UC LGW/MCO OCT 2019 - Advice please!!

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to book LGW/MCO in Oct 2019 when the seats are released. I'm looking for advice on the best way to do this using my miles. I currently have 120k miles and I need two seats. I will need to buy 70k ish miles, and I know I've just missed a 30% extra miles sale. I'm a little bit flexible on dates, so hoping I'll be able to get reward seats.

Is this the best way to do it? Just top up the miles and buy with miles or is there a better way? Does anyone know when the next 30% miles booster sale will likely be? What is availability on reward seats likely to be in October?

Thank you!!!!

I usually fly in late October/November as we both have birthdays then. We have managed to get upper seats to Orlando/Miami/Las Vegas, etc, for the last few years. We have the Amex/Mastercard and usually have enough miles, but sometimes have needed more. We also get companion vouchers, etc,.

As it's very complex on the website I have always found the best way is see that there are seats on the site and then to ring them up and start with a "I'm a bit daft and can't work out the best way will you help me please" type opener and they are (with one exception a few years back which was corrected by calling back and getting someone else) always very helpful. They will arrange the extra miles needed over the phone if you need them.

Hi

You say you have 120k but need another 70k for 2 seats . . . I am assuming that you need 95k per seat

I'm not sure if you can use all the points in a single account to purchase 2 seats - i thought this was only possible with gold status and that each individual needed their own miles (in you case both of you having 95k) in order to book reward seats.

I could, however, be totally wrong and hopefully someone more 'clued-up' could offer some advice.

No, anyone can use their miles to book a reward flight for someone else.

What you can’t do is pool miles to pay for a single leg unless you’re Gold and have a household account. The miles for each individual leg must come from a single account.

Have you thought of buying an Economy/PE fare and upgrading to UC if available. May be cheaper than buying all those miles?

Bear in mind there may only be 14 seats in Upper on the plane so reward seats get snapped up very quickly.
I have managed them a few times.
I log on before six o'clock for my first dummy booking check and if seats become available I will telephone Virgin straight away to book them. I may check 6 times a day. But it's worth it.

Dick D

Thank you all for the great advice!

Have you thought of buying an Economy/PE fare and upgrading to UC if available. May be cheaper than buying all those miles?

I've thought about it, but I don't want to risk not getting UC and as my dates are a bit flexible, I think I'm going to have to go straight for the UC

Bear in mind there may only be 14 seats in Upper on the plane so reward seats get snapped up very quickly.
I have managed them a few times.
I log on before six o'clock for my first dummy booking check and if seats become available I will telephone Virgin straight away to book them. I may check 6 times a day. But it's worth it.

Dick D

Thank you! One question, I'm guessing, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that I'll have to do it in two parts? Grab the outbound as soon as I can from T-331 and then do the same for the return? Rather than wait until both dates are released and try for a return?

It is a gamble waiting for the return flight to be released.
But, you pay less tax on a return than on two singles.
An idea already mentioned was buying economy tickets and upgrading rather than buying the extra 70k miles you need.
In the past reward seats have come out a few weeks after the first paid tickets so I have bought a return economy then checked and upgraded each leg as they became available.

Best of luck,

Dick D

[buns]

To add to what already has been said - especially about only being 14 seats in Upper Class to MCO - I would support the strategy of booking in a lower class if you do not have sufficiant miles.

To offer a glimmer of hope, I have booked reward flights for later this month to MCO. When I first booked, only Economy was available, but two weeks before the flight, a G Class opened up for the outbound and needless to say I grabbed it. Admittedly, there were still 5 seats available and if you can be flexible in altering dates that will help.

buns

Please please please do the maths before doing anything!

The cost of buying 70k miles is approx £ 1,100. The you'll have approx the same to pay (for 2 of you) in VS surcharges, airport fees and APD.

So that's £2, 200 or £1100 each. It is possible to get to MCO for not much more than that in a sale and you could then use some of your miles to reduce the cost by spending 3k miles for (I think) £17 though that might not be the best use of miles. Plus you'd earn miles and tier points as well on the cash fare.

You could possibly bring the cost of buying miles down if you have done any recent VS flights that qualify for the miles booster as buying miles that way is a cheaper than buying straight out. (I've a miles booster of 14k miles for £137 compared to £210 for buying 14k miles)