CO awards on VS
 

I'm starting to plan a summer vacation to Europe for 2009; I have ~400k CO split across 2 accounts (self + wife).

We want to fly VS UC LAX-LHR. I have done this on CO miles "solo" before, and they always booked me on the codeshare, rather than the partner flight # (reasonable enough).

When I look on continental.com for next April, I see the VS cosdeshare coming up on the main availability screen when I do a search - but only for 2 pax. OTOH, the VS website shows 4+ award seats available most days in April.

Does anybody know if the CO award availability is limited to what they have on the codeshare, or if CO will book into VS partner award inventory if the codeshare inventory is used up ?

I'm pretty sure CO can only book you on the codeshare flight # for flights that are operated as codeshares.

I'd just call up and talk to a person.


VS UC is the best award that CO offers these days.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I know that the inventory that CO has access to is a subset of that which VS has. Beyond that, calling may get you more availability and is worth it if you want the seats, though no guarantees. CO is not limited to codeshares flights for redemption as they are an option on HKG-LHR.

Thanks for the answers; of course I'll call and try, but was hoping to get an understanding ahead of the call.

From previous conversations with agents when booking, it seems that it is as I feared - only CO codeshare awards for flights that have codeshares. So maybe a non-codeshare flight may give better results - but probably not worth it. I may need to head over to CC.....

VS only displays two seats at a time to CO. That doesn't mean there aren't more.

If you want all four on the same flight, hold 2 on one record, and see if you can hold another 2 on another record.

Fantastic tip ! I'll post back in a few weeks after I have tried to book with info on what worked !

I have definetely used mles on VS flights there were not codeshares (did not have a CO number).

IAD-LHR and LHR-CPT. two different trips.

I took what the OP said he was told by CO to mean that if the VS flight is a CO codeshare, CO must book it out of codeshare inventory; not that it is not possible to book non-CO codeshared VS flights as rewards. You are correct, of course, that it is indeed possible to book non-codeshared VS flights with CO miles.

Mr. AusExp and I are trying to book a flight on VS in business/first in 2009 (we're mainly looking at getting to Mauritius), and CO desk shows no availability after Jan 1. The guy at Continental wondered if the Virgin availability hadn't been loaded yet. Does anyone have any experience as to what this window is?

We also tried getting to Seychelles via Dubai on Emeriates, but gave that up after the painful "roll the dice, try a date, and find out 24 hours later there's nothing, repeat" - process

I got a seat on VS in July back to EWR using my CO points. I echo what the other posters I saying, call and get a live person.

yeah, you definetely have to call to get on a VS flight (no CO flight number) using CO miles. i think you can book codeshares online with miles, but only live for non codeshares.

I prefer live than online for reward travel anyway. some of the agents are so darn good at finding seats using parnter and wierd airport pairs.

When a CO codeshare exists for the flight, they will only allow you to book out of CO inventory. This is substantially less than VS inventory and is a subset of the seats that CO has bought on the flight. It's a CO reward on a CO flight number

When there is no CO codeshare, you are booking a partner reward on the partner flight number. This comes out of their inventory and I have found that this tracks pretty close to what you see on virgin-atlantic.com. Its not identical i.e. when there are limited seats <2 then VS often keeps them for their own rewards only.

We were unable to get flights on the CO codeshares last year but had to connect somewhere anyway. Since there was no CO codeshare in Chicago we had wide open availability on the VS flights from ORD-LHR.

I'm not sure if there are still any non-codeshare flights remaining. Perhaps LAS?

LAX-LHR awards are showing up on continental.com for April 2009 right now. It seems to be 330 days.

The LAS flight is not a codeshare. Neither is the recently added second flight from IAD. There are not a lot of them, but it is worth checking to make sure if you're concerned about earning EQMs. For reward redemptions it is less of an issue.

I am in the middle of a trip that is combining CO, EK and VS business class rewards, with EK on JFK-DXB-MLE-DXB and VS on DXB-LHR-EWR. The EK segments were built by calling and asking many times if certain flights were available and the VS segments by using a combo of checking virgin rewards online as well as calling. Was it a bit of a pain? Certainly, but well worth it in the long run and, well, co.com is not all that helpful in these types of situations.

The VS segment from DXB was booked under VS and the LHR segment under the codeshare.

I am glad to see Virgin Upper Class rewards now online at co.com. ^

More than just flights to LON? The flights to LON have been there for a while.

Doesn't appear so - I just tried a few LHR-DXB/HKG/JNB flights as a test and no VS options appeared.

Flights to LON in UC have not been on the site. Today is the first day I have seen them appear, though it's still not working well. I have a ticketed reservation on VS that I'm looking to change and the seats don't appear when I try to change the res, tho they do appear on a normal search

The capability to book VS upper class (the CO codeshares) to LHR has been there for at least a few weeks as I've been checking availability (and just ticketed two on-line this morning for travel next May). Not able to secure seat assignments on-line though. Seat maps appeared for the outbound (A340-600) with rows 1-8 apparently blocked. Tried to select from available seats in other rows with no luck. No seat map available for return (A340-300). How have people been getting seat assignments? Calling CO? Calling VS? Is a VS record locator needed? Thanks.

Use your CO record locator on www.virginatlantic.com - it will find the booking (you will need to put in the VS flight number - not codeshare # - and date) and you can select seats, make meal requests, etc. It also shows you the VS locator for future reference.

Do not trust the seat assignment on CO.com for these flights as it does not update correctly in my experience - always do this on the VS flight. There should be no need to call VS, all can be done online.

In my experience, if you have any non-VS segments in the same PNR as the VS flights, the VS website will not allow you to select seats or do online check-in.

