V-Flyer

Rather vague, how long is a piece of string post. Go easy, grasping barebones, need a little help from more frequent flyers.
Flying club Red, no tier points, 600+K miles. Last Vegas trip 2008, looking to book for May/June 2013. Questions, have the Gatwick planes all been refitted. Last trip very tired, grubby and not worth the money.
My thoughts are book Premium E seats as soon as available , then upgrade to UC on the day. This has worked nicely before, US side less so. Last trip auction at the US gate, no takers and still no joy in using miles.i Understand only 14 are seats availble and Virgin would prefer $.

I think the chance of upgrading to UC on the day, given the small amount of suites available on the LGW LAS route is a pretty slim one. However, it's always worth a shot.

I presume trying to book reward seat in advance is equally a non starter? ii)

Global44 wrote:I presume trying to book reward seat in advance is equally a non starter? ii)

No, of course during busy times, especially for the UC cabin, the rewards are limited or none existent, but there have been numerous reports of people booking UC rewards on the LAS flights.

Have you also thought about the option of flying to SFO or LAX and then getting a cheap internal to LAS? Both destinations have 2 x flights per day and have much larger UC cabins so rewards are much easier to get hold of.

Thank you Neil, yes I have. The issue is time, would love extend my holiday even a few days. Both my wife and I are self employed, can barely find seven days. Trying squeeze as much quality time in the trip as possible. Love the drive from LA to Vegas, but cocktails and the pool come first. Is it worth a phone call as soon as flights are live? What is the timeframe before they are available in advance?

Global44 wrote:Thank you Neil, yes I have. The issue is time, would love extend my holiday even a few days. Both my wife and I are self employed, can barely find seven days. Trying squeeze as much quality time in the trip as possible. Love the drive from LA to Vegas, but cocktails and the pool come first. Is it worth a phone call as soon as flights are live? What is the timeframe before they are available in advance?

Fully understand, we all have different aims with our trips, if yours is maximum time in Vegas ahead of flying UC, then direct is the obvious choice.

Flights are available 11 months from your return date, but reward seats can be released at any time from flight release right up until flight date, so it really is a matter of checking regularly.

Neil

Having kept my eye on it near a new year flight to LAS, more reward seats appear closer to the date (or rather a month before), but sometimes not on the day you expect.

So with flexibility, it might be possible, but it might cost you to change the day then upgrade or something.

Another thing for LAS, which is different from other cities, is that the busy times for flights is heading over for the weekend and coming back on and just after weekend, so friday flights to the place is busiest (and some saturday) and coming back sunday and monday. So doing a weds to weds trip might be worth a look.

But just noticed, 13 months in advance won't get you any sales fares or reward availability, they don't appear to about 330 days in advance (335 is it?).

Thank you Smid, very good idea, In addition room rates are better value mid week. Unfortunately once the wife has a taste for the pointy end, Wynn Tower suites etc. It is hard to downgrade.

Global44 wrote:Thank you Smid, very good idea, In addition room rates are better value mid week. Unfortunately once the wife has a taste for the pointy end, Wynn Tower suites etc. It is hard to downgrade.

I've found you get better deals for both flights and hotels six months before going than you do 13 months before you are going. Though last year, at christmas, the great offers came one month but clearly you can't rely on that.

But think of it like this: They sell the expensive seats first for people wanting to pay. It'll often cost you 800 quid economy for a flight this christmas to vegas, but it will more likely to be 400 in a few months time.

Very helpfull Smid,I'm not to stressed about a few quid here or there. But only a fool wastes money these days, will book room through Amex. I would stump up for UC seats, but my few experiences with Gatwick clubhouse, planes make me beleive they are not as polished as other routes?

Global44 wrote:Very helpfull Smid,I'm not to stressed about a few quid here or there. But only a fool wastes money these days, will book room through Amex. I would stump up for UC seats, but my few experiences with Gatwick clubhouse, planes make me beleive they are not as polished as other routes?

Gatwick clubhouse is not Heathrow, but its still nice. The LGW planes in 2013 should be fully refurbished by then, so should have better Inflight, but probably just a cleaned out UC suite.