Virgin Flying Club launches a redemption seat sale on selected US economy routes

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• Tracy says:

  10 Oct10 October 10:10

  O/T as no bits today, can I use my Lloyds voucher to book return flights for 2 people upgrading the outbound leg to pe from economy using the voucher and pay for the return in pe as one booking or will this have to be done as 2 seperate bookings. The return is not available as an upgrade, only economy redemptions left, hence why I would like to pay for pe for the return but i am assuming a one way paid booking would be super expensive….

  • John says:

    10 Oct10 October 10:28

    Check before you assume it will be expensive

    No you can’t have a redemption and revenue in one booking

  • Anna says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:27

    Do you have enough points to book either leg in Club (if available)? You will get so much more value for the amount of taxes and fees you will have to pay. Also, you may be able to book the inbound leg in economy then enquire about the price of a cash upgrade afterwards AFAIK.

    Booking 2 x one way is false economy, you will pay proportionally more tax on the outbound leg plus get stung for a very expensive inbound leg – unless you can find an airline which sells one-way tickets at normal prices. Where are you going?

    • Tracy says:

      10 Oct10 October 12:42

      Anna, I do have the avios but no club available either way, just pe out and econ return. I refuse to use avios to book economy on the return though….

  • Alex W says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:31

    I can think of 3 other options. Assuming you want to fly PE both ways:

    1. Book one person on a paid return. Separately book the other person as a redemption (there may be availability for 1 seat). You might have to pay to sit together, unless you both have status.

    2. Book 2 seats as a one way redemption for the outbound leg. For the return journey, book 2 seats with cash. It may be cheaper to book this as a return rather than a one way. I.e. PE first leg and the second leg is a “throwaway” economy ticket which you won’t actually use.

    3. Book 2 return cash tickets, economy out, PE back. Upgrade the outbound leg using Avios. Can’t use the Lloyd’s voucher, but should require the same number of Avios I think. Can’t upgrade the cheapest economy tickets, though. Might have to be booked over the phone.

    • Tracy says:

      10 Oct10 October 13:15

      Thanks Alex W, I liked option 1 but there is no reward availability for the return even for one person other than economy. Option 2, booking a paid one way or a return is too expensive to justify just for the return leg. Option 3, this is an option but obviously can’t use the lloyds voucher plus if I was booking cash I would probably look at Amex Travel as I have 2 of the spend £600 get a credit of £200 to use. Not sure I can do a mixed cabin booking through Amex Travel either and the economy out will probably not be upgradeable….funny enough this isn’t even for me to travel, its for my kids to travel with me. I’m already booked club on a 2-4-1 lol.

      • Alex W says:

        10 Oct10 October 13:32

        Kids? Stick em in economy!

      • Tracy says:

        10 Oct10 October 13:34

        Yup, thats what OH says too 🙂

      • Shoestring says:

        10 Oct10 October 17:50

        How old are the kids? I think once the eldest one travelling in Economy on their own is at least 10, you can stick younger ones there, too, alongside the 10YO – probably not younger than 6YO I guess.

        I stopped travelling next to my kids when they were around about that age, so that I could go in the exit row for a bit more legroom.

  • Anna says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:43

    Or, what I’ve done in the past is book an economy return and pay for exit seats. It’s not a cheap option (around £65 pp) but you get miles more legroom than in PE for a fraction of the price. I have only ever travelled once in BA PE and thought it simply wasn’t worth it.

    • Tracy says:

      10 Oct10 October 13:18

      The premium economy is just to salve my conscience as I will be on the flight too but in club and these seats are for the kids (age 16 & 17) due to a change in plan lol

    • lev441 says:

      10 Oct10 October 15:33

      Anna – I luckily received extra legroom seats on my last flight from Heathrow – Argentina. I slept better in those seats than I did in the middle of the premium economy cabin… On a long haul flight like that i’d happily pay for the extra legroom seats if flying economy.

      • Anna says:

        10 Oct10 October 17:20

        Me too, it looks expensive on first glance but yes the best option after F & J!

• Liz says:

  10 Oct10 October 10:52

  OT is anyone else having trouble accessing the Red by Dufry app for discounts at airports. I downloaded, signed up and used it back in June when at LHR but now only get a blank white screen. I have rebooted my phone, deleted the app and reloaded it but still the same. I can access it at home on my iPad but not my iPhone 5s which I use when travelling.I have emailed their customer service but the email address has bounced back as not valid. .

  • Liz says:

    10 Oct10 October 11:10

    Just found another email address to use so will see how that goes.

  • Prins Polo says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:55

    Are there any useful discounts through that app? I tried search for Red by Dufry on Flyertalk and elsewhere but haven’t found too much useful info.

    • Liz says:

      10 Oct10 October 14:16

      You get 5% off your purchases at silver level which is the level you get for signing up. I bought 2 bottles of whisky and perfume and got a £9 off. We had time to kill and the guy in the whisky shop told us about it and helped me get signed up and we got an immediate discount on the purchases we were already making so worth it I thought.

