Using miles to get to LV
Dec 7, 2009, 7:20 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 4
Using miles to get to LV
Greetings
I wonder if any of you flying club pro's could help me please? My partner and I are getting married in Las Vegas next August and for the past 6 months have been collecting airmiles in the hope that we can upgrade to UC.
We have now read all the small print and learn't that it isn't as easy as we had hoped.
We have about 40,000 miles each and were originally thinking of purchasing extra miles so we can have the 60,000 miles to upgrade economy tickets to uc. This appears cheaper than purchasing a PE and using our 40,000 to upgrade. However, we can't seem to find any flights that would qualify. I phoned the very unhelpful customer services and they suggest I buy a a couple of expensive PE ticket and hope for best. hmmmmm
Is there anyway I can find out if I will qualify for an upgrade if I were to purchase my tickets under one of the more expensive fares?
My other option is this; We have the Amex card and have qualified for a companion flight. So we will purchase a PE flight and get the companion. Is that as straight forward as it sounds??
I'm also hoping that when we check in, if we have enough miles and there is room, we could also qualify for an UC upgrade??
I'd really appreciate anyones feedback, I'm so muddled!
Many thanks
Sas
I wonder if any of you flying club pro's could help me please? My partner and I are getting married in Las Vegas next August and for the past 6 months have been collecting airmiles in the hope that we can upgrade to UC.
We have now read all the small print and learn't that it isn't as easy as we had hoped.
We have about 40,000 miles each and were originally thinking of purchasing extra miles so we can have the 60,000 miles to upgrade economy tickets to uc. This appears cheaper than purchasing a PE and using our 40,000 to upgrade. However, we can't seem to find any flights that would qualify. I phoned the very unhelpful customer services and they suggest I buy a a couple of expensive PE ticket and hope for best. hmmmmm
Is there anyway I can find out if I will qualify for an upgrade if I were to purchase my tickets under one of the more expensive fares?
My other option is this; We have the Amex card and have qualified for a companion flight. So we will purchase a PE flight and get the companion. Is that as straight forward as it sounds??
I'm also hoping that when we check in, if we have enough miles and there is room, we could also qualify for an UC upgrade??
I'd really appreciate anyones feedback, I'm so muddled!
Many thanks
Sas
Dec 7, 2009, 10:49 am
#2
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Wellington, NZ
Programs: NZ *Gold
Posts: 1,373
Where to start?
Firstly I would try a dummy booking to see if there are outright UC rewards available for the dates you have in mind. The UC cabin on these flights is quite small and getting rewards is quite difficult. Upgrades come out of the same "bucket" - G - as pure outright redemptions. If there is no availability showing now I would give up if you want certainty (i.e. for a wedding) - they might release more very close to the date if they have not sold them. This will let you know that there is availability to upgrade into if you were to buy an expensive PE fare - but only at that point in time, so it is as well to do it on the phone.
You can search on the Virgin website by fare class to let you know the cost of the PE flights - not from the homepage but through the flying hub pages. For PE, only W (most expensive) and S (second most expensive) can be upgrades with miles.
These are also the fare buckets you need to book to be able to use the companion voucher. if there was availability you would be able to upgrade the S fare to UC with miles, but the companion ticket is not upgradable for either cash or miles - it stays in the originally booked cabin.
The cheapest, upgradable ecomony fare is an L, followed by B.
And miles upgrades on the day are uncommon, but not impossible - having room is the least likely reason - the most likely is if other cabins are sold out and they might need to upgrade people for nothing to cope.
One other thing is that the availability for G rewards is much greater on the LHR-LAX route if you could consider doing that - 2 flights a day with much bigger UC cabins - and then do a LAX-LAS leg
Hope I've not added to your confusion.
Regards
RedV
Firstly I would try a dummy booking to see if there are outright UC rewards available for the dates you have in mind. The UC cabin on these flights is quite small and getting rewards is quite difficult. Upgrades come out of the same "bucket" - G - as pure outright redemptions. If there is no availability showing now I would give up if you want certainty (i.e. for a wedding) - they might release more very close to the date if they have not sold them. This will let you know that there is availability to upgrade into if you were to buy an expensive PE fare - but only at that point in time, so it is as well to do it on the phone.
You can search on the Virgin website by fare class to let you know the cost of the PE flights - not from the homepage but through the flying hub pages. For PE, only W (most expensive) and S (second most expensive) can be upgrades with miles.
These are also the fare buckets you need to book to be able to use the companion voucher. if there was availability you would be able to upgrade the S fare to UC with miles, but the companion ticket is not upgradable for either cash or miles - it stays in the originally booked cabin.
The cheapest, upgradable ecomony fare is an L, followed by B.
And miles upgrades on the day are uncommon, but not impossible - having room is the least likely reason - the most likely is if other cabins are sold out and they might need to upgrade people for nothing to cope.
One other thing is that the availability for G rewards is much greater on the LHR-LAX route if you could consider doing that - 2 flights a day with much bigger UC cabins - and then do a LAX-LAS leg
Hope I've not added to your confusion.
Regards
RedV
Dec 8, 2009, 1:55 am
#3
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: LHR
Programs: BA Gold, TG Gold, HHonors Diamond, SPG Plat
Posts: 8,665
The VS flight to LAX is great for celebrity spotting.
The VS flight used to be full of businessmen on jollies to L; i.e. non-stop party at the UC bar. Y to LAS will feel like a flight to Spanish Costas.
For a better UC experience, go via LAX or SFO.
The VS AMEX companion ticket is not always a good deal. You have to buy one full price ticket for the free ticket. One full price VS ticket can be the same if not more expensive than 2 discounted VS tickets. Sometimes, it can be a good deal. You just need to do the maths.
The VS flight used to be full of businessmen on jollies to L; i.e. non-stop party at the UC bar. Y to LAS will feel like a flight to Spanish Costas.
For a better UC experience, go via LAX or SFO.
The VS AMEX companion ticket is not always a good deal. You have to buy one full price ticket for the free ticket. One full price VS ticket can be the same if not more expensive than 2 discounted VS tickets. Sometimes, it can be a good deal. You just need to do the maths.
