The United States is one of the most popular routes for Australians to redeem frequent flyer points. However, it is also one of the hardest routes to find Business Class or First Class award availability due to high demand.
For 65,000-78,000 Velocity points, you can travel direct from Brisbane or Sydney to Honolulu in style with Hawaiian Airlines.
Lie-flat Business Class award seats open on Hawaiian Airlines
We have found at least two Business Class seats open on more than half of Hawaiian Airlines flights between Sydney/Brisbane and Honolulu between mid-July and mid-September 2018, with a smattering of availability between mid-April (including the Easter school holidays) and mid-June.
Hawaiian flies daily from Sydney and 3x weekly from Brisbane; the only other direct service to Honolulu is Qantas’ 5x weekly flight from Sydney, which Velocity points obviously cannot be used on.
For 65,000 Velocity points from Brisbane or 78,000 points from Sydney, you’ll get a lie-flat seat (albeit with no direct-aisle access for window passengers) for the 9-10 hour red-eye flight travelling east or daytime/afternoon flight flying back to Australia.
In Sydney, you’ll get access to the substandard Qantas International Business Lounge; in Brisbane, the excellent Qantas International Lounge; and departing Honolulu, Hawaiian’s own refurbished Plumeria Lounge.
Search for availability on the American Airlines website using full calendar mode and then call Velocity to make your booking. There are more details later in this guide.
Note: some readers have in the past had difficulty in booking Hawaiian redemptions through Velocity, however, what shows as available on the American Airlines website should be bookable by Velocity members. We called Velocity and can confirm that the availability found on AA.com for the flights above can be seen by Velocity call centre agents.
We have more information in our guide to using points to fly to Hawaii.
About this guide
Velocity redemption availability for Virgin’s direct flights is quite restricted. That said, there is more than one way to fly to the US, so in this guide, we run through all the options for you.
Basically, flights on Virgin Australia to Los Angeles are the cheapest way to go (if you can find availability), while Singapore Airlines is a solid option, and Etihad comes in last for hefty extra charges.
For each program, we’ve covered off:
- An overview of the award options and points required for redemptions
- What the best uses for your points are to get the most value
For the purpose of this series, we’ve picked three example cities favoured by travellers based in Australia to use as comparison point: Los Angeles, New York and Honolulu.
Key Velocity partners with flights to the US
Velocity points can be used to redeem flights on Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Hawaiian Airlines.
- Virgin Australia flies direct from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Los Angeles
- Singapore Airlines flies from all major capital cities to Los Angeles (via Asia) and New York (via Frankfurt) as well as direct to San Francisco
- Etihad Airways flies from all major capital cities except Adelaide via Abu Dhabi to New York
- Hawaiian Airlines flies from Sydney and Brisbane to Honolulu
Velocity has two award charts, and it is more expensive to use your points to redeem flights on these three partners (Table 2 of the Velocity award chart) than on a Virgin Australia flight (Table 1).
With all three you can search for availability on the Velocity website by logging in and click on ‘Search and Book Flights’.
A unique feature of Velocity is the ability to transfer points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles, where you’ll get better award availability despite losing some points due to the 1.55 Velocity Point : 1 KrisFlyer mile transfer cost.
Although Delta also flies between Sydney and LA, it almost never releases any cheap award seats to Velocity members, so they are discounted from this guide.
Redeeming Velocity points to Los Angeles and New York
One-way redemption pricing from Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane/Adelaide is as follows:
| Route (costs are one way) | Velocity on Virgin Australia | Velocity on Singapore Airlines | KrisFlyer on Singapore Airlines | Velocity Points required for transfer to KrisFlyer on Singapore Airlines | Velocity on Etihad Airways |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Los Angeles in Business Class | 95,500 + $126 taxes + $230 carrier charge | 139,000 + $67 | 110,000 + $67 | 170,500 + $67 | N/A |
| To Los Angeles in First Class | N/A | N/A | 154,000 + $67 | 207,900 + $67 | N/A |
| To New York in Business Class | N/A | 139,000 + $67 | 118,000 + $67 | 238,700 + $67 | 139,000 + $78 + US$410 'Etihad redemption charge' |
| To New York in First Class | N/A | N/A | 152,000 + $67 | 235,600 + $67 | 203,000 + $78 + US$600 Etihad redemption charge |
Note that Velocity allows you to use extra points to ‘buy out’ the taxes and fees. This generally works out to be 10,000 Velocity points = ~$67 in taxes and fees.