Thanks! This seemed to work. The VS site (like the CO site) showed rows 1-8 blocked on the outbound, but I was able to select seats in rows 9-17 and no problem with seat blocking on the return. Seats now appear as taken when I go back to seat charts on the CO site, although the CO record stills indicates no seat assignments. In your experience, do those ever get updated based on the VS record?

No, they don't. Once I've booked a VS reward flight I completely ignore the CO site from that point, and only check on VS.

IIRC, rows 1-8 on the outbound (I assume eastbound redeye from east coast) are blocked because they're offered as part of the "Snooze Zone" service, which is basically take off, have a nightcap and go to sleep. Very limited on board service, which is what most business travelers want on the short flights to LHR. You typically can only request these seats at online check-in or at the airport. I recommend it - you can have a full meal in the lounge (on departure, AND arrival), where the food is much better than what's served on board anyway.

Just booked a CO reward on VS a few weeks ago. My experiences differed slightly from what has been reported so far. I noticed some good availability online, but taking the advice on FT, I called in hopes of finding something better. In particular, the folks on the phone were never able to offer me any routing that wasn't also available online. Each call to the reward desk forces you through a laborious automated process during which your flight details are collected. After going through that on my first call, I got cut off after reaching an agent. My next call reached an agent who I would say was far from pleasant or helpful.

The reward desk has limited hours, so after still finding acceptable VS flights on CO.com, I gave up with that approach and just booked the CO-numbered VS flights online one evening after the reward desk had closed.

I was never able to pull up my booking using the CO number, but I didn't think it would work, so maybe I gave up too easily. Ended up having to phone VS for that.

Spot on with the seat assignment: I chose seats for my VS flights on CO.com, but when I called VS to find out my VS itinerary number, I discovered that I had no seats assigned and had to choose from those left at the time.

My routing is SFO-LHR/LHR-JFK-SFO, with the JFK-SFO on DL. Ever since calling VS for my record locator, I have been able to manage my booking online, including selecting seats. Haven't tried OLCI yet, but I will find out on Wednesday whether that works!

There is no need to use the partner reward desk for VS reward reservations - the regular elite line can make VS reward reservations.

Thanks for the info. Our flight out of IAD departs at 6:40 PM so that would mean a rather early dinner in the lounge. Any insights on the quality of the IAD lounge and food? Is breakfast available in the lounge at LHR upon arrival?

The IAD Clubhouse is nice, with a main seating area, bar, and small upstairs seating area. It has a good selection of wines and liquors, food menus at each table, and servers who will take your order and bring your food. VS replaced the furniture sometime within the last year. The food is airline business class quality, with a selection of a few appetizers, soups, salads, and entrees. Essentially, the food served in the Clubhouse is what you would get onboard if they served a full selection a meals on the eastbound flights (which they do not on flights from the East Coast to London). Food in the main LHR Clubhouse is of better quality with a much greater selection in the various dining areas.

Breakfast is available at the Revivals Lounge at LHR. It is located outside customs and immigration, and serves traditional English breakfast food, buffet-style. If you have time, I would skip the onboard breakfast and sleep in, then eat at the Revivals Lounge.

For future reference - the way I've seen this happen in the past is you put in the CO reference and your last name, it says cannot find booking and asks you for more details including the VS flight no and date of first leg, and it then finds the booking normally. Or I guess calling them isn't too hard :)

IMHO, the food at the JFK & EWR Clubhouses is better than what is available onboard (on the return, for example). JFK is table service and EWR is a buffet. I can't speak specifically to IAD. All I've ever had at the LHR Clubhouse is the hamburger, which is fantastic.

They do serve some made-to-order items in the Revivals lounge. I'm a particular fan of the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs with brioche. Eeeeggggcellent.

^ completely agree. Always look forward to this :)

I just went online to try out holding 2 seats and then seeing if more came open over the next 24 hours. The CO website asks for my CC when I try to hold the rez.

With all the new charges appearing (industry generally, not specifically CO) - I just wanted to check here that I won't be charged anything if I put an award rez on hold, and then let it expire. I know it sounds like a dumb question, but who would have thought that airlines would be charging for checked bags or soft drinks....

I flew ORD-LHR-ORD a month ago, in VS UC, as part of a SaverPass award, and while the outbound was booked with the CO codeshare number, the inbound was booked with the original VS number. (And the codeshare existed already!).

As for the people that have not been able to change their seat and other details on-line on virgin-atlantic.com, remember that their on-line system cannot deal with tickets that have more than 4 segments.

I don't see VS flights (other than codeshares) showing up on the award search screen. Is this a way to see their availability?

Join the VS program for free and search their site. Generally flights with >2 seats are available to CO for redemption.

Wait a sec, you can book any VS flight as a reward, not just the codeshare flights?

I changed a reward reservation a few months ago to London and instead of returning from LHR on the 4pm VS departure (VS1), I was only able to select the 7pm departure (VS17). When I re-booked I asked about the flight I wanted and they told me they don't see it. I am guessing because it was not a codeshare.

It does not need to be a codeshare. However the reward buckets that CO uses is different than what VS uses for its FF program. So whereas a Flying Club memeber maybe able to book reward seats, they may be zero inventory on the CO side. However, keep in mind that using OnePass will save you SIGNIFICANTLY the taxes and duties. I just booked and used a North America to Africa ticket...the taxes if I booked through VS on Flying Club in Upper Class were close to US$800. On CO I booked it for around $100. and 10k less miles!!!!

You can definitely book non-codeshare flights for VS reward seats. Why they didn't see that flight when you were looking could be because they were looking only for CO flights or because they were looking for the wrong fare bucket. But you can definitely book non-codeshare VS flights for reward redemption.