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Hi. I am not a serious points collector but I did sign up to various loyalty programmes to collect points through work travel. I am planning a family trip to Japan in October next year (so maybe booking flights in a couple of months) and wondered if the points I have are any use to get me at least a discount on the paid fare. I have: Virgin Flying Club: 106,000 points (me) + 25,000 (wife); Avios: 10,200 points; United Mileage Plus: 12,400 pts. And some hotel points: Hilton, IHG, Radisson (not sure if these are convertible).
Looks like a long shot but there are some geniuses on here so thought I’d give it a shot!
Thanks
Generally using points to reduce the cash fare results in ‘worse’ returns compared to using the points for points-only bookings or upgrades, but it depends what youre after. Direct or are stop overs okay? What cabin class? How many ppl? Does everyone need to be in the same cabin class?
I dont think those points will get you direct to japan but could get you to shanghai/hong kong/seoul.
Not a long shot at all, however, you did not say if family trip is you plus wife only or also kids. With what you have you obviously need to focus on Virgin. To start I recomnend paying £10 to transfer your wife’s Red points to you. That done, I would then consider buying the extra points needed in current 50% bonus through 18 September.
Option 1: 168000 Virgin points would get you and your wife from UK to Tokyo return on Air France premium economy. Finding availability is likely difficult.
Option 2: 14X,000 Virgin points will get you both returns from London to Shanghai on Virgin premium economy. 36,000 avios will then get you both returns from Shanghai to Tokyo on Japan Airlines.
Option 3: Virgin returns in premium or business to Delhi then ANA return from Delhi to Tokyo using Virgin points.
Option 4: Use Virgin points on ANA UK or EU to Japan. Business a great deal but almost impossible from UK or for more than one passenger. Economy probably fine. I cannot recall if they have premium economy.
If there are more than two of you you will need to consider economy, buying a lot mire miles, or upgrading cash flights. See the excellent recent Virgin University series for how to do all these and to calculate exactly how many miles are needed for each option in each class.
Longhaul economy rewards are generally not recommended but are currently in play due to high economy cash fares.
If you have the time and feel adventurous then consider one way trips so different routes can be taken in each direction.
Thanks both, this is really helpful. I had no idea you could transfer VFC miles, so I have now transferred them all into one account. Nor did I realise you could book ANA! Perfect. Sorry for not posting full info previously, but it would be four of us flying (2 adults, 2 kids), happy to go Economy, ideally would go direct but prepared to compromise if necessary. Looks like we could get at least two economy ANA tickets with our VFC points, then buy the other two. Does anyone know what the fees and charges are likely to be (very roughly) for the points flights? The full price economy tickets are about £1100 (yikes).
You didn’t say how much hilton and IHG points you have but both brands will have plenty of hotels in Japan if you want to redeem rooms.
You didn’t say how much hilton and IHG points you have but both brands will have plenty of hotels in Japan if you want to redeem rooms.
@Reney makes a good point – 😉 – and, as @BJ mentioned above reference buying airline miles, you may also want to consider whether buying hotel points for room redemptions would provide value. If Japanese accommodation costs are anything like most US/European cities then you could save significantly buying points in a sale to cash in on rooms…@pauper79 Taxes and surcharges on ANA from London will be quite high. Return flights can be £400+ even for economy. If you do a dummy booking on ANA website all the way to the payment stage it will show you the taxes element. Depends on how much you value 65k Virgin points. I’d probably book cash given not much price difference or shop around. There are cash tickets around for about £900 rt although with stops.
Ok thanks I will check it out. Might save a grand I guess. If the savings are not that great, I guess the other option is pay 4x economy for cash and then try to upgrade them all with points.
Don’t think you can upgrade partner airline flights with Virgin points.
JAL does offer very reasonable airport upgrades on the day even if you booked with Avios.
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