Johannesburg to London - pay with miles

Hi there,

I have been waiting to buy two seats for my parents in law to fly from SA to the UK. My father in law should get the thumbs up from the doctor tomorrow to fly so I was excited when I saw that Virgin was only charging 75,000 miles for the two seats (we have 81,000 miles) instead of the usual 100,000.

Then when I checked an hour later yesterday, the charge had gone back up to 100,000 but I could see no indication of a 'sale' ending or anything. Do you know if Virgin just randomly changes the cost of flights using miles? Might it just be due to the dates I am flying?

I always thought it was only part of a sale when they reduce the miles required for flights, so I'm a little puzzled. Can anyone shed any light on this as it's now going to cost us an extra £500. £500 we dont really have

Thank you in advance.
Natalie

Hello,

Not sure if my experience is really relevant but thought it might help you. I've just booked Economy seats (return) to Johannesburg, upgrading with miles and it "cost" me 60,000. I know this is slightly different to your question but when I phoned up and asked how many miles I would to "pay" for it in full (not including taxes etc ...), I was told it was 100,000 and I called last week.

I believe there was a reward sale on which finished on the 17th June.

A couple of threads were talking about this - http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=280418&rb_v=viewtopic

Not sure if any of this is of any use though ...

Thank you waatp. It looks like I have just missed a sale then. Typical!

Hello again,

Have you looked at the possbiility of topping up your miles with "Buy Miles". Current promotion on at the moment gives you 15% extra. Might work out a few pounds cheaper than the £500 you mentioned earlier ... ?