Advice on nabbing those Gs

Hi,

so we finally decided we'd like to go to Mexico next year using our air miles, so the flights aren't out yet and I was wondering if anyone has the best advice for getting Gs, do they go live at midnight? 5am? On the morning of? i know its 11 months so Im waiting for early July so will go live early august but just want the best chance possible at getting those Gs.

Any advice appreciated.

Unlike BA there is no discernible pattern for the release of Gs, and no guarantee that they'll be available on every flight (although in practice I think they are).

Sometimes they're made available at T-336 when the flight opens. Sometimes they're not. And they can appear at random anytime between then and check-in. You just have to keep checking. But as most V-Flyers will testify, patience and persistence does usually pay off.

Pretty much as gumshoe said.

As you say as well, there are 11 months between when they are released and when you want to travel. Check a couple of times a day but I wouldn't get obsessive over it with that amount of time available.

As has been noted BA will release their guaranteed reward inventory exactly at at midnight. It's is certain that this is an automated process as it happens without fail exactly on time every day.

In contrast, I strongly suspect that Virgin's rewards are manually loaded. The random nature of when they appear leads me to conclude that whoever is responsible for loading fares is a real, living, breathing human who loads them as soon as their workload allows. You will often see flights at T-336 show up on the website but with no seats available at all. It can even stay like this for 2 or 3 days and then suddenly the full set of seats will pop up.

My only top tip (and you probably already know it) is to bookmark the search results page and just keep revisiting this bookmark to see updated inventory - there's no need start on the homepage and re-enter your destination and dates every time.

they can appear at any time. So you will find yourself checking every few hours.

they can appear at any time. So you will find yourself checking every few hours.

Yep, it changes regularly throughout the day and no set time either

I found it helpful to watch the pattern of what was being released in the weeks running up to my dates being available. E.g. I often saw them releasing 2 Gs back from SFO on a Wednesday, so when the Wednesday that coincided with my dates came online, I was checking more that day. It's not a guarantee but I found it helpful.

Plus the standard stuff about being flexible and willing to compromise. I really wanted to go for 14 nights, but I could get Gs if I was willing to go for 12 nights instead.

Are you doing full rewards for miles, or using miles to upgrade?
It makes a difference because if doing full upgrade I'd be checking the out bound for G fare the moment it is released and book each leg separately if a G comes up before the return is released.
If doing upgrade then you'll have to wait until your return leg is released.

Start checking a bit early because you may see a pattern emerge. In the past I've managed to predict the day my G will be available and I've been on the phone at 6 a.m. to book it.
It is also worth seeing in advance if any days are better than others. I know coming back from Orlando Saturday is not a good day so we have previously added a day to our holiday to get G fares on Sunday.

Dick D

HI,

its a full miles redemption so we are going to book each leg separately, I've been keeping an eye on the pattern and it does seem to be released on the same day so I'll get up early and call the FC!

Thanks for the advice

Excuse my ignorance, but what's a G fare?? I'm new to all this, and to this forum...

[Nottingham Nick]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's a G fare?? I'm new to all this, and to this forum...

Welcome to V-Flyer.

G is simply the fare bucket that Upper Class points redemptions are taken from.
If there are no G's available, you can't redeem your points in Upper on that flight.

See here for details - toolbox_fare_codes.php

Nick

woohoo got the outbound Gs to mexico, just need the inbound now!

Well done.
Dick D

yay bagged the inbound Gs thanks to an very early alarm set for 6am and monitoring the pattern of release the best I could. Thanks for all the help! Without this forum I'd still be lost!

Really pleased for you.

Well done !

Thanks, halt my family have Amex golds they don't really want but it will all be with it when we walk into the clubhouse. Plus it will be the new one in Gatwick north so got that to look forward to. Now to start saving miles for next year!

Well done! Especially on Cancun as there isn't many seats in UC on the 747s

that was the worry that they only have the 747 but I watched the pattern of uploads and even did a dummy run the week before (checking at 5am etc) and managed to get them. Altough weirdly the day before the pattern went off pattern and loaded just PE for my flight, I did worry UC wouldn't be loaded at all. Thankfully they were. Cancun still seems to have good availability for UC.

One question, my parents have said they might want to come now too (I don't mind as I don't see them that often) Would I be able to book them onto our flight using my miles and my upgrade voucher from my Virgin credit card?

Yes, no problem.

Remember the voucher can only be used to upgrade from Economy to PE though. You can't use it to upgrade to UC, even by using more miles.

Thanks, yeah PE will be fine for the parents, even if we could get UC I doubt anymore reward availability will come up as we already have bagged 2 on that flight. Be nice for them to come the CH etc