Mileage Tax - New York to London

Hi everyone,

I've seen online that upper class flights from New York to London (one way) are 57,500 miles and an eye watering £400 in taxes!

However, delta are selling seats on virgin u.c or in delta one for 70,000 points and $5.60 in taxes - what a difference!

My question is, is there any way of me booking a flight at the 57,500 miles threshold and utilising the $5.60 in taxes? I'm not precious on UC vs Delta One, but would love to take advantage of the lower taxes!

If anyone has experience booking this, I would love to hear from you!

Chris

You cannot use VS miles to book a flight via the DL website.

I'm not even sure if VS could book it as a partner reward over the phone as the same price as they can tack on any fees they like.

BTW the bulk of that tax is the VS carrier surcharge which in no way shape or form is a legitimate, government imposed tax.

Indeed. Bottom line is if you want to use VS miles, you have to book with VS and pay the VS taxes & fees even if you're not flying on VS metal.

If you want to pay the DL taxes to fly on VS you'll need to book with DL and use DL Skymiles.

Hi Chris,

Do you just need one way? It comes down considerably if you book a return. If not, you could just bump on an economy return and use their lenient terms to move the flight or cabin later in the year.

Mike

Thanks all - looks hard to use then (as expected)!

I'll have to try a few different routings with a return then and see how that works...

You can use your VS miles to book a Delta flight and pay the tiny amount of taxes. I booked JFK to LHR Delta One (or whatever the UC equivalent on Delta is called) for the 4 of us to come back on New Year's Day. All you need to do is call the Flying Club number and they book it all for you, assuming there is availability.

As Jan 1st is in VS peak time flying on VS metal would have cost me 57,500 miles and approx £500 in taxes per person this way I paid 50,000 in miles and £5.17 per person.

Thanks so much Daviis - I thought this was possible! I will definitely try this!

Do you mind me asking about the 50K in miles - was this a promotional rate or is this standard? I'm looking on the delta site to gage availability and it looks like most dates are 70K one way (albeit skymiles not flying club)?

Thanks
Chris

Thanks so much Daviis - I thought this was possible! I will definitely try this!

Do you mind me asking about the 50K in miles - was this a promotional rate or is this standard? I'm looking on the delta site to gage availability and it looks like most dates are 70K one way (albeit skymiles not flying club)?

Thanks
Chris

When I called the VS flying club that's what they quoted and hen charged me. I'm fairly certain it's not a promotional rate I just think that VS miles are worth more than sky miles.

Don't assume just because there is availability showing on the Delta website that they are seats to be had as they need to make them specifically available to book using VS miles and I don't think they are all that generous.