Consolidated thread - lack of UC Reward Flights post Covid
Feb 24, 22, 9:02 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold 100K and Marriott Titanium Member
Posts: 180
Consolidated thread - lack of UC Reward Flights post Covid
I’ve had no luck finding Upper Class Availability for the first week of April, I’ve searched JFK, LAX and SFO and nothing’s come up for weeks. Is this normal? VA is upping their schedule in April so I was hoping more awards become available. Do they release more awards close to the departure date?
Feb 24, 22, 9:49 am
#2
Join Date: May 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 3,904
Originally Posted by sfflyer415
I’ve had no luck finding Upper Class Availability for the first week of April, I’ve searched JFK, LAX and SFO and nothing’s come up for weeks. Is this normal? VA is upping their schedule in April so I was hoping more awards become available. Do they release more awards close to the departure date?
Feb 24, 22, 9:53 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 13,457
I’m not surprised there are few if any at the moment.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
Feb 24, 22, 1:33 pm
#4
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 115
Assuming the points are not already in your Virgin account, check out KLM/AF availability for April - there are some flights available for 55k miles and way less in fees. Arguably a better hard product and you get a little pottery house!
Feb 24, 22, 2:34 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2009
Location: UK
Posts: 3,904
Originally Posted by UKtravelbear
I’m not surprised there are few if any at the moment.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
Feb 24, 22, 3:46 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London, Sth Africa or LAS
Programs: VS Gold, BA Bronze and dropping; but hotels.com Gold :)
Posts: 1,829
Originally Posted by UKtravelbear
I’m not surprised there are few if any at the moment.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
VS will have who knows how many thousands of rewards bookings that are now vouchers to accommodate before releasing any new ones.
BA at least commit to release 4 Club World seats per flight. VS have fewer seats in Upper relative to BA in the first place (the 789 only has 31 Upper seats) and certainly they are not releasing anywhere near the number of UC reward seats per route per week than in pre covid times.
I'm kinda resigned to it taking 15 months or so to re-balance. Hopefully it'll be sooner.
Feb 25, 22, 3:39 am
#7
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Sussex by the Sea
Programs: Would quite like the freedom to fly and regain some status, please
Posts: 525
VS West Coast availability is dire - way tighter than normal, and the voucher situation can be the only explanation. I am after a single seat either LAS/LAX/SFO to LHR on a single Monday in May (hardly peak travel time!), and the shelves are bare. Hopefully there will be a lot of last minute releases on off peak days.
Feb 25, 22, 5:02 am
#8
Join Date: May 2013
Location: LHR
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 991
FWIW I've found the SEA route to be a lot more plentiful with award space than SFO/LAX/LAS. I last checked about 2-3 weeks ago, so who knows if the taps have been turned off on that route too since then, but worth a look perhaps...
Feb 27, 22, 2:55 am
#9
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 428
For a few months they seemed to be releasing availability mid month for the following month. Eg in Dec they released loads of UC for Jan and again in Jan for Feb. Most days had at least one UC seat, some had 6! But now looking on seat spy there is nothing till October on any West Coast route. Madness
Feb 28, 22, 1:58 pm
#10
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: VS Gold, SQ Elite Gold, IHG Diamond Elite Ambassador, AS MVP Gold 75k
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by taxicabnumber
FWIW I've found the SEA route to be a lot more plentiful with award space than SFO/LAX/LAS. I last checked about 2-3 weeks ago, so who knows if the taps have been turned off on that route too since then, but worth a look perhaps...
Feb 28, 22, 4:01 pm
#12
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: VS Gold, SQ Elite Gold, IHG Diamond Elite Ambassador, AS MVP Gold 75k
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by kitbag1984
How do you search for these flights?
Mar 2, 22, 3:12 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 864
Originally Posted by Ian Z
If you use the virgin book tool on the website and use points just make sure you use the link for full airport list and then find Seattle under US/Washington and Los Angeles under US/California. Search under Economy to start and usually it is only 8500 miles. Lots of availability in April and May
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Mar 3, 22, 10:45 am
#15
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: VS Gold, SQ Elite Gold, IHG Diamond Elite Ambassador, AS MVP Gold 75k
Posts: 42
Originally Posted by pazza2000
Is there a way to search a monthly slender view of availability ? When you select ‘show flexible dates’, I believe it is only searching for availability a couple of days either side of your requested dates.
