Upgrading to SYD
Feb 13, 2008, 9:17 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2007
Location: London, UK and Occitanie, France
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 517
Upgrading to SYD
Have searched here and on vflyer (though not a member there) and can't seem to find much detail.
We're trying to get to Sydney next year and the other half will only go if we're in J.
So options are: 1) BA using an Amex 2-4-1, two seats for 200k in CW. However, award seats to SYD are notoriously hard to come by apparently, so I'm not entirely sure we'd be able to make it happen. Even 350 days in advance.
2) Transfer some SPG/Amex miles to VS, and try to upgrade from PE. From what I can see it would take 80k miles each to upgrade from PE to UC from the UK.
3) Use miles to get a companion ticket on VS UC, having bought one ticket in J (which still may be *way* too expensive).
Does anyone know what availability for those upgrades looks like? Also, what's the fare range for eligible PE seats? Virgin's T&Cs seem to indicate that upgradeable or companion fares come from W or S buckets for PE or full-fare J for UC. However, searching online I couldn't find any published S fares (using my limited skills and http://matrix.itasoftware.com). So the only thing that seems to come up is PE in the £1800-2k range.
All a bit confusing, but any help would be appreciated!
We're trying to get to Sydney next year and the other half will only go if we're in J.
So options are: 1) BA using an Amex 2-4-1, two seats for 200k in CW. However, award seats to SYD are notoriously hard to come by apparently, so I'm not entirely sure we'd be able to make it happen. Even 350 days in advance.
2) Transfer some SPG/Amex miles to VS, and try to upgrade from PE. From what I can see it would take 80k miles each to upgrade from PE to UC from the UK.
3) Use miles to get a companion ticket on VS UC, having bought one ticket in J (which still may be *way* too expensive).
Does anyone know what availability for those upgrades looks like? Also, what's the fare range for eligible PE seats? Virgin's T&Cs seem to indicate that upgradeable or companion fares come from W or S buckets for PE or full-fare J for UC. However, searching online I couldn't find any published S fares (using my limited skills and http://matrix.itasoftware.com). So the only thing that seems to come up is PE in the £1800-2k range.
All a bit confusing, but any help would be appreciated!
Feb 13, 2008, 1:21 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 84
As I understand UC rewards to SYD are tough to come by because you have to go via Hong Kong and this is a tough segment to get rewards on, although people have done it.
Would your other half consider PE to Hong Kong and UC to SYD ?
Either way, if you are going to make it happen do so in advance. 335 days is when the rewards are first released IIRC.
To upgrade from PE to UC using miles has always seemed expensive to me. I tend to buy a Y,B or L economy fare and upgrade using 60,000 miles (west coast USA).
For rewards to Sydney, you have to double the miles so 120,000+economy ticket/person.
Or 80,000 miles+W or S PremEc fare. Less miles but far more $$$$$$ You can always phone Virgin to get the exact price, I dont know of anyother reliable way to check, although I have seen some say it can be done on expedia.
To go the companion route, you would be looking at booking a J fare and using 135,000 miles.
It is often said that two discount Upper Class tickets are cheaper than one J, with the benefit of both tix earning miles+tier points.
Would your other half consider PE to Hong Kong and UC to SYD ?
Either way, if you are going to make it happen do so in advance. 335 days is when the rewards are first released IIRC.
To upgrade from PE to UC using miles has always seemed expensive to me. I tend to buy a Y,B or L economy fare and upgrade using 60,000 miles (west coast USA).
For rewards to Sydney, you have to double the miles so 120,000+economy ticket/person.
Or 80,000 miles+W or S PremEc fare. Less miles but far more $$$$$$ You can always phone Virgin to get the exact price, I dont know of anyother reliable way to check, although I have seen some say it can be done on expedia.
To go the companion route, you would be looking at booking a J fare and using 135,000 miles.
It is often said that two discount Upper Class tickets are cheaper than one J, with the benefit of both tix earning miles+tier points.
Feb 4, 2013, 9:38 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 296
Bumping this as I was hoping someone could clear something up for me. I'm trying to determine the amount of miles required to upgrade from Y to UC (or PE to UC for that matter) from LHR to SYD.
On VS website it says "This table shows how many miles you'll require for single upgrade flights for all of our different destinations in each cabin class". At the bottom it then says "Round trip upgrades relate to two flown sectors only". I'm not sure if that "single" refers to a single cabin, or a single leg, or a single one way journey, or a single return journey. For SYD from Y to UC is has 55,000 miles.
Does that mean it will cost 55k miles + a Y ticket to upgrade return LHR - SYD - LHR? Or would it cost 110k miles + Y ticket?
Is it just me or is the wording very confusing..?
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...rade_table.jsp
On VS website it says "This table shows how many miles you'll require for single upgrade flights for all of our different destinations in each cabin class". At the bottom it then says "Round trip upgrades relate to two flown sectors only". I'm not sure if that "single" refers to a single cabin, or a single leg, or a single one way journey, or a single return journey. For SYD from Y to UC is has 55,000 miles.
Does that mean it will cost 55k miles + a Y ticket to upgrade return LHR - SYD - LHR? Or would it cost 110k miles + Y ticket?
Is it just me or is the wording very confusing..?
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...rade_table.jsp
Feb 4, 2013, 12:24 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Brighton. UK
Programs: BA Gold / VS /IHG Diamond & Ambassador
Posts: 14,223
A Y to UC upgrade is 55k miles one way so a return would be 110k plus a ticket in the right Econ fare bucket ((Y,B,R,L,U,M) plus the additional VS fuel surcharge, APD and airport fees etc
I don't think the wording is confusing.
I don't think the wording is confusing.
