Combining Miles?

[HighFlyer]

Im sure this question has arisen many a time, but can you and a partner combine FC miles for reward flights?

My partner and i are both looking at an UC trip to South Africa and were originally aiming for the 60k upgrade from Economy. As my partner has more than 60k miles himself (from the CC) can we use say my 40k miles and 80k from him to buy our tickets?

If so, is this a standard thing, or is is solely on the discretion of the management?

I would be most interested to hear from anyone with experience of this

you cannot combine miles into one account like Hilton honours for husband and wife but you can book 1 leg from one account and 3 legs from the other account just ring FC and they will do it there and then if seats are avalible.I have done it on several trips no probs at all so you would need 30k in one account and 90k in other.

[Decker]

I wonder if the linking Gold/Silver card thing might help here - suppose that requires a Gold though [:(]

[RichardMannion]

Hi,

Jaguar is correct - but remember you must have an elligble Economy fare (booked in L, B or Y - three most expensive fares) - you can't buy a cheap as chips Economy fare and then use miles to upgrade to Upper Class. Well not in advance anyway - I have known them to happily relieve people of miles regardless of fare class at the airport on the day of departure, saves having to do Op Upgrades - however they may get a bit funny about the 25/75 split - in my experience the Ground staff have been known to be a bit behind on the redemption levels! Charging 17.5k instead of 10k for a Y to W upgrade....

Decker, yes thats a Gold Card benefit - can dip in and use miles from the supp silver or any of the associated kids accounts. Now if only I had kids.....

Thanks,
Richard

[HighFlyer]

Ok thanks, that makes sense.

If i buy my Economy ticket direct with Virgin then that should be fine i guess? I can always make a point of explaining that its for the upgrade to ensure that they give me a ticket with the right fare code.

Out of interest, does anyone know off hand if the first option for 'Economy (lowest)' gives a L, B or Y ticket? Or do you have to choose 'Economy (Flexible)'?

Richard wrote

quote:Decker, yes thats a Gold Card benefit - can dip in and use miles from the supp silver or any of the associated kids accounts. Now if only I had kids

The miles from the kids account go directly into the gold account its asigned to.The silver works as a separate account that you can dip into( but don't tell my Mum).

[RichardMannion]

quote:Originally posted by HighFlyer
Ok thanks, that makes sense.

If i buy my Economy ticket direct with Virgin then that should be fine i guess? I can always make a point of explaining that its for the upgrade to ensure that they give me a ticket with the right fare code.

Out of interest, does anyone know off hand if the first option for 'Economy (lowest)' gives a L, B or Y ticket? Or do you have to choose 'Economy (Flexible)'?

You will need to tell them that you are planning to use miles to upgrade and want a L class or above ticket. The options on the site will normally quote lowest avaialble, N, x or Q normally - Flexible normally results in a full Y as thats full flexible.

Thanks,
Richard