Flying Virgin Australia
Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane to Los Angeles flights fall into the 7001-8500-mile bracket, so 95,500 Velocity points are required for a one-way Business Class flight.
Virgin Australia’s 777-300ER Business Class seat
You can also fly from Adelaide and connect via one of the hubs for the same amount of points.
Velocity used to be generous with releasing award seats in the past and the program won awards because of that reason but, in 2017, we have found that you are most likely to find (very limited) award space in Business Class six months out and (more) Premium Economy space six months and one week out from departure.
The lack of award space could be attributed to Virgin Australia having arguably the best Business Class product on the Transpacific route, meaning the airline prefers to sell the seats rather than give them away for free on awards.
Flying Singapore Airlines
Flying to both Los Angeles and New York falls within the 9,501-15,000-mile bracket, costing 139,000 in Business Class and 203,000 in First.
As we mentioned earlier, a unique feature of Velocity is the ability to transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program.
Singapore Airlines releases more saver award space to its own members, so it could be worthwhile to transfer your Velocity points to KrisFlyer.
It’s possible to fly in Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class all the way to New York via Frankfurt from Sydney and Melbourne
And if you transfer enough points and book a return ticket on KrisFlyer, you can get another perk, which Virgin does not offer: a free stopover. Given that you have to fly from Australia to New York with a stopover (in Frankfurt or Singapore), you can request a stopover (stop in a city for more than 24 hours) in one of those cities. You can buy another one for $100 USD.
The same rules apply for redemptions to other US cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a stopover allowed in cities like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, which act as transit stops for some flights.
As an alternative option, if you transferred to KrisFlyer, you can book award flights on other Star Alliance partners over the phone. This is primarily useful for United Airlines redemptions from Melbourne or Sydney, however, availability in Business Class is usually fairly limited. It’s worth bearing in mind, though.
Flying Etihad
Etihad used to be a great-value Velocity redemption but now it’s in the more expensive Table 2 and you have to pay an extra charge to redeem on Etihad flights.
This means that a return flight to New York in Business Class, with a transit in Abu Dhabi, costs an extra $820 USD. It is worse in First Class, at $1200 USD.
You can search for availability for Etihad flights from Australia to West Coast US (JFK) on the Etihad Guest website. If there is availability GuestSeats, that means you can call Velocity and book those flights.
Etihad’s A380 and 787 Business Studios will take you to New York via Abu Dhabi
You cannot redeem Australia to West Coast (LA) on Etihad Airways because it exceeds the 15,000-mile limit and Velocity will force you to redeem the flight as two awards, but it is possible to redeem Perth to Los Angeles as it is a shorter distance.
Redeeming Velocity points to Honolulu with Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines is the only option available to redeem Velocity points for travel to Honolulu.
The distance between Sydney and Honolulu is 5,075 miles, so it will cost 78,000 points for a one-way Business Class ticket – not necessarily a bargain. However, Brisbane falls into a lower distance bracket, only costing 65,000 points.
You need to call the Velocity membership centre to book. However, to save you some time you can use the American Airlines award search engine to find availability on Hawaiian Airlines before calling Velocity.
We have more information in our guide to using points to fly to Hawaii.
Summing up: maximising value for your Velocity points on flights to the US
Flights to Los Angeles
If you can find availability, the direct Virgin Australia flights from the East Coast to Los Angeles are your cheapest bet, at 95,500 points.
If you don’t mind the longer routing and can find award space through Velocity, then Business Class on Singapore Airlines is best redeemed by transferring 148,500 Velocity points to 115,000 KrisFlyer miles, especially because KrisFlyer releases more saver seats to its own members.
Flights to New York
Virgin Australia does not fly onwards from Los Angeles to New York like Qantas does and availability between Los Angeles and New York is hard to find on partner Delta.
As a result, Velocity search engine defaults to Singapore Airlines more often, which costs 139,000 Velocity Points, the same to get to LA.
Again, if you can’t find an open seat through Velocity, you can transfer your Velocity points to KrisFlyer and redeem through them.
Finally, you can redeem 139,000 Velocity Points for Business on Etihad Airways from Australia to New York via Abu Dhabi or 203,000 in First, but remember you’ll be slugged with extra fees.
Supplementary images courtesy respective airlines.
Can you use velocity points to upgrade from economy to business on Hawaiian airlines and how is this done? Is this done through the Virgin call centre? I can’t find any indication of how many points would be required.
