Virgin Atlantic

[Jets fan]

Hi

I have nearly 100,000 Virgin miles and want to know what's best.

My family and I are going to orlando next year and I just cannot work out how best to use my points as there are so many variations:

All in premium economy

1st option
Pay for 2 and get 2 companion fares on miles
Problem
You have to pay the top price for the two seats and not the restricted price so it's cheaper to buy 4 restricted seats and not use any miles

2nd option
Pay 4 economy and upgrade to premuim
Problem
You have to pay the full economy price and not the restricted price

3rd option
Just do one flight free and pay for the rest

It seems that if you use your miles you end up paying more for your ticket as you need to get the non-restricted tickets, which in some cases are £500/600more so it makes no sense to use miles except in a free ticket.

I would love to hear how people spend their miles to work out what's best.

Many thanks
Tina

 

[london75]

We had this problem, we had enough miles each to buy economy and use 20,000 miles each to upgrade to PE.

That came to £893 per person

Or we could use part miles directly buying the "cheapest available" PE seats which was...

£900

Actual figures aren't right but the £7 difference is! 12,500 more miles for a £7 discount. Bit of a con really.

We chose miles plus money as we can save more miles for an upper class upgrade at some point which obviously would also cost £893.

Did that make sense, , now I read it back it looks a mess!

 

[Boss Hogg]

We've used ours in a variety of different ways, depending on what has worked out best. It is not always the case that the same option (companion flights for example) is best.

For example, we are getting a companion PE flight in Jan and it is costing around £1,060 in total - £920 for the flight and £140 taxes on the "free" one. In this case, the "flexible" ticket we needed was exactly the same price as the cheapest option on the website. The miles plus money option was around £700, so a good saving.

By contrast, in August we are flying Economy and are paying £520 each on miles plus money. However, for a companion flight the "flexible" ticket we needed was around £940! Loads more than the £700ish that you could pay for the cheapest option on the Virgin website.

So, two different times and two different options being the better.

I always find the only way to do it, is to call the Flying Club and go through all of the different options, also, I always check a day or so either side to see if that makes a difference, but naturally you need to be flexible to do this.

 

[wicket2005]

New to Virgin. Enrolled the hubbie on frequent flyer club. Can he collect the miles for the 4 of us or do we each need to collect. If we have to have 4 cards how do you book a flight do you all have to do it separately or can the miles be pooled together? Hope that makes sense. Thanks for any help.

 

[tashasmum]

No you will all have to enrol to collect miles, even children.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

No you will all have to enrol to collect miles, even children.

Children ONLY from the age of 12 upwards.
Children under the age of 12 can have an account if the main card holder is a Gold Card holder and then the miles are transferred to your Gold account.
You can use your miles for tix for the children though.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Tina (Jets fan)
You Can upgrade from Economy to PE using the following fare classes
Y, B, & L

Y is full fare economy, but
B class:- Flying Club Miles and Tier Points will be earned on this fare. 100% of mileage flown earned (125% for Flying Club Silver and 150% for Flying Club Gold members). 2nd highest level of fare class for Economy, very flexible in regards to changes/cancellation. Refunds are available on this fare class but typically not 100% full refund. This fare class is also one of the qualifying fare classes for Economy for the MilesMoreFriends promotion, so if the person you refer flies on a ticket booked in this class you will earn the 3,000 mile referral bonus. Eligible economy fare class for utilisation of: Upgrades – from economy to Premium Economy for 10,000 miles each sector or from Economy to Upper Class for 30,000 miles per sector. Note there must be availability in U Class for a Premium Economy Upgrade or G Class for an Upper Class Upgrade. You will still the Economy level of miles and Tier Points if you upgrade to a higher class. Companion - Flying Club Economy Mileage Redemption Companion award for 20,000 miles, Complimentary Flying Club Companion award for renewing Flying Club Gold Status or Complimentary Virgin Credit Card Companion ticket award for reaching the spend threshold in the 12 month designated period. Note there must be availability in T class for the companion seat. Note: If you utilise the revenue fare for a companion reward, you can then also upgrade that revenue fare to a higher class but not the reward seat. So person X buys the B class revenue fare, and gets a companion reward for person Y (booked in T class), person A can then use miles to upgrade to Premium Economy (booked in U class) but person B cannot use miles to upgrade. The exception to this rule is if you have reached the threshold via spend on your Virgin Credit Card for the upgrade award, in this instance you can use the upgrade award to upgrade the Economy Companion seat to Premium Economy.

and
L class:

Flying Club Miles and Tier Points will be earned on this fare. 100% of mileage flown earned (125% for Flying Club Silver and 150% for Flying Club Gold members). 3rd highest level of fare class for Economy, flexible to some degree in regards to changes/cancellation, changes are likely to at a fee though. This fare class is also one of the qualifying fare classes for Economy for the MilesMoreFriends promotion, so if the person you refer flies on a ticket booked in this class you will earn the 3,000 mile referral bonus. Eligible economy fare class for most routes (exception is Tokyo) for utilisation of: Upgrades – from economy to Premium Economy for 10,000 miles each sector or from Economy to Upper Class for 30,000 miles per sector. Note there must be availability in U Class for a Premium Economy Upgrade or G Class for an Upper Class Upgrade. You will still the Economy level of miles and Tier Points if you upgrade to a higher class. Companion - Flying Club Economy Mileage Redemption Companion award for 20,000 miles, Complimentary Flying Club Companion award for renewing Gold Status or Complimentary Virgin Credit Card Companion ticket award for reaching the spend threshold in the 12 month designated period. Note there must be availability in T class for the companion seat. Note: If you utilise the revenue fare for a companion reward, you can then also upgrade that revenue fare to a higher class but not the reward seat. So person X buys the L class revenue fare, and gets a companion reward for person Y (booked in T class), person A can then use miles to upgrade to Premium Economy (booked in U class) but person B cannot use miles to upgrade. The exception to this rule is if you have reached the threshold via spend on your Virgin Credit Card for the upgrade award, in this instance you can use the upgrade award to upgrade the Economy Companion seat to Premium Economy.

 

[Pootle]

For example, we are getting a companion PE flight in Jan and it is costing around £1,060 in total - £920 for the flight and £140 taxes on the "free" one. In this case, the "flexible" ticket we needed was exactly the same price as the cheapest option on the website. The miles plus money option was around £700, so a good saving.

I'm looking at this at the moment - fitting in an extra trip with a friend

My thinking at the moment though, is that they may just have heavily discounted PE tickets for January out in the next few months, possibly coming in at not much more than the £530 per person I could get now (using your method).

Haven't quite decided what do do yet Will hang on for a while I think.

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks for the info.

Can you pool all the miles when making a booking for flights for the family or do you have to do it all separately with each account holder?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Thanks for the info.

Can you pool all the miles when making a booking for flights for the family or do you have to do it all separately with each account holder?

Well, we have AIR polled in the past, using our miles for both the little 'un and for friends doing Miles Plus Money fares (they did not have FC accounts so no miles, so I used some of mine)

 

[wayneg]

I have only ever felt M&M to be worth using the miles. Last 3 bookings saved about £3,200 and only spent 20,000 miles (10 seats total) average saving £320/seat, all economy, all in school hols.