  • Roger1* says:

    11 Oct11 October 14:13

    Hi, Liz.

    They have an updated app. I found mine for my mobile at Playstore. It contains much more info e.g. on airports. I will probably be trying in a couple of weeks.

• MM says:

  10 Oct10 October 11:33

  OT. Does anyone have basic info about maximising value/rewards on cruises? My parents are now retired and planning at least one cruise a year… So this would be very helpful.

• Simon says:

  10 Oct10 October 11:39

  OT – my wife has 25k in her BA EC account, we are linked in a household account. But the avios don’t show when I log into my BAEC account even though I am head of the household account? We’d like them in one place, is there something I need to do? (Have looked through the BA web site and even the household account info on here but to no avail)

  TIA

  • Peter K says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:25

    If you are in a household account it should show your personal avios and separately, just below, the household avios. When redeeming, avios get taken pro rata from each account without any extra work from you.

  • Anna says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:32

    As Peter K says, also you could have the BA app signed into your wife’s account so you can easily check her points balance if you need to.

    • Simon says:

      10 Oct10 October 12:39

      Cheers both – the problem I have is the household account doesn’t reflect her avios, despite showing in her account, and having her linked in the household account. Which is why I was wondering if I needed to do anything to get them showing?

      • Anna says:

        10 Oct10 October 12:46

        You won’t be able to see her balance (or that of anyone else in your HHA) unless you are signed into her account.

      • Genghis says:

        10 Oct10 October 13:10

        Are you saying her avios are not adding to yours (and others?) in the HHA balance? Perhaps too simple a question but is she actually in the HHA and not just in the friends and family listing?

      • Simon says:

        10 Oct10 October 16:53

        She is in the account Genghis, hence my question I guess. I expected to see her avios in her BA app, but also an increase in the household account balance, but the latter hasn’t happened?

    • Simon says:

      10 Oct10 October 12:51

      Thanks Anna. I guess as long as I know they are there.
      S

• AndyK says:

  10 Oct10 October 12:10

  OT. Sorry for a very basic question.
  I just got a BAPP card. How often do they transfer Avios to a BA account? How long does it normally take?

  • Peter K says:

    10 Oct10 October 12:23

    Every month, just before your statement date, Amex sweep across the Avios earned automatically to your BAEC account.

    • Anna says:

      10 Oct10 October 12:34

      Yes, on the front page of your online account under your number of avios, there is a button saying “avios earned”. This takes you to a list of all your avios transactions, so after your first statement you will see which date they move across to your BA account and can work out from there roughly when you will get them each month (there can be a slight difference if, say, the that date falls on a weekend or a bank holiday).

      • AndyK says:

        10 Oct10 October 13:10

        Thank you

  • Rob says:

    10 Oct10 October 13:06

    6 days before your statement cut-off date, they sweep across everything due to you for the previous 30 days.

• ouaile says:

  10 Oct10 October 15:36

  On a completely different topic.. has any one received amex spg points since the merger ?

  My Sept and Oct points have both been posted by Amex but none arrive. I have updated my loyalty number with amex and was told that this will be sorted end of Sept.

  • Rob says:

    10 Oct10 October 15:52

    Nope …

• Anon says:

  10 Oct10 October 16:05

  O / T – what’s BA silver worth to people now? I’m 75 tier points out with a year end expiry in November?

  Seat selection I’m not fussed about as short haul flights are usually only booked a few days in advance when Bronze gets it free as well. Lounge access would be nice as I don’t go CE on short-haul, although I could just save the £150 it would take to get silver and buy priority pass…

  • Rob says:

    10 Oct10 October 16:08

    You’re getting 15 months of Silver – because your card will run until February 2020 – and £10 per month seems a pretty decent deal on that basis. You should also get better seating options than are shown to you as a Bronze.

    That also assumes you put no value on the trip you get to earn it. Barcelona is £160 return at the moment which will get you 80 tier points in Club Europe.

  • Matt says:

    10 Oct10 October 17:33

    Don’t forget the extra Avios you’ll earn, the business class check in (ie shorter queue, mostly), the extra luggage allowance if that’s needed….

    I’ve been silver since finding this site, would definitely go for it IF you’re going to fly a reasonable amount next year.

  • Kevin C says:

    10 Oct10 October 21:13

    Silver is really useful if flying economy. Having access to the priority lane in security and being able to board the plane early can be very helpful.

    I often find oneworld lounges to be better than the Priority Pass ones. Of course the advantage of Priority Pass is that you can use it even when not flying BA.

    • Graham Walsh says:

      10 Oct10 October 22:45

      Agree with this. Liking the fast track abs boarding group 2. Don’t care about the lounges as PP with Amex Plat.

• Chris says:

  10 Oct10 October 17:42

  Post from Curve on twitter confirming Amex return…

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