This is the main V-Flyer Forum for general discussion of everything related to flying with Virgin-branded travel companies.
#557 by Vegascrazy
24 Mar 2004, 22:05
Hi, only just discovered this brilliant site - certainly seems really informative! I don't fly Virgin loads but managed to amass 30k+ miles on a few VS flights along with Air New Zealand. We go to Vegas every year but have never gone on the direct LGW-LAS service as there never seems to be availability (anyone know why??), so generally go into LAX on a Friday then spend the weekend in Palm Springs (as Vegas hotels are double the price Sat/Sun) and then drive across the desert to LV on the Monday, spend the week there before driving back to LAX on the Fri and returning back to LHR.

Anyway, I'm hoping someone can answer my query. I rang Virgin at the weekend and asked how best I can take advantage of my miles on flights to either LAX or LAS for our trip this September. To cut a long story short I feel we ended up with a pretty good deal: We've paid £594.10 incl. tax per ticket and injected 20,000 miles each to fly Premium Economy. On my confirmation email it says that the fare class is "U". Looking at the descriptions of fare classes on virginflyer.com it says the following for class "U" :-

*****U = Reward Flight in Economy or Premium Economy
This is the class that Reward Economy and Premium Economy tickets are booked in, limited amounts are available per flight - levels determined by revenue management. Flying Club Miles and Tier Points will be not be earned on this fare as it's a reward flight. This is also the fare class that Virgin will check availability for in regards to before departure date confirmed upgrades from Economy to Premium Economy*****

When I booked the agent (she was very helpful, Morag) said that we would earn plenty of miles because we have effectively paid near on the full economy fare and we are simply using the miles to upgrade to PE. I am just a bit confused as to whether or not we will indeed earn miles??? I'm sure someone can advise?

Keep up the good work on this site!
#27655 by Pete
24 Mar 2004, 22:14
Interesting. Without doing the math on miles & taxes, there's two sceanrios:

1. You've got a miles + money fare, in which case no miles or tier points, or...
2. You've got an economy fare (probably in a higher bucket fare), plus a miles upgrade, in which case it's potentially 125% mileage plus normally economy tier points

Pix
#27680 by onionz
25 Mar 2004, 01:03
Must be Number 2 surely? A miles plus money fare in PE uses 7,500 miles according to this page:
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/promotion.view.do?flash=true&id=1774

Since you've used 20,000 miles to upgrade, that suggests you have an upgradeable economy fare (eg. Y) so that would be 125% miles and 2 tier points per leg.

Quite surprised at the lack of availability you've found on the LAS route. Were you trying to book direct with Virgin, via Virgin Holidays or via another agent? If you book far enough in advance then I would expect a good chance of getting economy seats, although it does seem PE has grown very popular on this route.
#27728 by Bazz
25 Mar 2004, 14:41
Hi VegasCrazy,

Your handle implies you may also like Pix's other site

http://www.britvegas.com

drop in and have a look around. :)
#27737 by RichardMannion
25 Mar 2004, 16:23
Hi,

Its likely to be L or B fare class tickets, my guess is that they are L's and then 20k each to shift from L to Premium Economy.

You will earn 125% of miles flown, and 4 TP each in total.

I do have a link somewhere that will allow you to enter origin, destination, dates and airline, it will return a list of each fare class, costs and any conditions. Its a module on travelocity...

Thanks,
Richard
#28063 by Vegascrazy
29 Mar 2004, 12:40
Thanks everyone for the various replies, much appreciated!
Virgin Atlantic

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