If I buy miles how long until in account?

Need to buy some miles for a reward fare but worried by the time they are credited to my account the reward fare will be sold out and I will be stuck with miles I can't use! Is it ever done instantly? Anyone have any ideas how to avoid this or do I just have to take the risk?

I did this at SFO where we upgraded at the airport, they appeared immediately

[mitchja]

It's usually instant but do make sure you log out and then log back into your account once you make the purchase to see the extra miles.

We did this in September last year and the miles were credited to us immediately, we logged out and back in again and then phoned up to book our reward flight

Sharon

Why not just give FC a call and get the agent to book for you, including purchasing miles? Easy and no worries about missing a fare.

As has been stated above, if in any doubt, just give FC a call. When I called them to upgrade some flights, the first thing the agent did was nab the G fares I was after on the system, so they were mine.

At least this way, if there is a VS IT gremlin that delays the miles crediting to the FC account, they can probably do something to ensure you keep the reward seats.

I've had success in the past of phoning Flying Club and asking to hold reward flights for me, for a short amount of time (~24hrs) whilst I finalise other arrangements (e.g. confirm leave requests / hotel availability / etc). Worth a try!

But as others have said, I think miles purchased are available pretty quickly -- straight away from my recollection. Agree with others comments that you need to log out and log back in after purchasing, to make your balance update.

I might be mistaken but don't they explicitly warn that buying miles can take 24 hrs (although mine have always appeared immediately)?

I also wasn't aware that you could buy miles via the FC phone lines?

[mitchja]

Online and call centre VS reward inventory often doesn't match though. I had a mare trying to book a return G to SFO for July here last year.

I wanted to add-on Little Red flights (which can only be done by calling when booking anything but economy for the international reward flights). The agent couldn't see the same VS19/VS20 reward inventory I could online I had in front of me, so in the end I just booked the international and domestic reward flights online separately, though VS have now linked the PNR's.

The agent couldn't see the same VS19/VS20 reward inventory I could online I had in front of me, so in the end I just booked the international and domestic reward flights online separately

That's interesting -- was the website inventory available, even though the agent couldn't see it?

I've heard of cases where the website is wrong and it gives ghost availability which you then cannot book -- but the way you describe it sounds different.

The agent couldn't see the same VS19/VS20 reward inventory I could online I had in front of me

Probably because you had it online in front of you and it was the only seat available.. It would have been removed from the reward pool of seats as soon as it offered it to you so the VS CS wouldn't be able to nab it as you already had it, if that makes sense

My experiences on the OP, buy them, log out and then log back in and there they are. They do say the miles can take up to 24 hrs to post, but I haven't heard of it taking that long in the past.... always a first time though ):