V-Flyer

My better half & I are planning to go to the West Coast for our honeymoon and will try to get the flights in UC using miles. We are very flexible on dates as we're just going to get away for a week or so in the UK straight after the wedding.

My question is how far in advance the reward seats for West Coast flights tend to become as I'm sure they're bound to go quickly once they do come up?

Any help much appreciated.

When is it you want to go?

They are released pretty much like revenue seats, so roughly 11 months/336 days before your return flight. With you being flexible on dates and the option of either LAX or SFO then you should have a good chance of getting some without to much difficulty.

Neil

The only difficulty may be if you are seeking to travel at a premium time such as Easter, Christmas or, in some instances, school half term holidays.

Generally though you should be able to nab some seats to/from either destination. You might find it helpful if you are flexible enough to arrive in one city and depart from the other if it so happens that one of them does not seem to be yielding reward seats

If you can't find reward seats to SFO or LAX you might also ask about reward seats to Las Vegas as you should be able to book a connection on to San Francisco or LAX with either Virgin America or Southwest for reasonable fares. Just note that the flights to Vegas are out of LGW.

While LAS is an option the likelihood of getting two reward seats to LAS, always a very popular destination on the VS network, is less than SFO/LAX. LAS only has 14 UC seats compared with the number on the SFO/LAX routes especially when you consider that LAX has two daily flights

Thanks HL I am sure rdm will appreciate the additional info. When I was looking last year for seats out of SFO there were actually no reward seats available but there was availability in and out of LAS, so maybe it had to do with the timing of my flights. Of course I then stalked the website every day until seats to SFO opened up, so I didn't actually fly to Vegas.

RDM - are there any particular things you are looking to do out here on the west coast? If you have the time the drive up/down the coast is quite nice so it might be fun to fly into one airport and out of another.

You should be fine for LAX and SFO if you are flexible. I went though this for 4 G's to SFO a few years.

As mentioned earlier, the first batch of reward seats will be open to book from 336 days prior to travel. However, you will often find that ticketing manually add more seats 330-333 days prior to travel (there can be 8+ G's available on larger UC cabins). They will also review at times, especially nearer the flights and release more 2-4 weeks out if they have a lot of unsold Js.

Good luck and enjoy California

One other thing to keep in mind is that there are easier days than others to book on, so flexibility in this regard is also key. It's usually easier to find reward seats UK--> US Tue-Thu, US-->UK Mon-Wed, while seats on busier days will be available very early, then close up and be released again one to two weeks out. If your wedding's on a Sunday, fly out on Tuesday and you will find it a lot easier to get reward seats.

Thanks for the replies folks.

Our general plan is to do a road trip taking in LA, Vegas & San Fran (no particular order). The choice of flying to/from SFO/LAX (openjaw a possibility) is based on TRs about the clubhouse/lounge facilities. It's going to be a while before we'd fly UC again so we really want to endulge in the whole experience.

Given what I've read on other threads I'll probably phone FC when we've got the miles in the bank (next March to MBJ in PE and buying a few miles will sort it).

We did something similar this summer. I finally booked the tickets on 1st November for a 3rd August departure. At that time there was availability for both LAX and SFO, though per MarkedMan's post, it was all mid week (out and back).

Have fun planning the trip; a west coast road trip is an iconic thing to do. Depending on the time of year I'd look to flying into SFO from LHR so that you get the UC experience on a 747.

Paul

The flight to SFO is a "flagship" in many ways. I was lucky to do it for years.

If you want to split, fly out to LAX, and back from SFO. On the outbound you get the LHR CH either way, and having a choice of two flight times might be worthwhile - I like the later flight times myself. On the way back, there is general consensus that the SFO CH is one of the better ones outside of London, while LAX does not have its own CH, you use the ANZ lounge. Not bad, I suppose, but you should experience the SFO CH.

Try Air New Zealand for LAX, same seat at VS with arguably better service. Also redemption is 75k each rtn rather than 100k with VS, and I may be wrong but lower taxes too.

clarkeysntfc wrote:Try Air New Zealand for LAX, same seat at VS with arguably better service. Also redemption is 75k each rtn rather than 100k with VS, and I may be wrong but lower taxes too.

Right on all counts y) y)

Surprisingly we are planning similar trip for 2012 for myself and the o/h's wedding.

Counting the miles now - needless to say and about 20-30k short right now for the planned trip, which looks (sadly) to be a PE both ways type trip as we're a few miles short of the needed sums for reward in u/c both ways. I am considering asking for miles for xmas...

starquake wrote: I am considering asking for miles for xmas...

You just missed a miles 'sale' which offered a 15% bonus so unless you want them in a hurry you could wait a bit as another sale will no doubt be along in a few months.

Am assuming you have a miles earning credit card too as thise help build them up too.

tontybear wrote:

starquake wrote: I am considering asking for miles for xmas...

You just missed a miles 'sale' which offered a 15% bonus so unless you want them in a hurry you could wait a bit as another sale will no doubt be along in a few months.

Am assuming you have a miles earning credit card too as thise help build them up too.

Why not look to buy an economy revenue fare (L fare code min needed) and then use miles to upgrade to UC (60k per person each way), rather than buying just 2 straight PE rewards?. It is a great way to use miles to fly UC and that way you still earn miles and TP's. It could work out not that much more.

Neil

Neil, indeed, that is the plan - 2 L's and upgrade

Looks like availblility was good in 2011 in the month I wanted, so just need to wait until booking open in 2012.

To original poster, SFO seemed was better for milage redemption than LAX when booking 7-9 months out from my pov. Was looking for late April (but not in school hols) here. Aim will be to fly out for 3weeks plus in late April '12. As our dates are totally flexible we'll base it on when we can get flights rather than any set itinary - flying U/C is the aim.

starquake wrote:Surprisingly we are planning similar trip for 2012 for myself and the o/h's wedding.

Counting the miles now - needless to say and about 20-30k short right now for the planned trip, which looks (sadly) to be a PE both ways type trip as we're a few miles short of the needed sums for reward in u/c both ways. I am considering asking for miles for xmas...

Why not do what we're thinking of and buy the extra miles you need?

clarkeysntfc wrote:Try Air New Zealand for LAX, same seat at VS with arguably better service. Also redemption is 75k each rtn rather than 100k with VS, and I may be wrong but lower taxes too.

Ooooo!!! I didn't know I could use my miles on Air NZ

Cor blimey I can't believe this has passed me by, I know I looked at it, but was firmly of the view UK citizens could not apply.

Just to confirm, are any of you folk who have it UK citizens?

clarkeysntfc wrote:
Try Air New Zealand for LAX, same seat at VS with arguably better service. Also redemption is 75k each rtn rather than 100k with VS, and I may be wrong but lower taxes too.

Anyone know if you can book one way AirNZ with miles. I'm thinking LHRLAX with AirNZ and return MCOLGW with Virgin