V-Flyer

We are having a family vacation in California in July/August 18 and want to save some money by using our miles.

We are a family of 6 with about 550k miles between us.

Given the tight availability of reward tickets to LAX and SFO ( plus we want to try Delta One as we've been more and more disappointed with the quality of the Upper Class experience ) I thinking my best bet would be to fly Delta One to Portland or Salt Lake City with miles then a paid for internal flight to SFO. If we get the outbound before the changes we should be able to get 6 Delta One for 45000miles each and about £388 in taxes then about £120 each for the internal flight

We will be returning from LAX so I'm thinking either 3 of us in Upper, 3 in PE ( if availability is there ) for a simple direct flight or an internal back to Portland or Salt Lake City then Delta One back

There seems to be plenty of availability for May and June for both places but not for LAX ....so I I guess Delta might be a better return option.

If I go ahead and book, if I book something for the return before the end of August ( this won't be my actual flight obviously as it's not been released yet ), when I change the dates will I have to pay the extra 27500miles that the flight has gone up by ?

Hope all that makes sense ?

Thanks

Si

If there is 6 reward seats available for 45k miles, then you should snap them up! Even if its only 1 way.
book the return separate?

There are, in fact there are loads of days that have 6 or more available so I think I'll snap them up tomorrow when my idea date is released

I was very surprised how many dates could accommodate such a large number of passengers

To be clear that number of 45k miles of course is each.

It's a real shame I can't book returns before the end of this month as the inbound cost would then be 50k miles and £4.40 per person ( but that rises to 77.5k miles as of the 1 September )

Si

What journey are you doing to get 45k one way each? When i look Lon to PDX or SLC it comes up at 70k each for Delta One..

Managed to get the first part of the journey booked this morning for my preferred date of 20th July 2017 ( released today ) and was fortunate to get LHR to PDX as well

So 45000 miles & £388 each Happy days

NewUser86, This is booking a reward flight with Virgin miles via the flying club with Delta being the spending partner, your looking at Delta Miles spending on Delta's website

Si

Thanks Si,

I take it the costs are going up after 1st September? Is this booked over the phone? I only book through the website normally so wasnt aware of the 45k price which is superb. Is there an online price list i can view for this??

Hey,

Costs are the same ( £388 UK to West Coast USA then £4.40 West Coast USA to UK ) but the miles required are different.

At the moment UK to West Coast if 90k miles return or 45k one way and 50k the way back. After the 1st Sept those numbers change to 135k ( off Peak ) 155k ( Peak )

This is before
https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... lines.html

This is after
https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... anges.html

You have to book them over the phone with the flying club ( no other way ) but there is a trick to find availability that Virgin have...use the full Delta Website and do a search for flights with miles and only Delta then in results change to 5 week calendar view & no Stops then update results. Anything that is now displayed in Orange will be available for Virgin to give as reward

Oh, don't take a return flight either as the return price in taxes etc is £588 but the two legs individually add up to just of £390

Si

Thank you very much for that

Hi
Really interesting post, Can I ask, where you say look for the orange text - is this an orange banner with "lowest price" on that Virgin will work from?
thanks

Hello

I have been reading your post with interest. I have just looked at Delta availability as suggested in your post but can't see anything in orange except the orange "lowest Fare" banner - is that it? Have tried speaking to virgin and getting them to look at those specific flights but they say they cant book them on their system. Any help appreciated.
Many thanks

Hi,

So what I found was that the orange lowest fare banners seemed to mean they were saved fares which Virgin were offering as reward flights.

I tried this on various locations and dates in 2018 ( always searching for 5 people ) and when I called the flying club they were surprised to find that my search matched what they had. I also tried some dates I wasn't seeing as orange on deltas website and these weren't available

I guess they could have been flukes but I must have hit about 15 dates with success ( remember that's 5 seats in Business )

Perhaps I was just lucky, so you were seeing a number of seats as orange on deltas website but the flying club said there was no availability in that class on that date for that number of people for a full reward flight , is that right ?

Si

Hi

Yes, that's right. I was trying to get ATL-LHR 3 seats 22 July 18 , I found some flights with orange banners then rang virgin to book and they said they weren't available to book. I tried over several flight numbers and days giving virgin specifics but nothing was bookable.
Any advice?

thanks

Oh, I guess I must have just been lucky then.

Perhaps I haven't found a way to search for flights

I assume you asked the flying club to check some dates for you but they couldn't find any availability

Si

Hi

I have tried every which way and not succeeded yet but I am going to keep trying. Maybe I have just been unlucky and not found agents that are familiar with the process of booking delta flights. I have a few more days to book before the new rates apply. So more early mornings for me. Don't suppose you know what time the seats are released into the system? Thank you very much for all your help.

Oh I see , good luck and fingers crossed for you

Sorry don't know when they are released, I know when I checked in the morning ( around 7am ) the releases for that day from 11months in advance

Si

What class were you looking for as I see availability in main cabin for the 22nd for 3 people but not delta one

I've taken screen shots but not sure how to post them on from my iPhone

Si

Hi
I can't seem to pick up the image you posted but I thank you very much for trying.

Can you see them now?

Si

Hi Si

Yes thank you very much for all your help. will let you know if I am successful.

all the best

Hey thanks for the heads-up! I read this late last night, called Virgin reservations at about 11pm and managed to bag 3 Delta One LHR - PDX for 270,000 miles!

Talk about cutting it fine

Never tried Delta on a 767 before, anyone got any experience? We'll be travelling with a 3 year old and it looks like the centre seats will be much better suited than the usual UC/DO seats?

LOL, that was cutting it fine

We've also never tried the Delta product before ( always travelled Upper with our 4 kids ) and they complain about the isolation so the center seats look awesome

Si

My wife and I flew back from SLC in the Delta One 767 centre seats on Sunday. The seats are very good. Didn't use the IFE (just had it on the flight tracker), but the touch screen appeared to work ok.

Service was excellent and I would say the food was better than on VS. There are 3 starters on the menu (one of which is soup), which you assume is a choice, but they just give you all of them, although the soup is optional. For main, we chose a fantastic chicken with peach BBQ sauce accompanied with wheatberries, edamame beans and baby carrots. One of the dessert choices was ice cream sundae with a choice of sauces and toppings.

They certainly kept us well fed and watered. My wife had wine, which they pour from a full-size bottle, and they kept coming back and topping it up for her! I had a Jack Daniel's Single Barrel and the FA handed me a second unopened miniature along with the one she'd poured for me. I think they were trying to ensure everyone went to sleep.

As well as the bottle of water on the seat when we boarded, they also handed out another two bottles each during the flight. Couldn't fault the 767 either, despite ours being 27 years old. The toilets seemed slightly larger than many other aircraft I've been on and the overhead bins were a decent size. Only thing we lacked was the pyjamas like you get on UC, but I took my Virgin ones from our UC flight last with me so I wouldn't have to sleep in my clothes.

Best part for us was the fact we landed 40 mins early (touched down at 12:40 instead of 13:20) which meant we were able to get to Revivals for a quick shower before it closed at 13:30. We got there at 13:05, which I was impressed with given the distance from the gate to passport control. Priority baggage certainly helped there. Only other people from our flight we saw at Revivals was an American couple who were turned away as they arrived a few minutes after 13:30, although from what I could overhear it sounded as if they were told it was because they were on a Delta flight rather than a VS one.