V-Flyer

Hi All,

I have managed to bag 3 P/E's to MCO for next summer - all on Rewards !

Because I would like to extend my trip I know it is £25 pp to amend it. Trouble is, and this is not surprising for MCO, there isn't availability on the return date.

My bright idea was to change the booking and come back via NY, with me paying for the connector on something like JetBlue.

When I phoned VS they said they could change the booking, but would not be able to add another connecting flight. Her view was that it is already ticketed, so they couldn't do it, even though I was changing my return flight to a completely different place.

Seems strange - trouble is, past experience means that I don't trust anything they say - even when it is right !

Many thanks
Spiceke

If I understand correctly the connecting flight would be a paid for flight (not reward) and I do not think it is possible to combine this with a reward flight plus you are on a different airline.
Even if VS were to sell you that particular ticket in my experience it would be no cheaper than if you book with the airline on which you wish to travel - in fact I have seen many examples of better web deals direct.

If you are happy with the VS sectors then don't mess with them - if they get messed up somewhere it is not easy to get them back.

JCBR

Yes you are right, the flight up from MCO to NY would be a paid for flight.

It isn't necessarily the cost that concerns me (did I really say that !), but to have a through ticket. Summer in MCO can often see flights delayed etc due to the summer storms so I would rather have a through ticket if at all possible.

Thanks

The agent is correct, they cannot add the internal flight to your existing booking. They could still make the booking for you but it will be a separate PNR so is just the same as booking direct with the airline.

As you haven't got any way of getting it added, just the booking with whoever is cheapest but just make sure you leave yourself plenty of time with the connection.

I find that VS have a bit of a mental block on connecting flights, particularly when it's a reward flight on the VS sector.

Im always told that even if I book TPA-JFK-LHR at the same time under one PNE, it's a separate ticket and therefore luggage won't go through and I'm not entitled to protection if connections are missed etc.

However, at the airport my bags are always through checked by JetBlue and they even printed my VS BP.

Thankfully I've never had to test out what happens if you misconnect.

For revenue tickets you can add connecting sectors to a flight and (in the last case I did) I just had to pay for the additional flight cost and no change fee as I was not changing the existing flights, the whole ticket was then re-issued and all went fine.

For revenue tickets this is OK as there is a fixed cost for the sector added on and so revenue management can see what happened. The add-on fares are combinable with revenue tickets, but NOT with mileage redemptions.

Ed

just an update.

I gave up on trying to get the additional flight - I trust the info on this site more than that of VS, and if you guys say it can't be done, then it can't be done.

I then managed to get returns from MCO a day after I wanted them - from my perspective I can't see the problem of having a 3 week 1 day holiday. Only Mrs S is saying it is too long. 'Go Figure' as our American cousins would say.

Strange thing though. I was more than happy to pay the £25 pp change fee. Then they said that the tax was different on the return flight and they gave me back £20pp, so my change fee was a net £5 pp for the 3 of us.

I thought the taxes / fees would be standard. I was originally coming back on a Tuesday, but now coming back on a Sunday so it isn't a refund of a weekend supplement.

Weird. ?|

It is more than likely that the change in those pesky "taxes" is actually the VS fuel srcharge (not a tax at all...) or just a minor difference between the MCO and NYC fare.

APD is standard and in anycase only applies to ex-UK flights.