I need to fly Brisbane to any UK airport in July 2022 and return from Dublin in September 2022. How on earth do you find availability?
Hi @brushwood1
Believe it or not, there is hope. Five months out is “junk time” when it comes to finding availability: the seats that were released eleven months out have been snaffled long ago, and the seats which airlines invariably release closer to departure date haven’t been released yet.
Keep checking, every day if possible, and be prepared to be surprised by availability when you least expect it.
Also, I’d expect/hope that Singapore Airlines business class will be available again to Velocity members by then, so that’s one more reason to not give up.
You might need to be flexible when it comes to dates and destinations, but there really is hope if you persevere!
1 Like
Thanks for that. I got on the Virgin Australia site today to have a look at flights and it won’t let me put in any cities in the UK. What am I doing wrong. I got it up the other day but now that I want to book I can’t find any flights at all. Very frustrating. Help.
You need to have “Use Velocity Points” selected on the Virgin website before it will allow you to enter UK airports. I had a very quick try and the only two airports that it would allow me to enter were London Heathrow (LHR) and Manchester (MAN).
The other thing you could do is use the websites of the airlines that you would like to fly (eg. Etihad and, hopefully soon, Singapore Airlines). Do a search for reward seats on their sites and, if you find them and they’re still not turning up on the Virgin Australia website, give Virgin a call to see if you can book over the phone.
1 Like
Thank you so much. That is a huge help. I found availability to Manchester with Virgin and Etihad. Business class with Etihad. How do you pay with points with them?
All the best — let us know how you go!
@brushwood1 I was in almost exactly the same situation as you. As @sixtyeight said it pays to keep checking daily (or even multiple times a day) as random reward flights can just pop up! The other day I just got Melbourne-London on Etihad Business with Velocity Points, and coming back I got an Emirates Business flight with Qantas points. I’m glad you found something. 
I understand you might have time constrains. However I also try to avoid airlines that have huge fuel surchages such as Etihad. If you can get Singapore Airlines the taxes will be lower. I have recently seen the flights using Singpaore have started populating on Virgin.
You may have seen Singapore back with Velocity, but they are Economy Class only and not in Business Class yet. No word yet when Singapore Business will return to Velocity.