As far as I know, you cannot use Velocity points to upgrade on Hawaiian Airlines flights—you’d need Hawaiian’s own HawaiianMiles to do that.
Hi Keith,
Looking at the Velocity Points table, there is a note that there is no more redemption for trans-Pacific flights. What is the deal with this change?
That’s just on Air NZ. Read more about changes to Velocity partners here.
Previously I have not been able to access the HA business class reward inventory through VA even when theoretically available and had a manager at VA confirm there rewards are simply not available using Virgin Velocity points.
Of course, things may have changed – if anyone has actually been able to book one, it would be great to hear from them!
In the meantime, HA awards are relatively easy to come by using AA miles.
To note, some of the HA paid fares from mainland USA to AKL are very attractive and offer a stopover in HNL: in July I flew SFO-OGG-HNL//HNL-AKL for about USA2000 one way (from there an easy one hop home to CNS on NZ on a separate ticket).
That fare being business class (first within USA).
hi all, how realistic is it to get the business class to LA with a red tier status? I have been checking daily and never see this business reward available (always sold out). I am checking the furthest available date (i.e Sept 2018 atm).
I want to book for December 2018 (busy period I know) and just want to know my chances.
TIA 🙂
Sounds like you’re trying to get in early, which is good. Your best chances are when the calendar opens up (about a year ahead of departure) and in the last 1-2 weeks before departure when cancellations increase. However, the probability of snagging a Business or First Class seat on a direct flight between Australia and the US on any airline is low. You might consider compromising with better availability but an inferior product in Virgin Australia’s Premium Economy.
Hi,
Could use some help because I’m not sure where you’re getting these points from. For example, you say that Syd to LA with Virgin is 95,500 + $126. But when I try making that selection on the Velocity website, I’m getting “Any Seat Business from 1343200 or 1323100 + $130.02”. Almost all the point costs I’m seeing are much much higher than those you list. Am I missing something?
Thanks!
You say
“The distance between Sydney and Honolulu is 5,075 miles, so it will cost 42,000 Velocity points to fly one-way in Economy or 78,000 for Business Class – not necessarily a bargain. The same cost applies for Brisbane – Honolulu.”
But BNE > HNL is less than 4800 miles, so it comes in next zone lower at 65k points.
Thanks Keith for the helpful article. I’m a gold velocity member and like Carey have not been able to find any reward availability for Melb or Syd to LAX Business class for months.
Is there a way to search over multiple days for seats like with qf as I only seem to be able to click through day by day?
Thanks Keith.
What about domestic flights within USA?
I’m having trouble finding anything that looks like the points rates when I check today. e.g. bne/NYC 242000 points plus $669 charges for November dates. This is searching on the Velocity website. New to the so what am I doing wrong?
Great article, something I’m looking at doing in the future.
Is paying 95,500 points to go to LA better value for points/money than purchasing an economy seat and upgrading to business with points?
Thanks for the article Keith – useful as usual. Do you know how far in advance Velocity and KrisFlyer usually release their seats?
Say I wanted to fly to London in Business Class, would you argue that if your only options were to redeem a Singapore Airlines flight through KrisFlyer OR redeem an Etihad Flight through Velocity, that the $410USD is better than paying the $700 Fuel surcharge with Singapore?
Hey Darren – would suggest asking this one over in the Questions section with a bit more detail about your trip and the flight options – depends on which flights, aircraft, layover times – quite a few variables to consider as to which would work best for you.
“And if you transfer enough points and book a return ticket on KrisFlyer, you can get another perk, which Virgin does not offer: a free stopover. Given that you have to fly from Australia to New York with a stopover (in Frankfurt or Singapore), you can request a stopover (stop in a city for more than 24 hours) in one of those cities.”
Great tip. But, just wondering: would I need to ring SIA to arrange that and therefore lose the online discount? Or can it be done via their site?
Hey Adam – pretty sure you get an annoying pop-up about stopovers when redeeming points, so I would guess that it can be done online. However, I’ve never actually booked a stopover with SQ, so you’d need to double-check.
Hi Adam,
I’m Platinum VA and flying to LA (and other destinations) in Sept of next year. I ended up transferring 500k points to SIA (all done online) and booked 2 x reward saver business class fares for ; Melb – LA – LA – Tokyo – Tokyo – Melb . I took advantage of the free stop over in Tokyo.
While you lose points transferring them over to SIA , it was much better value and a better business class option (in my opinion ONLY).
Happy to assist you!