V-Flyer

Hi Guys,
I hope you are all well... firstly, what a great forum. I came across this site on Google and it was exactly what I was looking for.

I need advice relating to my flying club airmiles... ?|

I have amassed approximately 85,000 miles and prefer to purchase two tickets at a time and preferably in Upper Class.
Now the confusion...
I like to travel to wither New York, Los Angeles etc and I just don't know the most cost effective way of doing this.
To upgrade from Economy to Upper Class I need to purchase a full fare ticket which all seem to be over £900 per seat!?
Are there any other options and if so, which in everyone's opinion is the best way of using these points... I have the Amex card and am slowly increasing my balance.

Thank you for all of your help.
Ben

Firstly welcome to v- flyer .
If you have a VS Amex (issued by MBNA) you might want to consider applying for a proper Amex issued Amex. The gold card is currently being offered fee free (usually £125) with referral from an existing card holder being worth 22,000 bonus miles (with a £1,000 spend in the first three months) for the recipient (and miles for the referrer too ). You get a couple of free lounge passes too and double points on grocery/ petrol purchases If you'd like a referral drop me a PM (yes I am a miles whore ).
OK back to the task in hand - when are you looking to travel?
DL

Hi!
Private message sent!

I can travel at any time of the year really...
Best for June - July for LA and December time for New York if possible.

DragonLady wrote:Firstly welcome to v- flyer .
If you have a VS Amex (issued by MBNA) you might want to consider applying for a proper Amex issued Amex. The gold card is currently being offered fee free (usually £125) with referral from an existing card holder being worth 22,000 bonus miles (with a £1,000 spend in the first three months) for the recipient (and miles for the referrer too ). You get a couple of free lounge passes too and double points on grocery/ petrol purchases If you'd like a referral drop me a PM (yes I am a miles whore ).
OK back to the task in hand - when are you looking to travel?
DL

Not to steal from the OP but if anyone else wants to refer me, let me know as I'm interested in this also.

DragonLady wrote:Firstly welcome to v- flyer .
If you have a VS Amex (issued by MBNA) you might want to consider applying for a proper Amex issued Amex. The gold card is currently being offered fee free (usually £125) with referral from an existing card holder being worth 22,000 bonus miles (with a £1,000 spend in the first three months) for the recipient (and miles for the referrer too ). You get a couple of free lounge passes too and double points on grocery/ petrol purchases

Double points on grocery / pertrol is (ISTBC) only for the first year? There are, however, double points on any travel related purchases (though some Hilton properties exempt themselves) so if you travel regularly for work it can be quite a good way of accruing miles.

Does anybody have a link for the T&C of this card? Looks to good to be true.m

pjh wrote:Double points on grocery / pertrol is (ISTBC) only for the first year? There are, however, double points on any travel related purchases (though some Hilton properties exempt themselves) so if you travel regularly for work it can be quite a good way of accruing miles.

However in London you don't get double miles if you use a TFL Machine! When I had my gold card if I topped up my oyster at Balham BR station I got double miles but not if I went down stairs to the Underground!

Back to the OP - you don't need a fully flexible Y ticket in Economy but only one of Y/B/R/L and yes they are more expensive that the chepest tickets. Of the Y upgradable tickets the L is the cheapest.

Check there are seats in UC to upgrade into first though

OK, thank you for all the info!

Does anyone have some info on my original question and the best and cheapest way of purchasing these tickets?

Thanks
Ben

Is there some way to calculate if it's 'profitable' to 'buy' the AMEX card or not?

The great thing with the Amex Amex cards is that the MR points that you collect can stay in the Amex scheme until they offer a bonus to transfer them onwards - there have been 50% bonus offers for transfers to VS and BA before, which if you can take advantage and most of your spend is covered by the 2pts/£ supermarket/fuel/travel rate then it works out better than the VS Black card.

tontybear wrote:However in London you don't get double miles if you use a TFL Machine! When I had my gold card if I topped up my oyster at Balham BR station I got double miles but not if I went down stairs to the Underground!

