Using miles

Once again I tap into the fount of knowledge that is vflyer.

I have 100k miles to use and we are planning a California trip for 2014. The problem I am having is the lack of the availability for the return leg. Availability on the way out is excellent.

We are restricted to the one month of travel but are pretty flexible within that month.

Is it possible to book a return flight for 2 x outward leg on miles and 2 x return by cash or does the reward booking have to be entirely on miles?

Many thanks in advance!

you could do a combi fare

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... fares.html

Reward availability for US-UK flights has been very scarce for several months now.

What you are looking for is a combi fare: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... fares.html

If the cash leg is in an upgradeable Y or PE bucket you can always use miles to upgrade at a later date should reward seats suddenly become available.

Problem with the combi fare is it can't be used for upper.

Availability does not seem to be an issue on the outbound. Availability every week day. I guess this wont last?!

On a slight aside, I can't book a reward flight starting at EDI. Can this be done on the phone to flying club?

Problem with the combi fare is it can't be used for upper.

Availability does not seem to be an issue on the outbound. Availability every week day. I guess this wont last?!

On a slight aside, I can't book a reward flight starting at EDI. Can this be done on the phone to flying club?

No, the cash leg of the combi fare can't be UC but if you're willing to take a risk you can buy an upgradeable PE fare (W or preferably S class) and upgrade it with miles should a G become available in the future, which isn't out of the question. It can even be done at the airport if there are still unsold UC seats on the day.

It's not perfect but at least it locks down the outbound reward seats, and worst case scenario is you're in PE on the way back.

In the absence of Gs, unfortunately the only way to guarantee UC both ways is to pay for it. Have you considered the "Amsterdam trick"? Take advantage of what can be half price UC fares by starting in Amsterdam or Brussels.

As for EDI yes you'd need to call them.

No, the cash leg of the combi fare can't be UC but if you're willing to take a risk you can buy an upgradeable Y or PE fare and upgrade with miles should a G become available in the future, which isn't out of the question. It can even be done at the airport if there are still unsold UC seats on the day.

As for EDI yes you'd need to call them.

That's what I did last month. Upper out to MCO on miles and purchased a premium economy fare back from MIA.

Upgraded to upper with miles and a few pounds at the checkin desk y)

Good luck

David

According to the T&Cs, a combi fare can be used for UC for the reward leg (subject of course to availability), which can be outbound or return, but the leg you pay for is restricted to PE or Y.

If you purchase a PE or Y ticket in a fare bucket that can be upgraded with miles, then you can use miles to upgrade to a higher cabin if rewards seats are available.

Would an economy paid in cash outbound and them upgraded to upper with miles with a cash return in upper be an economical use of miles?

For such a long flight (and my exceptionally long legs!) we would very much prefer to fly upper and I'm not the gambling sort (to see if a G becomes available for the return leg).

Fair enough.

IMHO upgrading to UC from a cash economy fare is the best use of miles.

25,000 miles, if you were to buy them, would cost £375, which seems to me a pretty good price for an economy to UC upgrade. You'd pay far more than that for a cash upgrade.

[honey lamb]

Have you thought of taking a flight to Vancouver and grabbing a G from there? There seems to be greater availability from there.

Doesn't that depend on time of year HL, since the Vancouver appears to be seasonal running May to October?

Thanks for all your help guys. Going to give flying club a call today and see what prices look like.

Might try holding out to see if there is a post Xmas sale. Looks like I've just missed out on one - especially with BA!

Well there seems to have been a spate of G fares releases this evening. There were none this morning and a choice tonight!

Managed to bag a miles return to LA in September on the dates that we wanted!

Thanks once again to all the V-flyers for their help!

Well done on getting the Gs you wanted.