Save £50 off Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Premium Economy fares

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• Anna says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:17

  OT – having booked cash flights with AA (via their website), is it now possible to upgrade them with avios or would I have to use AAdvantage miles (which I don’t have any of!)?

  • Lee says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:26

    not possible with Avios

    • Anna says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:58

      Boo! Only realised at the weekend when I managed to bag 3 x domestic First seats for 20,000 avios and £4 tax each how much better value than economy these are – you get priority check in and boarding, free checked bags (as opposed to $25 each) which are unloaded first and free F & B on board.

      • Genghis says:

        6 Aug6 August 14:58

        No lounge access though (unless transcon and/or have status)

      • Anna says:

        6 Aug6 August 16:07

        Yes I noticed that but we have PP of course courtesy of Amex Platinum/HFP ????

• Genghis says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:56

  OT. I’m a Virgin novice but applied for the Rewards+ card yesterday. I’d like to take my wife to New York next year using the upgrade voucher to fly out PE and then back in J. Looking at the aircraft types for dates next year, there’s the A330-300 and the 789 (though I believe they are out of action currently and the AB A330-200s are being used?). When do the A350s come in?

  If you were in my shoes, for PE and J, which aircraft listing would you select? Thanks in advance.

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:48

    The A330-300 are now perfectly OK following the UC seat replacement which took it down to 1-1-1 from 1-2-1. The replacement Air Berlin seats will also be in place on the A330-200 by then so it depends whether you want to sit side by side on that or in two parallel ‘coffins’ on the -300 / 787!

  • Lady London says:

    6 Aug6 August 15:02

    would you not want to bump up the outward leg to J as well, Genghis or have you already “done” the Virgin Club Lounge?

    • Genghis says:

      6 Aug6 August 15:05

      I’d like to make use of the Virgin upgrade voucher and having no status there, the two one way in PE is better than the 241 economy.

      • RTS says:

        6 Aug6 August 16:24

        I find Virgin PE quite poor but then again I have only flown their HKG route.

      • Leo says:

        6 Aug6 August 19:40

        You’ll be ok on VS PE Genghis – specially on the short day flight to JFK. Just make sure you get one of the pair of seats. Its not exactly a treat but its a perfectly acceptable flight. Separate check in helps. Clubhouse at JFK feeds and waters you well enough to enable you to get your head down straight away coming home.

      • Genghis says:

        6 Aug6 August 20:22

        Thanks all.

      • Jon says:

        6 Aug6 August 20:22

        I find the opposite to RTS. For a day flight I find P/E on Virgin pleasant enough that I’d never pay cash for U/C and can barely justify the points. If travelling with others I know many actually prefer it to the U/C coffins….

        • Rob says:

          6 Aug6 August 21:34

          Have to say, the front row of PE on the new Iberia A350 is outstanding (excluding the middle block). Unlimited legroom due to the doors and just two seats.

      • BJ says:

        6 Aug6 August 20:27

        Agree with Leo, I think PE is adequate for flights up to about 8 hours, especially daytime flights. It is anything over 8h when I want a flat bed.

  • Nick says:

    6 Aug6 August 23:25

    I see VS 789s flying around every day… someone should really tell Virgin if they need to come out of the sky ????

    More seriously, SOME of the 787s are out of action. MOST are ok to fly, with more being (re)added once the engine overhauls are complete. There are rules around which engines can fly with which others, but as long as those are met, some aircraft are fit to fly. Same with BA of course.

• Rob says:

  6 Aug6 August 13:35

  OT: if you got a letter from Lloyds today re the closure of the Duo credit cards (NOT Avios Rewards cards) can you let me know the effective date please? Also keen to hear from you if you have the £50 Duo cards about what is happening to those.

  • Anonymous says:

    6 Aug6 August 15:03

    Hi rob,

    It says ‘in just over two months’ time’. It doesn’t give an exact date.

    • Rob says:

      6 Aug6 August 15:28

      Great, thanks.

    • Anna says:

      6 Aug6 August 16:09

      I thought they had to give 90 days’ notice of any changes? That’s what they told me recently.

• Leigh says:

  6 Aug6 August 14:28

  O/T – Just tried to use Iberia Avios to book a flight to Italy for next year. The booking didn’t go through using my Amex card (no warning message at all, so don’t know why). When I tried again the Avios seats are gone. My Avios balance remains the same and there is no pending transaction on my Amex. Don’t think someone has booked those seats as the whole month is clear. Anyone know if the seats have been “reserved” somehow by my “failed” booking? If so, how long does it take for them to be released again? Thanks in advance.

  • Leigh says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:33

    To answer my own question – the seats are now released (about three hours after my failed booking).

• Ben says:

  6 Aug6 August 16:00

  100% O/T

  4 of us have been caught out by the earthquake in Lombok and we’re now replanning our intended time there (13-21st of this month). We’re currently in Singapore. I’ve got 250k Avios, 270k Marriott, and 90k ihg.

  Any suggestions from anyone? anyone fancy planning an emergency holiday for me?

  To mix things up we’ve got no warm clothes with us so Perth isn’t too attractive. Also got 2 small kids so need to keep the travel to one day each way. Much love to the HFP community in advance.

  • KevMc says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:15

    Plenty of choice/availability from Singapore. Kuala Lumpur is only a short (and cheap) flight from Singapore if that appeals? – there’d likely be no need to spend your Avios to get there as it’s so cheap.

    Mainland Japan will be easy to get to using Avios to JAL. Also Korea and/or Hong Kong?

  • RTS says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:19

    Jakarta?

    • the real harry1 says:

      6 Aug6 August 18:28

      No, I had to drag her by the hair

  • SGtoUK says:

    6 Aug6 August 22:20

    I’d suggest Phuket and Koh Samui if you’d like to continue the idyllic beach vibes.

  • MR says:

    7 Aug7 August 02:46

    Langkawi – excellent StR and RC options and easy flight connections

  • Michael C says:

    7 Aug7 August 06:09

    If it’s not just beaches: Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Siem Reap and Yangon all fabulous. Possibly MH with points, but just seen e.g. Yangon direct for 97 GBP if not.

  • Tilly says:

    7 Aug7 August 07:18

    Penang, Langkawi or KK (Kota Kinabalu). All a short hop from Sing with amazing and cheap food.

• Nicky says:

  6 Aug6 August 16:24

  OT: Apologies if this has been asked and answered before. I have just cancelled my BAPP card and will hopefully get another one in 6 months. If My father gets the BAPP and has me as a supplementary card holder, can I apply in 6 months for my own card and will I still get the bonus (if holding a supplementary card of the same type)?

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:28

    Yes, no problem.

• Axel Heyst says:

  6 Aug6 August 16:24

  langkawi is close and child friendly

  it’s not worth using avois/miles on se asian short haul flights.

  • Tony says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:39

    If you want to travel in J or F and only go one way, my experience was it made great sense to use Avios. We bagged 2F and 3J PEK-HKG, then 4J HKG-BKI. Low one way fares don’t seem to exist in premium cabins and the axes are very low so the value per mile was amazing.

    • Polly says:

      6 Aug6 August 17:55

      We did similar, kul,to bki in j on as. V nice too. And from dps to hkg on CX. Nice addition to an F 241 trip.

• VJ says:

  6 Aug6 August 16:34

  Do you get your IHG Certificate (CC £10K Spend) back if you cancel the booking.

  • BLT says:

    6 Aug6 August 21:44

    In my experience yes you get the certificate back in your account if you cancel, as long as it hasn’t expired.

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