virgin upgrade with miles??

[catrinuk]

ok call me stupid but there was an offer on flying club miles last month so i paid out thinking i could upgrade our family (5 of us) to premium economy for our flights manchester to MCO next aug /sept. PANIC - - phoned to book the flights this morning no upgrade flights available. the man said none have been sold yet but neither are there any available!! so now i am stuck, what do i do? i have paid out £660 for the extra miles!! do i wait and see if miles upgrades come available, what are my chances? has anyone used miles to upgrade before? is there any way to find out if there will be any available for my travel dates? any advice or support please i feel like a prize plonker for buying the miles now. i asked if i could get a refund on the miles but i cant. HELP PLEASE. - Catrin

 

[wayneg]

Unfortunately its not simple to upgrade. Firstly you have to buy seats that qualify for upgrades, then there has to be availabilty, almost impossible for August, probably more chance in Sep.
Good luck.

Couple of links with details
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/upgradeandcompanionflights/index.jsp

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/tsandcs/spendingmiles.jsp

 

[bevbev]

Hi
I looked into doing exactly the same thing for us last week, I don't think any on the orlando routes have the right code that can be upgraded by using airmiles. I was also told by the indian call (airmiles line) that you have to but 5 adults tickets to be able to upgrade using airmiles from what i can gather the best option is to use money and miles which i was also told you can only use a max of 7500 miles each. On the flights I was pricing up (for 5) it would have saved us about 700 pounds
Bev