Lower Fuel Surcharge on Reward Seats with VA

[Samaya]

Virgin's will be lowering the amount of fuel surcharges on some long haul Economy Reward Seats, so from £213 on the London-MCO flights and £215 Manchester-MCO.

Plus 25% less miles.

Available for booking from today up to 17th June.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/rewardflights/flightsformiles.jsp

Forgot to add, it's for flights between Nov 2013 and March 2014 to MCO with some other dates for other destinations.

 

[wayneg]

Just had a look at a reward seat for Matt to come home from Xmas, Boston to London one way 14,000 miles and $97 cash, why can't all reward fares be so cheap?

 

[Samaya]

Just had a look at a reward seat for Matt to come home from Xmas, Boston to London one way 14,000 miles and $97 cash, why can't all reward fares be so cheap?

That is such a good offer Wayne, what would it be for MCO to London and which airline is that with?

As for the Virgin offer we monitored our date options for next year and as the hours went pass those options were getting less and less for a Saturday flight so we took the plunge and booked our seats to MCO, each seat cost us 33,000 miles plus £214.11.

We had hoped to assign our seats this morning but it seems there's a new policy, the seatmap was unavailable and we can only do that at 90-days out from departure, when did that change?

And they're still doing the bid to upgrade your flight, has anyone every won a bid yet?.

 

[Elise79]

That is such a good offer Wayne, what would it be for MCO to London and which airline is that with?

As for the Virgin offer we monitored our date options for next year and as the hours went pass those options were getting less and less for a Saturday flight so we took the plunge and booked our seats to MCO, each seat cost us 33,000 miles plus £214.11.

We had hoped to assign our seats this morning but it seems there's a new policy, the seatmap was unavailable and we can only do that at 90-days out from departure, when did that change?

And they're still doing the bid to upgrade your flight, has anyone every won a bid yet?.

The 90 day seat reservation has been in operation for a long while now - it was initially for flights after October/November last year and has stayed in place since. It was 'temporary measure while they upgraded the seat request system' but that reference has been removed and going by the state of website and how long the updates are taking it could be like this forever.

 

[wayneg]

That is such a good offer Wayne, what would it be for MCO to London and which airline is that with?

It's with the latest VA offer.

Similar price from MCO to MAN, 16,500 miles + $97pp, it's the outbound flight that costs.

Next year we cruise out there from Barcelona so looking for an offer like this for the return flight, would be very happy if we got 3 seats for a total of £191+ 49,500 miles. Other option I will be looking at is Aer Lingus, they do one way fares from around £200pp without using any miles.

 

[Samaya]

The 90 day seat reservation has been in operation for a long while now - it was initially for flights after October/November last year and has stayed in place since. It was 'temporary measure while they upgraded the seat request system' but that reference has been removed and going by the state of website and how long the updates are taking it could be like this forever.

Thanks Elise for the update, when we last flew with Virgin in Feb 2012 we could book the seats right away. This year we flew with Aer Lingus and was hoping to fly with them again next year. We've been searching since we arrived back but they've not yet loaded the return flights to our local airport, had they been available then we would have already booked with Aer Lingus and therefore would have missed this Virgin offer which we're happy with at just over £200 a seat plus miles.

Now, we must make sure we book those seats at 90-days out.

 

[Samaya]

It's with the latest VA offer.

Similar price from MCO to MAN, 16,500 miles + $97pp, it's the outbound flight that costs.

Next year we cruise out there from Barcelona so looking for an offer like this for the return flight, would be very happy if we got 3 seats for a total of £191+ 49,500 miles. Other option I will be looking at is Aer Lingus, they do one way fares from around £200pp without using any miles.

Thanks Wayne that is a good price and the reduced fuel surcharges for reward flights looks to be staying longer than this offer as Virgin quotes:
'Hold that thought! You may have noticed that we've lowered the amount of Fuel Surcharge on these long haul Economy flights. This change won't just apply to this offer period, so keep up to date via our Reward Flights pages as more information follows'.

Hope you get the Aer Lingus one way fares around £200, although I did think those low fares which are quoted as each-way was only if you purchased a return ticket and not just a one-way, hope my thoughts are wrong?

 

[wayneg]

Hope you get the Aer Lingus one way fares around £200, although I did think those low fares which are quoted as each-way was only if you purchased a return ticket and not just a one-way, hope my thoughts are wrong?

No, with AL you can book one way fares at low prices, you don't need to book them as a round trip. This is the date this year for what we want for next year https://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/MCO-MAN/2013-09-28/3adults
£242pp next nearest £757pp with United

 

[Samaya]

No, with AL you can book one way fares at low prices, you don't need to book them as a round trip. This is the date this year for what we want for next year https://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/MCO-MAN/2013-09-28/3adults
£242pp next nearest £757pp with United

That good news and that being the case might there be a time-option when a return ticket with one airline is not available for certain dates and/or it's cheaper to book a one-way with Aer Lingus and then a reward seat with VA for the other one-way?

 

[Samaya]

No, with AL you can book one way fares at low prices, you don't need to book them as a round trip. This is the date this year for what we want for next year https://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/MCO-MAN/2013-09-28/3adults
£242pp next nearest £757pp with United

Although this is last minute, it seems Thomas Cook also allows-offers a low cost one-way fare but it seems only into the States, here's an example going from Manchester to Sanford on 11th June for £224.49.

Manchester International To Orlando Sanford, Florida
Depart: MAN Tue 11 Jun 2013 - 11:55 - Arrive: SFB Tue 11 Jun 2013 - 16:05
Duration: 9h 10m. Flight: TCX 414 (ATOL Protected)
1. Adult £184.99
Bundle Saving £-6.50
20KG Baggage Allowance £26.00
Standard Meal £10.00
Prepaid Standard Seat £10.00
Outbound Total £224.49
Total £224.49

 

[wayneg]

Although this is last minute, it seems Thomas Cook also allows-offers a low cost one-way fare but it seems only into the States, here's an example going from Manchester to Sanford on 11th June for £224.49.

Manchester International To Orlando Sanford, Florida
Depart: MAN Tue 11 Jun 2013 - 11:55 - Arrive: SFB Tue 11 Jun 2013 - 16:05
Duration: 9h 10m. Flight: TCX 414 (ATOL Protected)
1. Adult £184.99
Bundle Saving £-6.50
20KG Baggage Allowance £26.00
Standard Meal £10.00
Prepaid Standard Seat £10.00
Outbound Total £224.49
Total £224.49

I looked into TC about a week ago and found I could only do 1 way (in) seems strange.