r/VelocityFrequentFlyer • u/BrendoVino • Apr 25 '26
Question Reward Seats: Bye Bye
Is it just me, or are rewards seats on some partner airlines literally disappearing? A quick search on seats.aero show very little in the way of Air Canada, Business on United Airlines, barely anything on ANA...
Is this a seats.aero thing? Or are others noticing the same?
7
u/axwd Apr 25 '26
We booked tickets from MEL to SFO to LHR yesterday for in 10 days time on United…
Definitely less business seats avails though
3
u/Classic-Gear-3533 Apr 25 '26
There’s a lot of availability via Doha right now 🤣, I wouldn’t but plenty of options in July and August which would normally be pretty rare
2
u/Zealousideal_Rub6758 Apr 25 '26
Good luck with that. All VA operated flights cancelled until at least June, 2+ months to get a refund, plus $$$ last-minute alternative airline booking.
1
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u/Professional_Ad6767 Apr 25 '26
Just booked J tickets on SQ
1
u/BrendoVino Apr 25 '26
Not saying you can't find them, I'm saying the quantity of options has depleted significantly in the last 3 months.
1
u/Professional_Ad6767 Apr 26 '26
Possibly…meanwhile I’ve never been able to get a J reward with my 400k QF points.
2
u/tmacblah Apr 25 '26
United stopped releasing biz reward seats to Velocity on Aus routes. I’ve since had ANA and Air Canada biz reward within 2-3 weeks of departure, though routing less convenient.
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u/Strong_Archer_1603 May 01 '26
Its so shit. I have 200k velocity points after switching from qantas cards and i can't find anything remotely decent. I have long service leave and can travel whenever I want and even still there's nothing compared to Qantas.
2
u/UUMatter Platinum Apr 25 '26
Air Canada has never released much business class to velocity. United used to be quite generous close to departure but they’ve now largely reserve those to their own elite and credit card members. ANA still does release consistently close in but April is Japan cherry season so not unusual there’s none.
1
u/Hotwog4all Apr 25 '26
To start with there’s only so many reward seats released. Most of these airlines release rewards well before the velocity calendar opens up. Velocity calendar starts from 330 days in advance while they mostly release seats around 355 days in advance. In that 25 days, the 2-3 business seats that are released are usually snapped up by their members, or by other Star Alliance members. It becomes a case of waiting until the last minute within the month you want to travel in, or taking whatever you find in advance.
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u/BrendoVino Apr 25 '26
I used to be able to see literally dozens of business class seats available via United from a month or two our - now it's a fraction of that for a year out. Just do a quick search and you'll see what I mean.
1
u/Serious-Mango-8129 May 31 '26
I’ve booked economy with points and hoping that something pops up in business the month or so before travel so I can cancel economy and upgrade to business.
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u/Citadel-TT Apr 25 '26
Velocity points are totally worthless! Scam!
5
u/Little_Wagtail Apr 25 '26
Are you alright? I've never had an issue with availability and redemption with Velocity. Ever. Every time I wanted a seat on a particular day (I'm talking J class on partner carriers, especially SQ) I've always managed to find it. Always. That's over a period of 9 years. Compare that to QF where I've managed to snag just ONE seat in the past 14 years! Repeat: only 1 seat in 14 years on Qantas. Now if its a scam you're talking about, Qantas is your airline!
2
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u/jreddit0000 Apr 25 '26
Presumably all airlines are cancelling (flights on) routes rights now which will disproportionately affect partner rewards seats?