@djtech Thanks for all that info 
How did you find the Virgin Atlantic flights? I wasnt able to see them online and when I rang the call centre I was told there was no availability
The virgin atlantic award space isn’t availiable for Velocity members. BUT there is Economy and Business space for members of their own program - Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Conviently it’s also an AMEX transfer partner so I suggested transferring 50,000 AMEX points over there INSTEAD OF velocity. By the way, you can check it yourself without making an account over at Virgin Atlantic’s website. The miles and taxes you see will be the amount you need to transfer to Flying Club.
@djtech Unfortunately my Amex card does not allow me to transfer to Virgin Atlantic, only Velocity (I just logged in and it isn’t available). So i guess this option is out unfortunately 
Thanks for trying though!
Ahh I see you have the AMEX Explorer card. Well, in that case, the Singapore Airlines and Cathay option is one of the only ones left.
At this point, Rachael, I think you should grab that flight to London on Singapore if it’s still available, and I think you have two clear options for the return trip. EITHER take a risk with some waitlisted flights (and remember, you can book as many waitlisted flights as you want, and then just take whichever flight comes up first), OR start looking around for availability from other cities such as Milan, Munich, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Frankfurt etc. My guess is that there’ll be some availability somewhere, as long as you’re willing to maybe catch a cheap economy intra-Europe flight to get to the relevant airport.
Two things to keep in mind: first, KrisFlyer availability is generally a little better. So if you have to risk transferring your points over without a flight to book, I would personally choose KrisFlyer.
Second, when it comes to using FF points, flexibility is the key. See it as all part of the holiday. In my very recent history I’ve been organising a holiday in Europe that we want to begin in Scotland. There was no business-class availability into either Edinburgh or Glasgow on any airline on any of the dates we wanted. So we made the easy decision to fly into Manchester instead and from there we’ll spend a few hours on a scenic train trip to Edinburgh. We get to Scotland a few hours after we land, but that’s a small price to pay for business-class award tickets! If Manchester weren’t available, I would have then tried London, Amsterdam, Paris etc. Beggars can’t be choosers!
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Ok, after tens of calls to Velocity, finally an agent was able to see Virgin Atlantic space on August 11th. It will cost you 34,800 Velocity points + $13.70 taxes (roughly). I followed this guide. Apparently, lots of agents don’t know how to search for them and you need an agent that knows what their doing. They need to actually create a booking to see if there is space. They will need your full name before searching. If it comes back as unconfirmed, keep pushing to ask them to keep requesting the space. Eventually, she was able to get the space and find it.
It is a pain to book Virgin Atlantic and might involve over 20 calls like I did. However, you should be able to combine this with the Virgin Australia flight to LA. So your booking should be Brisbane to LA on VA9 on August 11 with a connection to VS24 also on the 11th to London. They should be able to book it on the same booking, I’ve tried it myself. In total, it should cost you 79,600 and around $200 taxes.
If you don’t want to put so much effort into getting the seat, you could also redeem for Delta. The itenerary would be Brisbane to LA (VA) to Detroit to London Heathrow(DL). It should be the same points total but the taxes will be around $400.
For your Rome to Brisbane return, I honestly think Cathay Pacific is the best option. You’ll need to transfer your points and then book but I suggest locking that in now. Plus, if you encounter premium economy awards later on, the change fee should be minimal ~$50, and then you can transfer additional points to pay for that.
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Wow thank you so much for that effort for me @djtech , this is great help.
Unfortunately the 11th is too early for me, I need to go on/around the 19th. So I will follow what you’ve suggested and try to replicate what you’ve done for around the dates I need. Wish me luck! 
I would suggest going on the 18th or the 20th which is the two dates where they have direct Brisbane to LA flights. If your going on the 18th, it would be VA9 and connecting to VS24 with around a 4 hour layover. If your going on the 20th, it would be VA7 and then VS8 with around a 8 hour layover. I’ve checked availability and both dates should be wide open with Economy availability. So Call, Hang up try again and keep going. Good luck!
@djtech So I’ve just spent 45 minutes on the phone to Velocity. I actually got an agent first up that knew what he was doing. He processed a booking, exactly like the page that you directed me to says, unfortunately the VA24 flight on the 18th is not available (and I can confirm this by looking at the Delta website like the guide says to do). There are no LAX-LHR flights available around that week. Back to the drawing board then… I think SQ is going to be the easiest (but more expensive) option.
Annoyingly he told me the points will only be 59,800 as a connecting flight (BNE-LAX-LHR), not 79,800 which he said is the total if separate sectors are booked. Wish I didn’t know that!
@djtech How can you see that?! I cant see that!!
DON’T WORRY… FOUND IT!!!
