Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

gamboller

March

Hey,
Just won 25000 flying miles with Virgin Flying Club on an email offer. Is this worth anything to me? Only joined a few months ago before booking my trip via expedia.

neilbond007

gamboller wrote: »

Hey,
Just won 25000 flying miles with Virgin Flying Club on an email offer. Is this worth anything to me? Only joined a few months ago before booking my trip via expedia.

During sales you can get a free ticket to US.
But the "fees" tend to be high so it isn't the incredible bargain you'd think... Some of the sales fares are not too much more

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

neilbond007 wrote: »

During sales you can get a free ticket to US.
But the "fees" tend to be high so it isn't the incredible bargain you'd think... Some of the sales fares are not too much more

they just recently changed the mileage, the lowest miles redemption in the sale to US - New York in Economy is now 29500 miles, and the taxes/fees £184.50

neilbond007

pennylane99 wrote: »

they just recently changed the mileage, the lowest miles redemption in the sale to US - New York in Economy is now 29500 miles, and the taxes/fees £184.50

They used to be superb. 40,000 to the US whereas everyone else was 50,000. Several other advantages. Now seem to fit very much in to the norm.
I had 2 x 25000 chicago - heathrow reward tickets booked. then they pulled the route in winter. 4 months later i got my refund.

I've got about 70,000 miles. I think i'll swap them for hilton points. at least hilton don't screw you around...

PS - My fees for chicago - lhr for 2 were about £430

ferf1223

October , November

gamboller wrote: »

Hey,
Just won 25000 flying miles with Virgin Flying Club on an email offer. Is this worth anything to me? Only joined a few months ago before booking my trip via expedia.

If using the miles for a reward flight doesn't work, you could at least look at miles+money fares...it's not necessarily a massive savings, but if you've got the miles and aren't going to use them for anything else, 2,000 miles to save £50ish isn't a terrible deal.

Cand

September

gamboller wrote: »

Hey,
Just won 25000 flying miles with Virgin Flying Club on an email offer. Is this worth anything to me? Only joined a few months ago before booking my trip via expedia.

You lucky thing wish I could win some, we could do with them for next year if I manage to convince the hubby we should go again haha!

What about an upgrade... http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/upgradeandcompanionflights/index.jsp
Only prob is that the miles would only cover one if your not travelling alone. They could be useful if you planning on going away again on a Virgin flight next year as you would have your miles to come through for your flight you have to take yet.

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Cand wrote: »

You lucky thing wish I could win some, we could do with them for next year if I manage to convince the hubby we should go again haha!

What about an upgrade... http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/upgradeandcompanionflights/index.jsp
Only prob is that the miles would only cover one if your not travelling alone. They could be useful if you planning on going away again on a Virgin flight next year as you would have your miles to come through for your flight you have to take yet.

If you want to use your miles for an upgrade, you need to purchase a full fare ticket (Y,B, L class in Economy), though sometimes if space is available, you can try on the day of departure at check-in desk

Cand

September

pennylane99 wrote: »

If you want to use your miles for an upgrade, you need to purchase a full fare ticket (Y,B, L class in Economy), though sometimes if space is available, you can try on the day of departure at check-in desk

What is Y, B and L class in economy I was a bit confused by that when I saw it on the website (cant make any sense of it at all just had another look) I just thought economy was economy? Also cant you upgrade with your miles after you have booked a flight? This was something we hoped we could possible do next time we went if we had enough miles nearer the time which was what I thought gamboller could do (I thought gambollers flight was booked already I got the wrong end of the stick (typical me haha)).

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Cand wrote: »

What is Y, B and L class in economy I was a bit confused by that when I saw it on the website (cant make any sense of it at all just had another look) I just thought economy was economy? Also cant you upgrade with your miles after you have booked a flight? This was something we hoped we could possible do next time we went if we had enough miles nearer the time which was what I thought gamboller could do (I thought gambollers flight was booked already I got the wrong end of the stick (typical me haha)).

Theres an explanation on fare codes here

http://www.v-flyer.com/codes.asp

If you buy flights through somewhere like Expedia, the fare is usually a Q or X class, which is a discounted economy fare, and not in the right fare class to upgrade with miles, though as I mentioned, you could ask at check in, they sometimes do take other fare classes for upgrade, depending on availability on the day.

Cand

September

Thanks for that makes a bit more sense now nothing like making things more complicated (although its probs just me) haha. So have I got this bit right on the day you can use your miles to upgrade if and when possible?