I am trying to use my Hawaiian miles to book flights on Virgin Atlantic. I have tried twice without success and have discovered by calling Virgin Atlantic that there are no seats available for Virgin Atlantic mileage members either. The days I want to travel are 9/20/13 (outbound) and 10/12/13 (return). Does anyone know when or if I can expect seats to be made available for mileage members? If and when Virgin Atlantic does open up seats for their mileage members will those seats be available for Virgin Atlantic partner airlines like Hawaiian airlines? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Michael
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Virgin Atlantic recently had a "sale" on reward flights, which is when I booked my flight with them. I booked on Jun 8 for an Aug 7 flight. Do you suppose the reward flights are already sold out for the dates you wanted to travel? For mine (to London), the outgoing flight worked great with my plans, but the soonest I could return was Aug 23 or 25 - no other choices were available, even two months out.
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7054 posts
I think you need to be extremely flexible on dates & times when it comes to cashing out miles...a set itinerary may not work. Airlines are trying to keep planes full and tighten their capacity so trying to get one of those allocated award seats is like fighting for (diminishing) scraps. I don't know where Virgin Atlantic ranks along the continuum of ease in cashing out miles among airlines(I believe Southwest and Alaska Air are in the top spots for "success" in using miles). Keep trying and best of luck!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33842 posts
Interesting new fact about Virgin Atlantic - 49% of it (the old Singapore Airlines shares) has been sold to Delta.
Posted by
NYC
922 posts
Nigel, that is great news about Delta and Virgin Atlantic. This USA Today article has some good detail about how travelers will benefit from the new partnership: http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2451833
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
Hardly "great" news??? When competition shrinks the consumer never benefits.
Posted by
NYC
922 posts
I don't think Delta and Virgin Atlantic had many competing routes. It's not a merger, which would constitute a consolidation. Rather, they're calling it a 'tie-up' and it's "expected to bring pooled flight options and reciprocal frequent-flier benefits for customers of each carrier....Customers also will be able to earn miles - including those that count toward elite status - on any flight offered by either carrier as of July 3." Frequent fliers on both carriers will also be able to get reciprocal perqs. And it opens up a lot of UK destinations for through booking that weren't previously easily possible.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5457 posts
You are unlikely to see any seats become available again for redemption until quite close to departure (a few days). If you do, you are lucky.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9371 posts
Wow, I must have just gotten lucky booking my flights, I guess! I just went online and booked them. I was already a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club member (that's what my miles were, too). And I am thrilled with the new partnership between VA and Delta! It opens a lot of travel options for me, since Virgin Atlantic doesn't have a wide range of flights from my area.