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Hi all,
Looking for some advice for a first time reward flight booker.
I would like to book 3 UC reward flights using my miles & credit card rewards for next December. Manchester to Orlando return.
I have 210,000 miles and 2x upgrade vouchers.
As virgin seem to only release 2x Uc reward flights initially my thinking is as below:
– book 2x premium reward flights (upgrade one using voucher 1)
– book 1x UC reward flight
– use my second voucher to upgrade the other premium flight in the future if/when more UC reward flights are added.My questions are:
– what is the likelihood they will add more UC reward flights?
– if they don’t add any, is it possible to upgrade the premium reward flight using cash?
– how do people generally book return flights? Do they book outbound flight when released and then the return when that is released? Or does this work out more expensive?
If I wait a fortnight for the return leg to be released there is a high chance the reward flights for the outbound leg will already be snapped up by someone else.Any help appreciated,
Many thanks– this is a good route for premium rewards, at least of seat spy is to be believed — many days over the coming year have three or more seats available, including on the returns
– not AFAIK online — if Upper isn’t fully sold they may release seats for miles right at the last minute and you can ask for these at check in … you can also call up at anytime before the flight, but I’ve no idea if cash upgrades are available from an award seat
Book 2 premium cash, 2 x voucher & airmiles for 2 UC flights.
Should leave you 70k airmiles ish? Buy some airmiles in current sale. Wait on another flight being released in UC. If not.. go Premium.I can’t guarantee SeatSpy is correct but every time I’ve checked for Virgin redemptions from MAN I’ve seen dates with multiple award seats in UC.
@jh222 ref your questions:
– This cannot be guaranteed but, as @memesweeper & @Anna say, it looks like they do release more on this route. Seatspy availability shows up to 9 UC reward seats on some days in almost all months in 2023 that have been loaded, although not in November – but it maybe that these will come later. In fact the extra seats currently apply across the board (out and back) up to October 24th, whereas reward flight availability is loaded up to November 24th, suggesting that the extra availability may be generated on a release minus 1 month basis, although whether this happens on a daily frequency I haven’t a clue: I am curious about this myself so will check tomorrow to see if October 25th has any more availability open up! VS are supposedly on a 330 in advance rewards release cycle so that seems about right…
– Yes, you can upgrade the PE booking using cash, at least you can bid to do so https://tinyurl.com/26s8j248 . Virgin also say “If you don’t get the chance to bid, it’s still worth checking in My Booking, or asking us at the airport for upgrade options.”
– When I have booked VS rewards in the past I have often been able to do so online without all the seats being snapped up. There doesn’t seem to be the competition that you see on BA reward releases, at least not on the routes I’ve been interested in (SFO/BGI) but I have been more flexible on dates than you seem to be and the MAN-MCO route may be more popular (although the SeatSpy search I mentioned suggests otherwise?!). I don’t think that booking separately makes a difference to the TFCs. I know you cannot add a voucher to an existing rewards booking as I have had this argument with VS before – I would phone them up if you want to know if they can book the out leg then add the return later.Given all the above, your best tactic may be to book 3 PE now, upgrading two immediately with your vouchers and then waiting to do the third via manage booking / bid for upgrade or later at the airport. This should be the most cost effective, given that UC redemptions otherwise attract basically double the cash element for TFCs compared to PE. Obviously runs the risk of one of you ending up the wrong side of the curtain but them’s the breaks 😉
A few thoughts:
– if you can be flexible on dates, you’ll have a good chance of getting what you want.
– can you not use the vouchers as 2-4-1 rather than upgrade vouchers? In which case you only need one voucher to get the 2 UC seats currently available.
– VS Premium is a quality cabin IMO – worst case one of you ends up there, that’s not bad.
– pretty sure you can book the outbound when released then add the inbound two weeks later to make a return ticket rather than two separate tickets.@degsy all correct (and much more concise than my reply!) but the 2-4-1 option only works that way if you have Silver or Gold status with VS (@jh222 does not say if they have).
Otherwise it is effectively a 2-4-1.5 as you must pay 50% of the points for the second reward seat and then it is not very attractive versus the upgrade PE option (although it does only require the use of one voucher, as you say).
@degsy all correct (and much more concise than my reply!) but the 2-4-1 option only works that way if you have Silver or Gold status with VS (@jh222 does not say if they have).
Otherwise it is effectively a 2-4-1.5 as you must pay 50% of the points for the second reward seat and then it is not very attractive versus the upgrade PE option (although it does only require the use of one voucher, as you say).
Good teamwork- hopefully between us (all) we’ve been able to help!
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