Would you be able to tell me why all Virgin business award seats (points ) have been taken away , I’ve looked at America and Europe for this year and next year.
Business award seats are incredibly difficult to come by on long haul routes, because this is where your points are able to save you the most money.
Airlines generally release a few seats when the dates go on sale 331 days in advance for frequent fliers to snap up, however then they will only periodically drop in more seats if they feel that the flight isn’t selling as they would like it to and they don’t feel that they’re likely to sell them off to full fare paying customers.
Given that long-haul routes (i.e. Sydney to USA and Europe) are where most customers feel that Business is good value and therefor in high demand, you’ve got to be lucky to get them.
If you’re looking at business in a peak season like June-August or around December January, sorry to be a downer but if that initial block of seats which the airline would have made available (11 months before travel date) your odds of more availability opening up is slim to nil. Virgin know that over these peak times they don’t need to offer seats for Frequent Flyers, because they can be confident they will sell the same seats for full fare.
If you’re looking at travelling outside of these times then you’re in with a chance though. Say Virgin notice that on x date the sydney to Los Angeles business cabin is empty and it’s now 3 weeks to travel. They will look at that and go “there’s no chance we’ll sell that many seats between now and then” and make seats available for Frequent Flyers rather than let the cabin go empty.
Keep in mind that there’s no guarantee more seats will ever drop in, but the best chance you have is if you’re flexible to go outside the peak, and to be disciplined and check Virgin’s frequent flier site regularly and hope that as the day draws closer Virgin will make seats available if the flight isn’t selling so well.
Hope that helps!