Flexible Fare Vs Restricted Fare

My Dilema -

For my 40th Birthday I wish to go to Las Vagas, Upper Class round trip. (Never flown Upper before).

For the past few years I have slowly built up the miles to afford a PE to UC upgrade. Do not have enough for Econ to UC

Doing a dummy booking a flexible W PE fare (so I can upgrade using miles) is in the region of £3,000pp

A restricted Z UC fare is in the region of £3,300pp.

Is there a way to get a flexible PE fare cheaper ( some may say a £300pp is worth it). I have been saving miles for 6 years and feel deflated about the relatively small price difference.

It is probably in reflection not a dilema, save £300pp and use my miles.

Just thought I'd put it out there for those that may be 'In the Know' to offer some advice.

[Nottingham Nick]

Do you have to go to Vegas direct?
if not, have a look at pricing the route via SFO or LAX
I don't know how much flexible fares get reduced, but these routes seem to feature in the sales more You will also have the advantages of the LHR clubhouse, Revivals and better IFE.


Nick

[Neil]

You can upgrade with miles on an S fare code, which is the middle PE fare code, and will be a lot cheaper than a W fare. Just call VS and ask for a price.

The problem might be finding reward seats in UC, which are limited on the Vegas route, so also look at SFO/LAX and an internal flight to Vegas, which could be cheaper and give you more options.

[mitchja]

You can now also book upgradeable fares using the VS website too.

Click here. You will probably need to log into your FC account first, then select your required cabin and the upgradeable fare code you want to book, which as Neil mentioned is 'S' for PE.

Wow guys,

Thanks for the quick reply, doing the search where I can select the S fare the upgradable ticket price goes down to £1,400. Ok, so this is the first stage but that is half the price of the W fare.

I knew 'those in the know' would have some very useful help and advice. y)

Thanks

Before booking that fare it might be an idea to check with VS if there are any 'G's in UC you can actually upgrade into. If not, you might just as well book an 'ordinary' K fare and save your £s

Availabilty will of course depends on when you are travelling !

Plus depending on how soon you are travelling you might want to consider risking holding out for a sale.

As Nick and Neil suggest also consider travelling to SFO/LAX as more availabilty and liklyhood of sale fares being available.

It's also worth checking MilesPlusMoney fares if they are available.

It's also worth checking MilesPlusMoney fares if they are available.

Although take care with Miles&Money. They are usually appalling value for money. Er, and miles.

[mitchja]

It's also worth checking MilesPlusMoney fares if they are available.

Although take care with Miles&Money. They are usually appalling value for money. Er, and miles.

....and they are very very inflexible, in that you can't upgrade them with either more miles or more cash.

Interesting comments. A few months ago I used Miles & Money to book myself and the Mrs on an UC rtn to JFK:

Cost without miles = ~£4300
Cost with 30k miles = ~£2600

Personally I thought that was a good saving

Interesting comments. A few months ago I used Miles & Money to book myself and the Mrs on an UC rtn to JFK:

Cost without miles = ~£4300
Cost with 30k miles = ~£2600

Personally I thought that was a good saving

That is imho cracking value. I've seen flights to Miami with 1/3rd off for M+M and San Francisco for more or less half the cost of a Z. y)

Interesting comments. A few months ago I used Miles & Money to book myself and the Mrs on an UC rtn to JFK:

Cost without miles = ~£4300
Cost with 30k miles = ~£2600

Personally I thought that was a good saving

ISTBC but it depends on your desire to earn miles and status; the cost was, I think, at least 28,000 miles per person (15k redeemed + 13k not received + any increment due to status) plus 10 tier points.

^^^ Very true regarding the 'true cost'. The Tier Points collected from a full fare would have held me in Silver for another year, nothing more (I'm not a frequent flyer) and I already had 130k miles to burn, but yes, for some people it's more beneficial to keep collecting the miles/points.

As for me, I'm spending miles from now on ):

The Miles + Money does not seem as good value.

I am happy with the price of an 'S' Ticket so I will probably go with that and upgrade with my miles.

All the options you have listed have been good and I have explored them all.

Thanks again