Tesco now offering VA flying club points- help to calculate appreciated..

[princessmummy]

Dear DISers.

I was wondering if anyone out there could help me.

I am looking to book an offsite villa in the school holidays at Easter 2013.

I was about to cash in my £300 worth of tesco vouchers for £900 off a VH villa (although this very much went aginst the grain as regards not picking my own villa)

But on logging in today to my tescos account I discovered this new deal.

apparently my £300 will get me 75000 VA miles.

So my question is:

How much will this buy me as regards my flights (there is little on the VA website that I can see about actual cost in 'miles')

We will be flying in school hols Sun/ Mon- Thursday probably.

Either Manchester/ Gatwick to MCO Direct. Economy :-(

We are 2 adults one 13yr old and a 5 yr old.

If anyone can help me do any calculations as to what extra I wouuld have to pay I'd be grateful, plus whats the avilability like in school holidays, I assume its limited....
Would I need to book the day the flights are released?

Many thanks for any advice with my dilemma.

Time is short as I have vouchers that need cashing in before the end of the month.....

 

[joolz1910]

I found this deal today too. A flight to MCO is 45000 miles (approximately £180 in deals) but don't trust my maths - wait for someone else to come along. I think you can get money off flights too, although I'm not sure how it works. I know that using clubcard deals against Virgin holidays isn't a great deal anymore

 

[RudeDogg1]

if you have a virgin credit card you can get 10% off virgin holidays / flights prob a better deal than the tesco one

 

[wayneg]

I just joined Tesco Clubcard before Xmas after this deal was announced, I don't shop in Tesco much but hopefully I will gain a few airmiles. I still need to open the envelope and read about it, been too busy.

Using VA airmiles is a bit hit and miss, we had almost 250,000 and were struggling to use them, used some of them for flights out in July. A few years ago they were easier to use but they have cut back on the offers expecially in the school holidays.

They have a calc on their site here http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/spendingcalculator/index.jsp
Just now it costs 45,000 miles(although dummy dates I just checked for next Nov are showing 47,500) for a reward seat but you still have to pay taxes & fees at £278.80. A great price if you are going in the 6 week holiday when usual price is around £800 but if you are going offpeak the savings can be minimal and not worth using the miles.

We have also saved quite a bit doing Miles and Money, you only use 2,000 miles to get a discount this used to be upto £300pp, more recently its been more like £50pp saving.

Another way is using miles to upgrade, something I have never done but I believe it can be a good option, I know my Brother has just upgraded to Vegas next week from PE to Upper class for 12,500 miles.

I am not interested in the VH deals they offer, for me they are too expensive, our next trip DIY is costing around £4500(in PE), VH wanted almost £10,000(in Eco) so no matter what discount the clubcard gives its not enough to get those kind of savings.

 

[Heva2015]

Did you see that you get 1000 free miles too if you sign up to automatically credit your clubcard points to your flying club? Not loads but...er....every little helps!

 

[heatherbelle]

Its not worth it. You will be best saving the Tesco points and using them for other things, or keeping an eye out for new operators joining.

It is very difficult getting miles to pay for the flight and you also have to pay all the taxes in cash now too. As Wayne has said people have manged to do miles plus cash. I have never seen any for school hols, but I don't check every day.

I use to collect loads of Tesco points using every glitch going and have been lucky enough to have enjoyed three paid in full holidays and my last one next year is funded in part with Tesco points.

Depending if you live nearer to London, then BA miles may be a better option as they have more choice of airports and more flights. In February there is going to be a special offer on where you will get a better rate of exchange for cashing them into BA miles.

I now use the few I collect for double up promotions, train tickets and meals out.

Edit - You will need to check the rules carefully, but you could exchange your vouchers for a deal, say VH and then send back any unsed vouchers to tesco, who would then re-credit them to your account and would be available for use at the next quarter mailing. I have done this a few times to stop the vouchers expiring, but T's have tightened lots of things up recently, so would need to research that this was still viable. Have a look for info on a website called paid to shop.

 

[princessmummy]

Thank you all for your help!

I agree that Vh is NOT a good deal when compared to DIY, but was prepared to do it (and accept that i wouldn't be able to choose my accomodation) as staying offsite with the £900 to £1000 off coutesy of Mr Tesco made it a viable option.

I have decided (I think) to convert my tescos points to virgin miles... I phoned virgin yesterday and had a very frank discussion on the phone with a chap about availability of flights during school hols.

He did say that there ARE flights available in holiday time (but at a reduced level) when i laughed......... he said that they good booked very quickly but I assured him i was comfortable with booking THE day they were released ghe said he didn't hink it would be a problem..... we'll see!

be warned converting tesco points to VA points is ONE WAY you can't change them back if it al goes wrong.

so fingers crossed!

Thanks for all your advice will keep you posted.

 

[wayneg]

very quickly but I assured him i was comfortable with booking THE day they were released ghe said he didn't hink it would be a problem..... we'll see!

The problem is you don't know what day or what time of that day miles offers are going to be released, its certainly not the day the flights go on general release 11 months out.
For example I wanted 3 economy seats for August 2007 (2nd-27th) I started searching every day from flights being released Sept 2006, I searched 5, 6, 7, 8... times a day. Eventually at 10.40am on the 25th Dec I got what I wanted, probably over 2,000 searches to find those flights.

 

[madmumof2]

I've spent the last couple of years converting my Tesco vouchers into airmiles (I shop there all the time so accumulated a lot) but I could never fin a deal I liked, it was always too limited, not the dates I wanted etc. So they've never been used.

Instead I've just used some for the overnight hotel near Gatwick the night before our flight and will use the rest on whatever I can! And from now on I won't bother changing my points into miles, I've have thousands an thousands and still couldn't find a deal I liked.