V-Flyer

Hi there,

I'm looking for a bit of advice...and this would certainly seem the right place!

I travel to Brisbane twice a year on business, and for the moment this has to be economy [:(]. Sorry to say though that since I do cope pretty well in economy, there's not much justification for me paying more until my business can afford it (self employed). Previously I've flown BA/QF to SIN connecting direct to BNE rather than down to SYD first. However, with the upgrade using miles options, I thought I might give VS a go.

1) Am I right in thinking I could use 20,000 miles to upgrade just the LON-HKG-LON legs of the journey, and take the HKG-SYD-HKG legs in Y (which are shorter, and seem to be the quieter legs, so more chance of a spare seat).

2) I've keyed a few different itineraries into http://matrix.itasoftware.com and it seems that by booking the LON-HKG-LON legs in L (i.e. able to use miles to upgrade) and the HKG-SYD-LON legs in lowest avaialable, I can save a couple of hundread per trip over booking the entire trip in L. Will VS telesales be able to do this for me, or would I need to book them all on seperate tickets via the respective countries offices?

3) Furthermore, if I nest the two trips (i.e. First trip, leave LON MAY, return AUG. Second Trip: leave SYD JUN, Return JULY) I can save another couple of hundred. Again, would VS be able to do this for me, or would I need to book one ticket through UK, and one through AUS?

Bean counting I know, but £600 saved isn't bad!

Thanks for any advice!

Dan

Hi devondan and welcome.

Yes, you can redeem 20K to upgrade your L fare to PE on the LON-HKG-LON sectors.

I doubt that VS would be willing to sell you a through ticket from LON-SYD in two different Y booking classes. You can book your initial ticket to HKG in L and then book the HKG-SYD-HKG seperately. Don't forget to check fares ex-HKG to BNE itself including Virgin Blue (VS codeshare) connections as well, it may work out the same price as the HKG-SYD fare. I do know that HKG-x/SYD-MEL fares are the same as HKG-SYD, only the difference is taxes. Check Expedia.co.uk, you can book non originating UK flights online and they can sell Virgin's lowest fares including the free Australia Virgin Blue transfers.

Lastly, back-to-back ticketing is usually frowned upon by the airlines so I would advise you to book your flights seperately.

The Strawb

Thanks for the info

Big Thumbs up to VS [y]

I called the reservations desk, to get a quote on the above itinerary not specifying that only the LON-HKG-LON legs should be in L class, yet they still quoted £793, so must have automatically mixed the fare classes - nice one! I'd been expecting a messy mix of bookings from different countries!