Questions about Virgin flights from a newb

[Sundancer UK]

Sorry if I'm asking obvious things here. I've only been on one big flight before and it was organised by someone else.

1) I understand that prices go up and down. For all of us to go to Orlando two weeks ago, it was about £3686 I think. Now it's about £3327. Are the prices likely to fluctuate much more? We are going in May 2014 - I'm guessing the sooner we get our flights the better?


2) Tesco Clubcard points. How do these work towards flights? Do you convert them to airmiles? If so, how many airmiles do you need to be able to cash them in? 5 of us flew last time, but there wasn't enough airmiles points to be used for towards this time. Will we need thousands of points to make it worthwhile?

I have NO idea how this works, so if you can help, please do!

EDIT: I've just realised that kids' flights don't get airmiles at all - so it was actually only two for last time!

 

[orangetiggs]

Its 45000 miles per person for a round trip with virgin. Ive never changed tesco points before so cant help with that

We booked our nov flights in jan this year as they had a sale on

 

[Sundancer UK]

I didn't even consider the possibility of a sale! Is that a common thing, or would we be taking a risk if we waited til January?

 

[orangetiggs]

Sales happen quite a bit with virgin but each sale does different dates so im not sure what dates were in the jan sale except ours

I personally wouldnt wait till jan for may flights because if its a popular date the cheaper fare classes sell out and your left with the most expensive economy class

 

[MrRomance]

The drop in price is probably due to the current BA sale. With Airlines, you tend to find that when one coughs the other one sneezes! BA and Virgin are the only 2 scheduled direct options (other direct flights are charter and usually through travel agencies for example Thomas Cook). With BA having a sale, Virgin usually lower their prices to stay competitive and vice versa.

Both have sales in November/December. This is usually when we book the following years flights. This year we booked with BA who were cheaper, but it tends to flip flop between the 2, so keep your eye on BA too.

The Tesco Club Card deal is similar for both airlines. You can convert £2.50 of club card vouchers for 625 miles on Virgin or 600 BA Avios. My general experience is that BA have more money plus miles reward flights but others will say Virgin do. To convert your Club Card vouchers, you need to go to the club card site and select the airline you want and the amount you want to convert.

Unless you're a SUPER Tesco shopper, you won't get enough for an entire flight but you will probably be able to get a miles plus money option. I am a big advocate of BA Avios, others will be big fans of Virgin miles, but I find that if you book all of your holiday stuff with BA Avios, travel insurance, travel money, airport parking and hotel and also buy things through the year with them (I recently bought some bracelet charms for my DW and DDs for their birthdays and got Avios) you can rack up a good number of Avios over the course of a year. Since December I have racked up over 10000 Avios and I still have my club card vouchers to convert.

 

[Sundancer UK]

We normally shop at Asda, but I'm considering changing, if it would be worth it. Problem is knowing if it's worth it!

DH checked and says it looks like 2000 miles will take off about £30 from one person's fare. I guess that's better than spending the vouchers in store...

 

[queendisney]

The Tesco Club Card deal is similar for both airlines. You can convert £2.50 of club card vouchers for 625 miles on Virgin or 600 BA Avios. My general experience is that BA have more money plus miles reward flights but others will say Virgin do. To convert your Club Card vouchers, you need to go to the club card site and select the airline you want and the amount you want to convert.

If you do go ahead and convert your Tesco club card into VA air miles then don't do it until they have their deal on again. They often do an incentive where you get for example 2 times the value plus and an extra 1000 points. We automatically have our points put into VA miles and it builds up nicely. We are going this year on our miles. We don't normally have a problem getting flights this way as we nearly always go in November in peak times they don't do so many reward flights as they know they can get full price for them. You will need to open an air miles account with VA on their web site to get them. I really wouldn't advise exchanging them for a VH's discount as it just isn't a good deal.

 

[~Piglet~]

I understand that prices go up and down. For all of us to go to Orlando two weeks ago, it was about £3686 I think. Now it's about £3327. Are the prices likely to fluctuate much more? We are going in May 2014 - I'm guessing the sooner we get our flights the better?

If only we could predict flight prices! If you have a price you are happy with, book it and don't check for flights again!! it can drive you mad