best way to spend miles for flights to MCO

hi!

found this forum quite by accident and am currently boring the wife rigid with random virgin related facts i learned!

anyway, i have 60000 miles and want to use them in the best way for 2 x adult and 1 x child (5yo) return flights from Gatwick to Orlando departing 25th November 2011 returning 7 days later.

we want to fly premium, quite happy to buy extra miles if needed.

i've thought about miles+money, buying extra miles and spending them on one premium return, and buying economy and using the miles to upgrade... but after all this i'm confused.

any help would be most appreciated!

leighton

[Nottingham Nick]

Leighton

Welcome to the site.

The availability of rewards seats - especially to Orlando, is a very frequently discussed topic here.
They are very difficult, but not impossible, to get.

Virgin used to release reward seats at the same time as they released revenue seats (330 days out), but the system has changed recently, and is somewhat more random now.

The tricks are flexibility, patience and persistence.

Don't be too rigid with your dates. Avoid school holidays if you can. Be prepared for alternatives, if your first choice destination isn't available. Consider flying into Miami - or even one of the other East coast gateways - New York / Boston for example, and then getting a cheap Jet Blue flight to Florida.

If you want to use miles to upgrade your economy seat - you have to buy a ticket in one of the more expensive buckets - there are several discussions about it on the site, and it is explained on the VS website - here.

The Flying Club agents ( or at least most of them) are your friends. Try giving them a ring and asking their advice - if you get an unhelpful one then put the phone down and try again. :w

All the best, but don't expect your quest to be easy.

Nick

Nick has summed up very well for you.

It can be done ( we have had many reward flights in the last few years, mostly in Upper, but in premium as well)

The way we have achieved this is to be very flexible and make our dates work around the available reward flights. If you are stuck to certain dates, this could be pretty tricky to get direct flights into MCO, but not impossible.

Good luck - hopefully you will find some "enjoyment" in the chase

David

we get to use our miles 2 to 3 times a year always to MCo and always in PE. the best thing is as everyone said, be flexible (ie travel tuesdays,wednesdays) avoid school hols etc.

you will need (currently ) 75000 miles per pax so you are way short and cant buy that many, so the best way might be to buy one PE and 2 revenue tickets ,that way you are increasing your odds

thanks for the replies folks! will give them a call tomorrow and let you know how i got on!

my dates are fixed as we, perhaps stupidly, have already booked the hotel!

bit more 'advice' . if anyone told me they were thinking of booking a hotel in orlando I would strongly advise them to look into renting a villa. sometime s the price difference is minimal yet you get your own place, a private pool,the ability to eat at 'home' (saving money) the chance to chill in peace and -as you have childfren a bit of private 'you' time (try getting romantic in one tiny hotel room!!)

personally i would prefer spending a bit more for 7 days 'upgrade' than 8 hours in a plane......

thanks for the replies folks! will give them a call tomorrow and let you know how i got on!

my dates are fixed as we, perhaps stupidly, have already booked the hotel!

Naive maybe, not stupid. Hotels are plentiful, reward tickets are not. Unless you got a stupendous deal it was a bit cart and horse. But what are the terms for the hotel? If it was a cheap advanced purchase you might be stuffed but this far out the hotel might let you move by a few days. You could put the flights on hold for 24 hours while you check this out. If you have a reservation which allows cancellation all the better.

Regards
R3dV