Virgin Atlantic rebooking sanity check please!

[NorthernLass]

I have a complex itinerary planned for March and need initially to get to FLL from where we will connect to BIM.

ATM I have MAN-ATL booked then ATL-FLL on VS and DL respectively.

The ATL-MAN leg in UC cost 45k points plus £1213 plus the Virgin upgrade voucher.

In a surreal twist of fate, following the move to dynamic pricing, if I rebooked the MAN-ATL leg, it would cost 27k points plus £863 plus the voucher for both of us in UC.

But it gets weirder. To fly to MCO instead (and potentially get the Amtrak service to FLL), it would currently cost 21k points, plus £863, plus the voucher, in UC.

All this is assuming the VS app is quoting me the correct prices!

My heart is heavy at the prospect of having to call Virgin to sort all this out, but my head is saying it’s a no-brainer.

What would you do, HFP friends (especially @davefl, even though I think you have fallen out with VS!)?

TIA!

[Aardvark]

Yes – it is a saving but is it worth the risk of going wrong! I am monitoring the one way leg from CPT to LHR. The dynamic pricing and points pricing changes a lot per day. Also the outward leg that I have booked was cash high but points low, so it didn’t make sense. The deal you have got is still good but with travel there is always a better deal – I would leave well alone.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

No harm in calling especially as it’s £750 back for the pair of you.

I guess an agent can try and hold the MCO flight so they can cancel your ATL flight and release the miles and the voucher.

Though it seems even keeping to ATL woukd be worth it and might be easier for an agent just to change rather than cancel your current booking.

Or open two browsers – one for the new booking and one for the old and coordinate the process yourself.

Not sure how quick VS is at returning points and vouchers in either scanario though.

[davefl]

Cancelling and rebooking in quick succession isn’t really an option as the voucher, points and cash can take anything between a week and 3 months with several calls to chase to get it all back to you in my experience.

If your voucher expiry date is such that you can use it for a future trip and you have the 42k points (21×2) in your account then just go ahead and book that, it’s a good price. Then you still have the voucher for a future trip.

Also Amtrak uggh! Look at the Brightline service instead. Goes directly from MCO to FLL. With Amtrak you’d have to Uber it in to Orlando and it’s way slower and far less comfortable.

And yes I’ve fallen out with VS but I still have 150k points, so I’ll be using them where necessary and if I can spot something of value. The big draw for me still over Oneworld is that DL will interline luggage onto a VS flight irrespective of your status, and how you paid for your seperate tickets.

[Matt]

I’d rebook the flight to ATL – that’s a big saving, worth phoning up and getting them to do it. I personally wouldn’t bother adding an extra leg on to your trip (and especially not on Amtrak) to save 6k points.

[NorthernLass]

Doing MAN-MCO would mean 1 flight instead of 2 though. We’d even save money if we rented a car and drove from MCO to FLL.

I will call VS tomorrow morning and see what they can do!

I don’t think we’d be able to use the voucher again before it expires 😪

[NorthernLass]

@davefl, I think I got Amtrak mixed up with Brightline! But looking at rental prices, it would be under £50 to get a car for 24 hours to get us to FLL.

[NorthernLass]

21k is the points required for BOTH of us, MAN-MCO. I’ve now booked this as it’s great value, especially given some of the dynamic pricing we’re seeing. I’ll call in the morning and ask what they can do about the voucher, but I could probably live with PE at that price.

Inbound is booked on BA so don’t need to worry about VS’s crazy return pricing!

*Also, I am assuming the old cancellation fee will apply to the original booking …

[davefl]

Sorry I thought you meant it was 21k for 2 with the voucher. Then yes, it’s a no brainer to do that and fly to MCO and get the train or drive.

You can get a full refund minus the fee and the voucher back but it might take a few calls because it’s 3 seperate processes for the points, the cash and the voucher.

Personally I’d get the train, it’s a fun experience if you’ve not done it before. Good lounge (if you can be bothered submitting your ID so that the automated bartender can serve you), food on board is good and you can get a free Uber ride from the station to your destination as part of your ticket.

[NorthernLass]

I called Virgin just now – they were able to refund the original booking and release the voucher immediately so I’ve got the new UC flights to MCO and am probably the happiest VFC customer on the planet just now 😂

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Excellent! Now just enter the lottery!

[alexb]

so what was your miles and cash price

[NorthernLass]

Total cost for 2 of us MAN-MCO in UC was 21k miles plus £863, as per the OP. I booked PE online then called VS to upgrade to UC with the cc voucher and pay the additional surcharges.

Car rental for 3 days to get us to FLL and spend a couple of days there (which was in the original plan but minus the car) was around £100, so we’ve still made a cash saving as well as a big chunk of points.

When I booked, PE was 10,500 miles pp, and UC 29k. PE hasn’t changed, but UC is now showing as 47,500 points. My cc voucher would still have covered that, but not if it were any higher. I guess this is dynamic pricing in action!

[alexb]

Great result well done I have some virgin points and voucher to use at some point