Best time to book reward seats - honeymoon

Okay, so we've set a date to be married - In April 2012,

So... plan is to use all my miles to assist with the honeymoon. Oh I have a virgin credit card also, and with the wedding costs going on virgin card (for what is possible)! fully expect to have 2x PE upgrade vouchers.

So 2 Q's
1/ Time to book with Virgin. We want 3 weeks in the US... so when is the time we are likely to get 2 reward PE seats + the rewards in econ so we can use the upgrade voucher. Is it at the start of the 9 month booking window?

2/ Can we do a miles with different US airports used to arrive/depart?- aim will be to fly to San Fran, and fly back via Vegas, with us having a trip down the coast and across over 3 weeks If we had to fly in/out same, its doable via LA, but we need to know this ahead of time to be able to plan a basic itinerary.

On the subject - whats the best car rental firm you guys can advise in the San Fran or LA area to book a car with on a one-way basis to Vegas? Mileage earning irrelevant if the price is good. We would only need the car for 2 and a bit weeks, as when in Vegas we generally don't use a car.

Any other advice I'd be greatful, and nearer the time if anyone could get us in Clubhouse before the outbound heathrow flight (we won't have the miles to fly U/C sadly) - we'd be very appreciative.

Miles wise, we'll be looking to have 100,000 easily by 2012, so I think this is a doable routing with the PE vouchers.

Oh and on another subject for this years hols. Is there any way I can earn miles to fly to Thailand ? Was thinking of routing via HK - anyone done this who can advise?

Cheers all

Dan (& Mel)

[Neil]

Firstly congrats.

Wow, where to start, firstly, when to book reward seats. Seats are available from 11months from your return date, so you will be able to book April 2012 flights, during May 2011. That doesn't always mean reward seats are released straight away, but it certainly is best to start looking as there are only a few released on each flight, and usually once they are gone, that's it until much closer to your flight.

As you are looking at flying PE, using your AmEx vouchers, then there will need to be U fare class available, which is the PE reward class, you would then use your miles to 'buy' the economy seat and the reward voucher to upgrade you, there does not need to be economy reward seats available for you to do this.

Yes, you can use miles if you are flying in/out of different airports, as long as there are miles seats available on the flight you want. The problem you might have is using LAS as one of these airports, reward seats in all classes are difficult to come by. What many of us do on here is either use SFO/LAX and just catch an internal flight, which are fairly cheap. The other thing you might need to consider even if there is availability on out of LAS, is that Virgin fly to/from Gatwick to LAS, whilst SFO/LAX are both out of Heathrow, not great to have you car at a different airport!

I know you mention that you can't afford to fly UC, but there are always ways. One option would be to buy with cash a economy L fare, and the use 30k miles to upgrade to UC (that is a one way upgrade), providing there is G reward class availability. You could do this for one leg, and upgrade to PE for the other leg, which would be 20k for a one way upgrade, totalling 50k miles each. If you are a bit short of miles, you can always buy some from the VS site. It is just another option, as this would also allow you access to the CH, if you did it on the outbound flight.

Car hire, there is a thread running here about one way car hire in California/Vegas. I have just booked using USrentacar, but to avoid the one way fee's you should look at any of the brokers, netflights/expedia/virgin atlantic website/usrentacar etc, as these don't charge one way fee's, but direct with the car hire companies like Dollar/Alamo etc do.

Neil

quote:Originally posted by Neil


I have just booked using USrentacar, but to avoid the one way fee's you should look at any of the brokers, netflights/expedia/virgin atlantic website/usrentacar etc, as these don't charge one way fee's, but direct with the car hire companies like Dollar/Alamo etc do.

Neil


not quite true, here's the message I got when I tried to book a one way car with usrentacar

Please note: You have elected to drop off your hire car at a location other than where the vehicle is to be picked up from. You will be liable for a ' One Way Rental Fee ' which is generally based on the distance, in miles, between the two depots.

Supplier : Alamo Rent A Car

This fee is payable locally and should be paid directly to the supplier. The prices below are a guide to these charges. One way fees are subject to local taxes.

Distance Cost
0 - 200 miles $50.00
201 - 500 miles $100.00
501 - 1000 miles $300.00
Over 1000 miles $500.00

- Copyright U.S. Rent A Car All Rights reserved

[Neil]

quote:Originally posted by woggles
quote:Originally posted by Neil


I have just booked using USrentacar, but to avoid the one way fee's you should look at any of the brokers, netflights/expedia/virgin atlantic website/usrentacar etc, as these don't charge one way fee's, but direct with the car hire companies like Dollar/Alamo etc do.

Neil


not quite true, here's the message I got when I tried to book a one way car with usrentacar



Depends who you book with, Dollar via USrentacar do not charge a one way fee, but it seems Alamo do.

Cheers Neil and Wooggles.

The whole flying out via Heathrow and back via Gatwick doesn't bother either of us too much - we typically use public transport to/from airports as its less hassle we find - and only takes slightly longer to our home in rural Suffolk (with a mainline station a 5 min, 3 cab ride away luckily). The tube can be a pain with bags, but we've been to/from Vegas last year this way and didn't really have a problem as our usual mode of operation includes staying over in Heathrow or Gatwick the night before we heave.

It also helps that we get the 1st class upgrades on Heathrow and Gatwick express due to both of us being VS Silver from our respective work schemes (automatic silver class in many airlines, not just VS). It would cost WAY more on public transport if we both didn't have season tickets for the journey on train to London though

[honey lamb]

quote:Originally posted by woggles
quote:Originally posted by Neil


I have just booked using USrentacar, but to avoid the one way fee's you should look at any of the brokers, netflights/expedia/virgin atlantic website/usrentacar etc, as these don't charge one way fee's, but direct with the car hire companies like Dollar/Alamo etc do.

Neil


not quite true, here's the message I got when I tried to book a one way car with usrentacar

Please note: You have elected to drop off your hire car at a location other than where the vehicle is to be picked up from. You will be liable for a ' One Way Rental Fee ' which is generally based on the distance, in miles, between the two depots.

Supplier : Alamo Rent A Car

This fee is payable locally and should be paid directly to the supplier. The prices below are a guide to these charges. One way fees are subject to local taxes.

Distance Cost
0 - 200 miles $50.00
201 - 500 miles $100.00
501 - 1000 miles $300.00
Over 1000 miles $500.00

- Copyright U.S. Rent A Car All Rights reserved







Just to remind folks that this topic is currently being discussed here and any further posts on it should continue on that thread.

Please continue to answer the OP's other questions here