V-Flyer

I'm off to NYC next Tuesday through to Sunday with work.

My wife this morning decided that she'd love to come too - from the Thursday and return with me on the Sunday.

Now, I'm pretty new to the Virgin FC as my work have ony recently switched to using them, so my mileage balance was around 60,000.

I've managed to get my wife a return ticket on the dates I requested for 59,500 miles in PE.

So I've only had to pay £260 in tax.

The cheapest economy ticket was around £750, PE was £1,500. I could have used just 7,500 miles and done a M+M in PE for £1,000.

OK, it's wiped out my miles balance, but with 2 UC flights already booked for me and a few more in the pipeline before the year is out, I'm not worried about that.

I feel like that at this late stage (she's flying in 9 days) I've got a pretty good deal. Would the more experienced members here agree?

The minimum cash outlay now saved is £500, or going up to £750 depending on what I did.

([cliche alert on] and please bare in mind the damage that will be done to the credit card once she's arrived![/cliche alert off])

Sounds like a good deal to me, particularly if you've got additional miles coming up. I presume you paid the tax using a VS credit card :w so have recouped some miles already...

BTW, did you get my PM?

Paul

pjh wrote:Sounds like a good deal to me, particularly if you've got additional miles coming up. I presume you paid the tax using a VS credit card :w so have recouped some miles already...

BTW, did you get my PM?

Paul

Haven't got round to sorting out the credit card thing yet....

And I did get your PM. Replied just after I made the original post here. Did you get the reply...?!!

Yes, sounds a fairly good deal to me. PE to NYC is more than adequate enough given the length of the flight.

Of course, the main thing is that YOU are pleased with what you have got. Everyone has different wants and ways they like to spend their money (or miles) but if you are happy then that is all that matters.

Neil

Were no companion flights available in PE for the dates you needed? they only cost 30,000 points return in PE. I've just booked one in September.

ccarmock wrote:Were no companion flights available in PE for the dates you needed? they only cost 30,000 points return in PE. I've just booked one in September.

The problem there would be that his wife is travelling out on a different day and so would not be eligible for a companion return. I don't know if they are on offer for single legs of a journey

Companion flight? What's one of them then?!

(And Honey Lamb is correct - wife is joining me in NYC two days after I have gone if that does affect them.)

Thought I should also add that as I was paying for a flight for someone else, I had to call them to do it - I called the FC Silver number, got through very quickly and the person dealing with me was really helpful and went through what felt like a myriad of options. The whole thing took 45 minutes, but it finished off with me as a happy customer.

Plus one to VS!

rich1664 wrote:Companion flight? What's one of them then?!

A companion flight is where one person buys a fare with money and then can spend a set amount of miles to 'buy' another ticket for someone travelling on the same flight. The problem with companion flights is that while the number of miles needed for one is less than a straight reward flight, the person paying with cash must buy a specific fare code. The fare codes are the more expensive, flexible tickets and more often than not it works out cheaper to buy 2 cheap, discounted fare coded tickets than one high fare code and a companion ticket, especially in UC and Y.

More details of them can be found here on the VS site. It details the fare codes you need to buy and the amount of miles needed. Just like normal miles seats, the availability is also limited.

Neil

Neil wrote:

rich1664 wrote:Companion flight? What's one of them then?!

A companion flight is where one person buys a fare with money and then can spend a set amount of miles to 'buy' another ticket for someone travelling on the same flight. The problem with companion flights is that while the number of miles needed for one is less than a straight reward flight, the person paying with cash must buy a specific fare code. The fare codes are the more expensive, flexible tickets and more often than not it works out cheaper to buy 2 cheap, discounted fare coded tickets than one high fare code and a companion ticket, especially in UC and Y.

More details of them can be found here on the VS site. It details the fare codes you need to buy and the amount of miles needed. Just like normal miles seats, the availability is also limited.

Neil

Gotcha. Thank you for the explanation.

One other thing I was wondering about - when you're looking up flights, you've selected your travel class, date, time of travel and it gives you the price, I can't find anywhere what class fare code it is - that only seems to come through once you've booked it. So the question is, if I wanted to make sure I was getting a for example an R code, how would I know I was?

To see what fare you are being quoted on the price matrix, you need to click the 'fare breakdown' button, which is near where the price is listed towards the bottom of the screen. A new pop up screen will appear and in there will list which fare codes you are being quoted for.

If you want to book a specific fare code then, yo can either use this page on the VS site which allows you to book certain fare codes, or you will have to call VS direct and ask for the specific fare code you want.

Neil wrote:To see what fare you are being quoted on the price matrix, you need to click the 'fare breakdown' button, which is near where the price is listed towards the bottom of the screen. A new pop up screen will appear and in there will list which fare codes you are being quoted for.

So that's where they hide it!

Thank you.

Neil wrote:If you want to book a specific fare code then, yo can either use this page on the VS site which allows you to book certain fare codes, or you will have to call VS direct and ask for the specific fare code you want.

Useful. Have bookmarked it.

thanks again!

Given proximity to trip, I'd say you did well there, especially if the MRS is pleased!

As for wiping out your miles balance, well, that's what they are there for, to use! And, what's really scary about this whole thing, the more you use them, the more you fly, the more miles you generate and it kind of ends up being a self-sustaining thing - at least, that's what I find, especially using the V Amex card.

Glad you found the folks on the FC silver line helpful, that's my experience as well - in the most part, they know what options are available instantly and are really helpful.

Have a great trip and avoid 5th Avenue like the plague, I regreted that my wife found it last time!!!

Al