V-Flyer

i've been awarded a companion flight for renewing my gold status - what's that all about then (ted)? ?|

Basically if you buy a seat in the correct fare code, then you can have a companion travel for free with you (you do still have to pay the taxes etc). That's the good part, the not so good part is that to use a companion voucher, the person buying the revenue seat needs to be booked in to the correct (read, high) fare code.

So;
for UC you need a full J fare
for PE you need a W or S fare
for Y you need a Y,B or L fare

What you will find, especially with UC and Y is that 2 discount/lowest fare code tickets more often than not work out cheaper than a full fare and companion ticket.

The best use seems to be with an S class PE fare, which can often only be slightly more than the lower K fare, but do still check as with sales it might not be.

Neil

hat wrote:i've been awarded a companion flight for renewing my gold status - what's that all about then (ted)? ?|

To add to Neil's comments, don't get excited its generally a marketing gimmick.. v( And remeber still have the Tax,surcharges to pay..

Whenever there are sales/lower prices around you can normally forget it.
Just been looking at PE to NYC in April
S class- 1343
sale fare - 636
companion seat taxes - 315
Therefore cheaper with 2 sale fares

Some people have had some joy with these,although expect not many.. however you will 9 times out of 10 find they work out just higher than cheapest fares (sure someone is employed to ensure this happens.. ): )

However if you happen to be booking in flex fares then you may get some use. Leisure travellers generally don't benefit from them- annoying as those are the ones who are spending their own cash on the seats..

Its the same con employed by the credit card "benefit", sounds great, but extremely unuseable.

Rant over.. |:)
NH

Just put a 'hold' on a Boston free companion flight (only popped up today as yesterday there were no reward flights available on the day I wanted - pays to check back).

S class £1,417.13
Comp ticket £314.43
Total £1,713.56

K class £1,067x 2 = ££2,134

So comp ticket saves £400+ overall (but, of course, no miles for the Comp ticket).

They are not the 'bargain' they are marketed as, but there can be some savings.

I have often used them on the MCO route (getting in very quick).

Nice one y)

As you say, it proves that they can work, and again, using the S PE fare, which seems to be the only way they offer a saving.

spiceke wrote:(but, of course, no miles for the Comp ticket).

but slightly more miles on the S over a K.

FM

cheers guys, i guessed they probably weren't too fantastic if they're giving them away for nothing more than reaching the 30 point renew limit.

i need to get my head around rewards in general, i've got 190k miles & will be travelling with the other half to San Diego at the end of this year for a family wedding. hopefully i can get us from Manchester to Vegas & back for free

hat wrote: hopefully i can get us from Manchester to Vegas & back for free

Good luck with that!

Rewards to LAS, are very hard to come by, so you really want to start looking as soon as the flights come out, and on a regular basis after that also to give yourself the maximum chance.

hat wrote:cheers guys, i guessed they probably weren't too fantastic if they're giving them away for nothing more than reaching the 30 point renew limit.

i need to get my head around rewards in general, i've got 190k miles & will be travelling with the other half to San Diego at the end of this year for a family wedding. hopefully i can get us from Manchester to Vegas & back for free

Companion fares are really to incentivize those who book full fare tickets - so for the people who get qualifying fares (often courtesy of business travel) they can be a good reward. As you see with the comments here, where travel is for leisure, or in non-qualifying fare classes then they're a mootish benefit. Many people would like to see these replaced with say an upgrade voucher.

As to LAS - it's often tough to get one miles redemption let alone two, you might want to spread your options to LAX too.

hat wrote:i've been awarded a companion flight for renewing my gold status - what's that all about then (ted)? ?|

hmmpph... I renewed my GC status months ago, and didn't get a thing! !

It would be nice if they treated all members the same.

BA gives you a voucher for a companion Reward flight after you spend $30,000 on their credit card, so two go for one lot of miles - in ANY class. You just pay taxes. A great incentive that makes me spend with them over Virgin credit card (I have both, and am US based)

narikin wrote:

hat wrote:i've been awarded a companion flight for renewing my gold status - what's that all about then (ted)? ?|

hmmpph... I renewed my GC status months ago, and didn't get a thing! !

It would be nice if they treated all members the same.

Have you checked your account on the VS website. You don't actually get anything in your hand but against your renewal date you should see

For renewing your gold card we've awarded you a companion ticket

If you don't see that, then you should get on to FC immediately

its the first time i've had it in 3 years of GC renewal

hat wrote:its the first time i've had it in 3 years of GC renewal

Odd. Unfortunately, even if you wanted to ask for prior years to be instated, you couldn't use them since they expire when your membership renews.

All the trouble to get - and use - a free companion flight and now Mrs S is not sure she wants to go to Boston.

There is no pleasing some people !!!!!!

spiceke wrote:All the trouble to get - and use - a free companion flight and now Mrs S is not sure she wants to go to Boston.

There is no pleasing some people !!!!!!

I'll be your companion !