book SFO-LHR on VS (availability showed on VS website) - could not even speak with the awards desk - was told they had no phone system because they were moving and that I should email - would get a response within 24 hrs. Did so and four days later no response. Called again, was told the same thing, and that I should call back and speak with a supervisor when one was available (was in Hawaii and guess the supervisors were gone for the day). During the four days I also sent DM to the Twitter team asking when desk would have communication - no response. Gave up, transferred the VS miles from a credit card and booked that way in fear of losing seats.

GrayAnderson

I've generally had good experiences with VX booking on VS. I've been advised that SQ is basically a lost cause, VA is spotty, and I'm not really looking at Emirates (IMHO it's all the fees of VS with a far worse place to lay over...yes, I'll take London over the UAE almost any day...). Finally, I've generally been informed that HA is basically a mirage: They partner with almost everyone in some fashion or another, but I think that's owing to their inter-island network (everyone else's offerings outside of HNL and, to a lesser extent, OGG are pretty slim).

As to that 100k price above, that's because the poster was getting a VS fixed-cost award alongside a VX award (generally the external awards are a substantially better value; heck, the only reason I'm spending points on an "internal" redemption in a few weeks is in anticipation of the merger being a disaster).

Kilian Zoll

If I can see SQ availability on both AC, NH and Lifemiles, it is likely that it is available to VX agents as well right? Are VX agents able to hold award tickets?

EDIT: Just called Elevate and the agent could NOT see the seats in his system, despite them being available on Lifemiles, ANA and Air Canada (and SQ itself or course). It seems strange to me that Elevate would somehow not have access to these seats. Any advice? HUACA?

Carfield

I have the same experience with SQ Award availability too.

I have thought that it might have to do with new a/c versus regional a/c, but VX simply does not show any award availability.

I am looking at SIN-HKG on August 19 and there are two SQ flights with J availability, but VX called me and said that they have no availability.

Carfield

Carfield

Just a report back...
The partner desk is back in operation and it is available from 8am to 11pm PST daily. Some of the agents, who work in the regular desk, are not aware of it.

Unfortunately, Singapore Airlines or Virgin America or both are blocking award availability on SQ.

While ANA shows seats available in J and Y, Virgin America seems none. I am not even checking long haul flights, as I am just checking regional flights from SIN to BKK and HKG.

If you are looking to use your VX points for SQ award flights, basically you should forget about it, as it does not matter for any cabin class or on any routes - long or short haul.

Carfield

gpeso8

Agree, this is pretty crazy, I had her look at a two week span for CGK-SIN in J and Y and she couldn't find anything for any date. I was looking at award space at the same time via AC and LifeMiles and it was showing a lot of availability. Really bizarre.

Kilian Zoll

They really should remove SQ from their redemption tables if seats indeed can't be redeemed on this carrier.

gpeso8

Agree, I've called three times today and have now covered the whole month of October for CGK-SIN. Apparently there is no availability for the entire month in Y or J. SQ is either blocking Virgin or Virgin is blocking the SQ space.

RedwoodA320

Is the redemption desk (or I guess it was renamed "burn desk") regularly and easily reachable now? Is 8am - 11pm for sure the hours? It used to be 9pm - 5pm.

Very particular, but does anyone know if Patti still works at the redemption desk after the change? She was honestly the best redemption agent — it'd be a shame if she left (or was laid off) as a result of the change.

rasheed

Recently did my first redemption from VX on VA partner award. The hold time to reach anyone at VX was forever it seems, so I did the call back option.

Once I got the callback (maybe an hour later), I asked for the Burn Desk. That required a callback after another 10 minutes.

Subtracting out the taxes/fees I paid to VX on top of the points, I got about 2.9 cents value per VX point versus the discounted VA fare. Not as cheap as Jetstar, but all VA domestic tickets now include one checked bag at 23kg which is helpful.

I did call VA to get seats for the flight. I have not received the confirmation for booking as yet, but I was told it might take up to three days even though the booking was visible to VA immediately and had the VX ticket numbers. I was not charged the $20 call center fee (Red status) even though the website is not clear on this item (VX chat indicated there would be no charge to call), but I do have the $100 per person cancellation fee if I can't keep my plan.

Inventory did match what was available on the VA book with points option.

Rasheed

RedwoodA320

When you call and the agent says they cant help, HUCA. I've found that agents who can book partner flights also answer the normal line.

rasheed

Perhaps, but getting a call back from the Burn Desk directly was fine as the agent knew how to do the intl booking including giving me both reference codes where I have to sometimes ask for that detail.

I do agree though everything seems to be going via the 303 call center (Denver).

Rasheed