Best way to spend miles?

My wife & I have just over 50k miles each & want to fly LGW to MBJ next year in UC both ways. We are Silver FC members (if that makes any difference to this subject?) I understand that their are a number of options e.g. MPM, points only bookings, upgrade from econ to UC or PE to UC using miles (any others?)

Can anyone advise what is likely to be the lowest cost option assuming we both use all our miles?

[Neil]

Given the amount of miles you have, you are pretty limited with your current options.

You could look at a MPM fare, although they often don't offer very good value, or a saving over the standard UC fares.

The other option currently open to you is buying an S class PE fare and upgrading with 25k miles each (12.5k per sector each).

You could look and see if it works out cheaper to buy one UC ticket and one M economy ticket and upgrade with with miles (50k for one person round trip).

Then there are things to look at like, buying some more miles and buying an M/S combo, and spending 37.5k each, upgrading one leg from Y to UC and the other from PE to UC.

You really need to get some prices and then work out what makes the most sense.

Of course you need to first make sure there are UC miles seats available, depending on the a/c type (747 or A330) there could be only 14 UC seats on the a/c, which makes finding G's difficult. Flexibility with dates is essential really.

Neil

MPM will burn your miles and not give you much in return. This is really a last option (you only get a minimal price saving and do not earn any miles even for the paid part of the flight you take).

PE to UC upgrade is by far the best option. It will cost you 12,500 miles each way each person = 50k so perfect for you.
Just remember you must have an S or W fare. These are not the cheapest but will get you a saving of several thousand pounds over the cost of buying UC tickets.

You might also consider buying an upgradable economy fare which will be a lot cheaper and upgrading but that will cost you 25k each person each way so you would need to buy another 50k miles ( about £750) so I think the PE ticket is best mainly because even if you do not get the upgrade you will be sitting in a decent seat.
PLUS you will be eanring miles on these tickets as well towards your next flight.

Does Taffy need to buy miles though ?

He says their both he and partner have 50k EACH

missed that bit. 50k should do it from econ to UC.

Thanks guys, is it best to do this over the phone with FC?

Same kind of question for me really,

I've got 120k worth of miles and looking to use them for my 30th birthday in Feb next year with my girlfriend.

Any suggestions?

[Neil]

Same kind of question for me really,

I've got 120k worth of miles and looking to use them for my 30th birthday in Feb next year with my girlfriend.

Any suggestions?

It really depends on what you are wanting to do and where you are wanting to go?
With 120k you have many options open to you, including a full UC for one pax combined with an upgraded Y/PE ticket, but is your ultimate aim just the cheapest option and burning all your miles, or do you want to save some miles for a future trip you have planned?

[Neil]

Thanks guys, is it best to do this over the phone with FC?

It's certainly the easiest way to get prices for all the different combinations you want.
Before you call, make a list of the combinations and fare codes you are looking for and then call them and be specific and clear what you want.

You can then review all the options and see what works best for you.

Neil

[Scrooge]

PE to UC upgrade is by far the best option. It will cost you 12,500 miles each way each person = 50k so perfect for you.
Just remember you must have an S or W fare. These are not the cheapest but will get you a saving of several thousand pounds over the cost of buying UC tickets.

No it's not, if you hunt around and are flexible with dates you will find that a Z (UC non flexible ticket) is about 300 pounds cheaper than a round trip S, so you would burn miles and spend more money to travel in upper.

Booking an M Class economy fare and upgrading to upper with miles will cost 25K miles per person per sector, so will come in within your miles balance and will comfortably be the lowest financial outlay.

Finding the reward availability may be the hardest thing for you though, you'll need to be flexible on dates!

No it's not, if you hunt around and are flexible with dates you will find that a Z (UC non flexible ticket) is about 300 pounds cheaper than a round trip S, so you would burn miles and spend more money to travel in upper.

I think the advice to everyone when planning on spending miles to upgrade is to price cash fares for the cabin they want to be in as well those for the upgradable fares in the lower cabin and then decide what to go for after doing that.

Also need to factor in the cost of the additional fuel surcharges and APD (on ex-UK legs) as well (if upgrading from Y to PE or UC)

PE to UC upgrade is by far the best option. It will cost you 12,500 miles each way each person = 50k so perfect for you.
Just remember you must have an S or W fare. These are not the cheapest but will get you a saving of several thousand pounds over the cost of buying UC tickets.

No it's not, if you hunt around and are flexible with dates you will find that a Z (UC non flexible ticket) is about 300 pounds cheaper than a round trip S, so you would burn miles and spend more money to travel in upper.

We are both correct actually depending on the route. If you buy a Z to HKG , for example, it will cost you £2500-3000 whilst an S will cost around £1500 and is changeable for £100

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of miles you can be gifted by someone else? Can anyone gift you miles?

[Nottingham Nick]

It's up to 100K a year - all explained here - http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/fr ... /index.jsp

Is it good value? That's a whole different question.

Nick

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of miles you can be gifted by someone else? Can anyone gift you miles?

Yep anyone can gift you miles

The limit of 100K miles can be gifted by a single person in a calendar year.

EDIT: Just read through the T&Cs and they still say the limit is 30K in a calendar year - how pathetic is that for VS to edit parts of the site and yet the legal loophole generator that are the T&Cs are left to putrefy with out of date info n( n(

The fiction of the VS site is mute as to whether or not the 120K receipt limit still exists - basically members can only be gifted or transferred 120K miles in a single year - obviously by different people

Ahh, Nick just beat me to it oo) oo)