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#961053 by Chinafish
06 Mar 2023, 00:26
Hello folks,

This is a bit long, please bear with me and hear me out.

I'm looking to travel LHR - LAX for a conference. The conference has 2 options, which means I have the following options to fly, and their current reward availability:

Option 1:
LHR - LAX 2023-07-01 (Econ only). PE available 1 day earlier.
LAX - LHR 2023-07-08 (Econ and PE)

Option 2:
LHR - LAX 2023-07-08 (Econ only). PE available 1 day earlier.
LAX - LHR 2023-07-15 (Econ, PE and UC)

Points to note:
- I have a UK credit card rewards voucher that I really want to use (expires Jan 2024)
- I really want to go UC, but of course if no availability I will fly Econ or PE
- Edited to add: I really really want the LHR - LAX leg to be UC because lounge, and also I'd really appreciate the lie flat on the 11 hour flight...

I can think of 4 approaches, but not sure if they will be allowed, and also call centre is now closed until tomorrow. Would really appreciate the wisdom of the hive mind here!

Approach 1: Book Econ outbound (1 day earlier) and PE inbound for option 2 (62500 points), apply voucher, so I'll potentially travel PE outbound and UC inbound. Question: If availability appears, can I call up to add points differential (between Econ and PE, 12500 extra points) to upgrade the first leg to UC? (total points 75000) (But this also means I need to add 1 extra day to the plan)

Approach 2: Book Econ for both outbound and inbound as there is availability for the exact dates I want for either options. Wait for UC availability if it will ever appear, and call up and request them to take more points out of my account and apply voucher.
Con: I risk the existing inbound availability for option 2 disappearing and the outbound not ever appearing

Approach 3: Book Econ for outbound and UC for inbound for option 2 (102500 points). Question: If availability appears, can I call up to add points differential for the outbound (between Econ and PE), take off points differential for the inbound (between PE and UC) (to bring the spend back down to 75000 points), and then apply the voucher? I'll at least get to do UC inbound, but sad that the voucher will go to waste.

Approach 4: Book Econ for outbound and PE for inbound for option 2, apply voucher on one leg only to guarantee I take that UC seat for 15 Jul. But does this then allow me to upgrade the outbound leg if availability appears, or would I actually forfeit the 2nd half of the voucher?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

(My calculations may be a bit off now I think about it, because of the UC 50% voucher thing which I still don't totally understand. I have 180k odd in my account which should still be able to cover the entire trip though and I'm really keen to use it up.)
#961054 by Chinafish
06 Mar 2023, 15:24
Did some more googling and realise this 2-for-1.5 is for companion voucher, so I think it doesn't apply to me.

And saw somewhere else that I can just use "one half" of a voucher, and save the second half of the voucher for a later date.

So I think Approach 4 might just work! I will report back after I find time to get in touch with VS.
#961055 by CommanderB
06 Mar 2023, 16:14
Just an note on LAX availability…

It’s one of the hardest routes to find UC reward seats.

My advice would be to assume you can’t get them, until proven otherwise.

My personal success for LAX has been upgrading at the airport with points or snagging a seat in the days running up to the flight. If VS don’t think they’ll sell all their revenue buckets, a few seats tend to turn up before check in opens if Upper is particularly quiet.

I’d optimise your planning for Premium, then jump into Upper if you can find a seat.

Upgrading with points in the London clubhouse is easy.

The LAX clubhouse staff used to be good at this too, but I haven’t done an inbound LAX flight since the lounge & terminal move so I’ll have to reserve judgement on that process for now.

Good luck!
#961058 by Chinafish
06 Mar 2023, 19:49
Thanks CommanderB for your input!

March has plenty availability according to their latest reward seat checker, but absolutely nothing for July. :-(

I live in hope that something magical could happen, but I will move forward on the expectation that there won't be. I'll be (obsessively) checking the sites in the next few months though!

I'll report back with any updates.
#961695 by Chinafish
03 Jun 2023, 10:44
I signed up to seatspy because of this.

And one day few weeks ago a UC reward seat for my outbound turned up. It wasn't my preferred flight time but I just nabbed it just in case. There was no PE reward availability, but the agent was able to work their magic (all through their chat function!) to charge me the difference in miles and taxes between Econ and PE reward, and apply half a upgrade voucher.

Hopefully more seats will open up nearer the time and I'll just be able to do a flight change but not a class change which should hopefully be easier. Fingers crossed!
#961922 by Chinafish
08 Jul 2023, 11:21
It is D day so I thought I'd make an update.

Since last post, reward seats have not appeared at all for the earlier flights.

I arrived on my flight from Amsterdam on time at like 7:45am ISH into T4. Got to T3 by around 9am (bags took forever to come out) and spoke to check in desk who told me to go to ticketing (the customer service hut at the far end near economy bag drop). There wasn't really availability on expertflyer but I just thought I should check with a human.

The lady there checked a few things, there were no seats. She disappeared to speak to some people because apparently some seats were blocked because "broken".

Few minutes later she came back, the seats were not broken, and she booked me in to the VS7 which is on the new A350.

Only when I got the boarding pass did I realise she put me in 1D, which I now understand to be one of the better seats and would have costed a premium to get in?

So instead of an 8 hour+ wait at the airport, I went straight through security, very quick light bite in the clubhouse then straight onto the plane!

We're waiting for push back right now, ATC delaying us saying there's some weather and congestion up ahead. But I'm on the plane!

I think I scored very very very lucky today and I won't take it for granted. Stars aligned for me today.

Moral of the story:
I personally think seatspy subscription is worth it if you have flights coming up.
And speak to ticketing at the airport they may be able to work magic.
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