Tonty, just looked through my MR points account, I have been given double points when I have used my Gold card at LUL machines, so seems odd that you haven't.

Is the Amex Gold better/equal/worse for collecting points than the VS white/black?

scnickr wrote:Is the Amex Gold better/equal/worse for collecting points than the VS white/black?

With the current promotion of 22,000 bonus miles with a referral from an exiting cardholder ( and no fee at present which is usually £125) I'd say it was better . As Paul has said there's also the extra MR points accrued from petrol/ supermarket spends and also the mentioned transfer bonuses ( no guarantee when the /if the next one will be).You also get two free lounge passes vie Lounge Club (which is a new benefit). You can also transfer Amex MR points into other programmes not just VS FC.
PM me if you'd like a referral .
DL

There two great ways to use miles to get into UC without paying the UC price.
One involved buying an upgradeable Y ticket (this is not a full fare Y - there are several loser fare optiosn that are upgradable) then for 20-25,000 (depending which coast) you can get into UC each way.
Alternately you can buy a PE upgradable (S is cheapest) and use half those miles to get into UC (10-12,500) each way.
The advatange of the PE ticket is that you will also earn some extra miles but on both tickets you will earn miles for the ticket purchased.
The PE is also good because should you not get into UC then at least you are not at the back. However, especially to the USA on UK purchased tickets, I do find PE expensive compared to Y (but on other routes such as Asia there is just a few hundred difference.

JCBR wrote:There two great ways to use miles to get into UC without paying the UC price.
One involved buying an upgradeable Y ticket (this is not a full fare Y - there are several loser fare optiosn that are upgradable) then for 20-25,000 (depending which coast) you can get into UC each way.
Alternately you can buy a PE upgradable (S is cheapest) and use half those miles to get into UC (10-12,500) each way.
The advatange of the PE ticket is that you will also earn some extra miles but on both tickets you will earn miles for the ticket purchased.
The PE is also good because should you not get into UC then at least you are not at the back. However, especially to the USA on UK purchased tickets, I do find PE expensive compared to Y (but on other routes such as Asia there is just a few hundred difference.

Thank you for answering my question rather than selling credit cards!
Where and how do I search on the virgin site for an upgradable 'Y' ticket... I can't find them.

Is this the best all round option to get into UC?

Thanks
Ben

Benj wrote:Thank you for answering my question rather than selling credit cards!
Where and how do I search on the virgin site for an upgradable 'Y' ticket... I can't find them.

Is this the best all round option to get into UC?

Thanks
Ben

Ha ha ha, in fairness I think people are just trying to come to a consensus as to which is the better card to have miles wise, which would help you bolster your miles balance.

To get the info you want, go to the vs website, click on the flying club account link at the top of the page. In the left hand list click on spend miles > upgrade/companion flights. The window that displays allows you to select different classes in the booking, for prem eco the cheapest upgradeable is an 'S' class, for eco the cheapest upgradeable is an 'L' class. This will give you an indication of price you will be paying - to actually upgrade using miles I am afraid you have to give VS a call.

When looking to upgrade, I usually go for an 'S' class if the funds allow (or if the company is paying ) as the TPs and mileage earned come in handy. If you cannot score the upgrade in advance, don't give up, if there are some spare seats when check-in opens, they may allow you to upgrade at the desks.

Hope you find what you're looking for y)

Thanks!
I found economy flights to NY for £700 + can use my miles to upgrade to upper... are you sure L class is ok to use miles to upgrade!?

Thanks
Ben

Benj wrote:Thanks!
I found economy flights to NY for £700 + can use my miles to upgrade to upper... are you sure L class is ok to use miles to upgrade!?

Thanks
Ben

Positive.

Remember if you are looking to get this all sorted now, there has got to be availability to upgrade on the flight you want. Time to call virgin and ask them nicely to be of assistance - enjoy the suicidally happy on hold music :$

Good Luck y)