Okay back on the phone to Velocity. Got someone that is creating a booking for me again. But he says just because I can see it on Delta and Virgin Atlantic doesn’t mean Velocity can get it, everyone has different availability…
Off the phone now. He says it’s not available. Same as the last guy. If they are making bookings, what more can I do? Do I keep ringing? The 2 I’ve spoken to seem to be doing it right…
Tried again. Same result. They are all making bookings using my name but they are saying there are no seats available. They are refreshing and re-requesting but same result. Am I doing something wrong? Am I not pushing hard enough? I feel stupid ringing again and again and getting the same result.
One question I have though is, how is Velocity cheaper? At 79,600 points plus approx $200 in taxes, doesn’t that make that more than SQ at 53,000 with $103 in taxes? I know there is probably some long equation to show the equivalent points but if I transfer the points from my Amex for example, it would be 159,200 for Velocity but only 106,000 for SQ… so doesn’t that make SQ the better option? What am I missing?
You aren’t doing anything wrong and the availability according to articles should be the same. If they say it is unconfirmed, keep pushing, yes it might annoy them but they aren’t coming to your house and kill you. The trick is to get them to continually keep trying to release the space. NEVER HANG UP unless they hang up on you. Also, if you want to direct the agent to the right process, ask them to LONG SELL the ticket. This will let them know the correct way to book the Virgin Atlantic Awards. This guide will further help you with understanding their process and perhaps guiding them to finding the space! You’ll need them to request 1 seat from the A fare code. Finally, the 59,800 you are quoted is correct because it is calculated by the total distance as the connection is ‘legal’ in the Velocity T&C.
Velocity isn’t cheaper technically but think about this - if you use 106,000 AMEX points for SQ, you won’t have enough to transfer to Asia Miles or other programs that can get you home from rome. What I’m saying is, you’ve got the points already and so saving your AMEX points for more important redemptions that you can’t do with Velocity is going to be a smart strategy.
If you can’t get the awards, going for SQ would be the easy way out. Good luck!
I’ve had a look at the cash price for Brisbane to London on 18th August, and its quite reasonable. It’s around $800 one-way to London on EVA. I’ve flown them before on this route and they were great. You can add $400 more and get premium economy too. You can use your AMEX travel credit either to get a ‘free’ upgrade to Premium Economy or half off Economy.
Firstly, I commend you on your perserverance and dedication. This is one of the longest, if not the longest, thread I have seen here.
Depending on whether you have the flexibility/luxury to use cash, if you are still struggling to find availability, I would be leaning towards buying a deal fare similar to what @djtech has suggested if you are after economy fares.
After taking into account the taxes you still need to pay on top of the points involved when redeeming economy award seats, it rarely gives you a very high value for your points (unless of course, cash fare is expensive e.g. during peak season or monopolised routes). Sometimes it yields relatively close value (cents per point) to exchanging gift cards; minus the ‘headache’ of finding availability.
Now, I’m not saying there is a right or wrong way to do these things as everyone’s circumstances and priorities are different but just some food for thought.
You can save your points for future business class flights that you were hoping for.
Good luck. You will have the trip booked sooner than you think. 
@djtech I’ve now lost track of how many times I’ve called Velocity and I’m starting to speak to the same people. They are creating bookings and I’ve even used the “long sell” wording and they are assuring me they are. It’s so frustrating because I can clearly see on VS and DL websites that it is available, the Velocity agents just cant get it. My only thought it what they are telling me is correct, that different airlines are released with different allocations and all VA’s have been sold (what else could it be?!)
@w.hiew Sorry this thread is so long
I just really want the VA/VS tickets lol
What @djtech said about not having enough points for the return flight if I use my Amex points has really stuck with me, I didnt even think about that! I just thought I had heaps of points and because I’ve been focusing on the outbound flights I haven’t even taken into consideration that I wont have enough points for my return flight! (So amateur I know!)
My only choice is to keep trying Velocity and hopefully magically one day someone will be successful! At 59,800 VA points I think it’s my best options point wise at the moment. I dont really have an option of paying for my flights outright so that’s why I’m trying to use my points… I thought I had plenty but I guess I dont 
What’s this expertflyer that all those websites talk about? Does anyone have access to check that flight I’m trying to get pls? VS24 18/08/19
@djtech I think A class is business from what I can work out. I’m not sure what the economy fare class is that I need to ask for.
Keep it up, Rachael. You will get there eventually.
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Here is the expert flyer results.
As you can see, the code for economy is A and it is available…
Keep going,good luck!
I remember calling once each day to Velocity to get Alitalia space ticketed and finally after about 2 weeks, they finally got it! So just a little success story to boost your moral a bit!