First Time Points Spender Wannabe

Hello V Flyers!

I've been saving points in various schemes for a couple of years now (without really understanding) but the primary target has always been to fly to New York from the UK (ideally starting Manchester) in the highest class possible September this year for my wife's 30th.

To try and do this with some points I have the following point balances:
Virgin 37,208 (I have spent enough this year to qualify for a free premium upgrade - however I use that?!)
AMEX Gold (MR) 29,839
SPG 62,474

My question is what is the best way to do this (bearing in mind the points I can transfer in from SPG and AMEX MR).

My thinking is to book economy return flights and then use the points to upgrade as high as possible.

But that's where I get lost. I've asked Google for a step by step guide but they're still thinking about it.

So my question, I think, is do you lovely people have any tips for me?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

Leaving aside the Premium upgrade voucher, and assuming that the SPG exchange rate is 1:1, then I think (though may be wrong) that the only way to do it is to pay for some form of ticket and then upgrade with miles? From economy to upper would cost you 80,000 miles for the pair of you (from Heathrow). If you want to continue to save miles, you may also need to factor in the relative costs and mileage receipts from looking at starting in Premium Economy.

I'm not sure what will happen on getting you to Heathrow from Manchester in terms of miles, though VS will be flying that route by then.

From a practical point of view, when you've made your mind up call the UC line to arrange it. Don't book an economy fare by yourself and then look to upgrade, as you need to make sure that you book an upgradeable fare and that miles upgrades are available on the day you want to travel. And be flexible with both your dates, and also whether you fly into JFK or Newark, to maximise you chances of getting a great birthday present for your beloved. I did this for our soon come trip to NYC and it was straightforward.

Let us know how you get on...and welcome to V-Flyer.

Paul

I'd second pjh's excellent advice. The premium upgrade is a bit of a distraction here if you want to fly UC.

The way to do it is indeed to call the Upper Class line and say you want to book economy and upgrade to UC with miles. They will do it all in one transaction for you. It should cost around £900 + 40k miles per person, so you'll need to transfer some of your MR or SPG points into your VS account. The transfer from MR to VS is instant, which helps. Don't know about SPG.

You can check the availability of mileage seats by searching for UC reward fares online -- they are the same inventory. This will give you an idea if your dates are available.

You'll earn 6 TPs each and some miles when you fly, which sets you off collecting towards your next flight... ):

There are other ways to do it (e.g. transfer loads of points to BA and buy a Club World return and upgrade with Avios to First), but personally I think upgrading from economy on VS with miles is a good value proposition, especially if you have lots of miles!

Good luck.

Don't forget you can buy miles as well.
The SPG points are wiorth far more when used to redeem hotel rooms. You can get some nice rooms in NYC using SPG points especially keep an eye for the cash and points where you pay a little cash plus some points (as the name implies) but this is a great deal usually.

And there's a bonus offer on at the moment transferring MR points to VS miles isn't there?

And there's a bonus offer on at the moment transferring MR points to VS miles isn't there?

Only for some :#

And there's a bonus offer on at the moment transferring MR points to VS miles isn't there?

Only for some :#

Nor me either, mine is US registered

Wow guys thanks this is really useful! I'll make some enquires and let you know how I get one. I'm also interested about MAN-LHR flights from VS starting soon so need to work out if I can get everything on a single ticket - I'll do some more digging.