Vivalasvegas

We're planning on going to Australia next year. We will have around 200,000 airmiles. I thought Virgin flew there but seem to get a blank when I try and do a dummy booking on their site, even though it comes up. Do they still fly there?

Any tips for trying to book the best way. Can book Upper to Hk it seems so didn't know if that was a good idea and then book flights from there. Or are there any partner airlines that will take the miles? Sorry to sound very vague but I'm a bit stuck. Many thanks.

UKtravelbear

VS haven't flown to SYD for a couple of years.

You wll have to do the HKG-SYD leg using partners. See the 'partner airlines' thread for more details re options and how difficult it can be.

craigthemif

Unfortunately you're almost definitely NOT going to get to Oz using only Virgin Atlantic miles.

I would suggest that you book a VS flight to Hong Kong using your miles. Book them as one-ways since all rewards leaving HKG have no surcharges added.

Then separately, using Avios or cash, you book another ticket from Hong Kong to Australia - between Cathay Pacific and Qantas you should have some decent options with Avios.

Nottingham Nick

For our last three visits to Oz / NZ we have used J's on VS as far as Hong Kong and then a combination of LCC's to get down under. This suits us, as we like to visit different Asian cities on the way down. As Craig says these are always booked as two one way redemptions, as the charges HKG-LHR are about a tenth of the charges on the outbound.

Our favourite LCC is Air Asia as they do a flight from KUL to Auckland via Gold Coast which has 'business class' seats. Okay, it isn't proper business class; but it is a cheap way to do a long haul flight in comfort. They aren't flat beds, but are very similar to the old J2000 seats that VS used to have many moons ago, and I have no difficulty sleeping on them. My main consideration is the fact that the price isn't a proper business class price either - especially during their fairly frequent sales.

Nick

FlyerTalker7654

Check out Scoot airways as well. Was looking at flights from Singapore to Sydney and their premium economy was only $350 (USD). Granted you will prob get to Hong Kong but might want to check if they go from there.

Vivalasvegas

Thanks for the replies/suggestions, we'll look at other options.

davistev

Malindo Air also is running Business Class (seats only) to Perth and Brisbane from KUL and DPS for a reasonable price.

FlossieFlyer

As of July 5th VA will be running at HKG-MEL direct flight too. And vice versa.

I'm VA so don't know the VX side of it but from what I can see you should be able to book these.

VA are using their new "The Business" 1-2-1 lie flats on this route. 7.50pm depart of from HKG 5 times a week.

Cheers
FF

craigthemif

For the avoidance of doubt, I believe that you are referring to Virgin Australia (VA) which is correct but are incorrectly referring to Virgin America (VX) instead of VS (Virgin Atlantic)

Unfortunately, using VS miles on VA long-haul flights is quite expensive.

http://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/...australia.html

rapidex

I am more a BA flyer,so forgive my ignorance.

Is there an option to fly LHR-LAX on VA then LAX-SYD on DL?

UKtravelbear

You mean VS on the LHR-LAX sector but yes there is a VS LHR-LAX service which DL code share..

VA is Virgin Australia.

But yes there is a DL LAX-SYD service. DL also have a code share on some VA services to SYD.

Vivalasvegas

UKtravelbear

Previously it was cheaper booking them as two separate tickets so (i) LHR-HKG and (ii) HKG-LHR because it used to be the case that airlines wern't allowed to charge carrier surcharges on ex-HKG flights. However that has now changed so it's not as cheap as it used to be.

I'd do some dummy bookings for booking them as separate trips and as a return trip to get the most accurate costs.

Vivalasvegas

Vivalasvegas