-
I have a Virgin upgrade voucher that expires on 14/01/24 and a BA (Amex) companion voucher that expires on 06/12/23.
I believe I can use the BA voucher to upgrade two seats on a one-way flight from the UK to the US but I can’t work out if I can use the Virgin voucher to upgrade two seats on a one-way flight back from the US to the UK?
Hoping to find seats that will allow my partner and I to fly out with BA and back with Virgin, making use of both vouchers before they expire.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
You can use the BA voucher as you describe.
VAA vouchers are ordinarily for return trips on VS metal, but there are plenty of stories of VAA flexibility. Call up and ask nicely, and a knowledgeable and friendly agent (tip: the Welsh lot are usually the best) might be able to work it out for you, so that you either have used the entire voucher — or maybe have half a voucher left… stranger things have happened.
You will need to pay taxes and surcharges if you’re a Red status member (as opposed to Silver, Gold or higher) and want to upgrade in to Upper from Economy or Premium. Generally speaking, the surcharges from Economy to Upper are large, versus the Premium to Upper fees. The surcharge to Upper is 50% of the cost of the Upper seat, in Virgin Points, payable only in Virgin Points. The Upper seat cost differs depending on the time of year – the calendars and charts are at https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/spend-points/upgrade-with-points.html. You’re looking at anywhere from 23,700 points to 50,000-ish, depending on your destination and starting cabin.
Not altogether true re surcharges for Red member. A 50% surcharge in the number of points required using a 241 ie buy one get one free return trip is applicable. Use of an upgrade voucher for either one person return or two one way attracts no surcharge. In any case, whatever status, the taxes and fees applicable to that class of ticket travelled are due
In answer to JordanB’s question, I believe that you can use the Virgin vouchers to upgrade two seats to the UK.
However…. As things stand you’re looking at USD877 each in taxes, fees and surcharges one way from the US to the UK, on top of the Virgin points so it’s unlikely to be all that attractive.
If you discount that as an option you really have 3 choices:
1. You can use the Virgin Voucher as a companion voucher instead on return flights. If you use it in Upper Class it gets you two seats for 1.5x Virgin Points normally required for one, unless you have Virgin Silver status or higher. Alternatively, you can get two seats for the 1x Virgin Points in Economy or Premium even if you don’t have Status.
2. The Amex BA companion voucher is good for two seats on a return BA flight for the normal Avios for one in any cabin for which there is redemption availability (the cash element is still payable for both travellers), regardless of status.
3. If the issue is that you don’t have enough Avios or Virgin Points for the return, then so long as the BA Amex voucher was issued after September 2021, it can be used to halve the Avios required for one way flights back to the UK. The recent BA redemption changes are likely to make that rather more attractive than it used to be. You could pair that with a Virgin upgrade (using your voucher) on the outbound flight, with the normal points required for the cabin below.
Not sure to whether specific availability is at the root of your question. If you tell us how many Avios / Virgin Points you have, where you want to travel and when we may be able to help further.
USD877 taxes and fees one-way is for Upper Class. Will be less in other cabins but still likely to be unattractive.
Yes – we did this this week, booked by calling the toll-free number from the US. We paid 65k points (peak rate) plus $325 with the companion voucher each for 3 of us MCO-MAN in PE which I thought was quite reasonable (I didn’t think it was worth paying the UC price for a 7 1/2 hour night flight). The agent said we still had half the voucher to use and that would show in the account.
> that would show in the account.
One day, they’ll actually fix things so you can see if this is the case yourself, rather than just having to call up! They’re mostly good, but it would inspire a bit more confidence. Then again, not showing you allows some flexibility…
> I didn’t think it was worth paying the UC price for a 7 1/2 hour night flight
Completely agree; I do US East Coast quite a bit, and rarely pay for UC any more unless I’m having to do a connection from elsewhere (which is rare). Premium all the way on those; decent bit of kip, big armchair, alright food.
Yes – we did this this week, booked by calling the toll-free number from the US. We paid 65k points (peak rate) plus $325 with the companion voucher each for 3 of us MCO-MAN in PE which I thought was quite reasonable (I didn’t think it was worth paying the UC price for a 7 1/2 hour night flight). The agent said we still had half the voucher to use and that would show in the account.
Interesting that they can leave half the voucher on the account for use later. I’d not heard of that before.
It begs the question as to whether you could have used the half voucher for ‘upgrade’ on the third seat, saving you a further 10k points, or whether the other half can only be used as a one-way companion voucher.
At 1p/point that’s effectively £500 each for one-way Premium (and would have been less of course if it had only been two of you). Sounds like you booked at short notice so I’d imagine that was quite a saving on a one-way cash fare.
Based on this, the ex-US booking premium is obviously not so bad in the lower cabins compared to UC, but if you’re planning a return trip it does still add to the taxes and fees. For this route in PE:
One-way outbound: £367
One-way inbound: £270 (ish at current exchange rate)
Total: £637Return flight Ex-UK: £509, so booking two one-ways adds £128 each to the cost. A return ex-US is about £253 more expensive than a return ex-UK.
I did wonder about the voucher afterwards but it was our first time booking with VS so just did what the agent suggested. It’s valid till April 24 though, so we might be able use it to book the return leg of a BC upgrade trip between now and then.
It was pretty short notice, 2 days before we flew! I’d only been able to get MIA-LHR-MAN in Y on BA which I decided I couldn’t face …Reading the above, have I booked a bad deal with Virgin, booked look last in week for Feb departure, 3 week trip, 2 people. I’m red status.
London to Cape Town Premium Economy
Return in Economy(No other classes available)
Used a companion voucher
37,500 points
£478 per person: (
Not at all. It’s a popular Winter route and cash prices are high, especially at relatively short notice – an economy return for Feb at this point could easily cost around £1K or more per person. On that basis you’re getting a good return on the points and voucher.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
