V-Flyer

Can some kindly V-Flyer veteran please shed some light on this one.

This is my very first spend miles reward seat on Virgin and having 80,000 miles, I'm looking forward to flying Upper.

I've been looking for an Upper reward flight in May to New York. 13th - 25th specifically. I specify out and return dates and am told that the dates are not available. I then get given a calendar with available dates. Outward isn't a problem but return only gives me a few options, 14th, 17th and 21st.

If I then look for a reward seat returning on one of the days that was not available (24th May) in the above calendar, it gives me the flight selection screen suggesting that there is a seat available coming back on that day.

Why did the previous calendar not give that day as an option for my return flight? Is it just having a bad day.

Also, I seem to be getting a lot of "We were unable to process your request" messages when I select available dates on the calendar it gives me as ana alternative to the dates I specify.

Is it just easier to ring them and get them to do it all for me?

Perplexed of Surrey. ?|

Hi, i would just ring them, i had a similar situation to you where the calendar didn't show availability for my return date but when on the phone I asked again and the date was available!

Yes ring. We just cashed in two 80k NY flights last November.

Agreed, call them.

If I ask for a one way G from NYC to LHR in May the only days it shows availability are the 1st, 13th & 14th.

But if I ask for a round trip departing LHR on the 13th and returning from NYC on the 24th, bingo.

Could it be that some reward seats are restricted to pax booking trips originating in the UK, and aren't made available to those starting in the US? Or it's the good old VS IT system playing it's usual tricks.

Thanks for the advice.

I seem to recall reading in another place, someone checking reward seat availability on VS flights and saying that the seats are not that forthcoming for UK originating flights (less than 10% of the flights he checked had return reward seats available throughout the year).

Someone else was commenting on a flight he deliberately booked an upgradeable and more expensive PE, with a view to upgrading with points closer to departure. He kept looking and looking and nothing came up.

When he got on the plane, Upper was only two thirds full. This, however might have been a year or so ago and he probably would have got it if he called them.

I shall give them a call and thanks again for the replies.

L. y)

lucavigg wrote:Someone else was commenting on a flight he deliberately booked an upgradeable and more expensive PE, with a view to upgrading with points closer to departure. He kept looking and looking and nothing came up.

When he got on the plane, Upper was only two thirds full. This, however might have been a year or so ago and he probably would have got it if he called them.

Not necessarily. They do not always look to fill Upper Class, and particularly not with miles based upgrades. Otherwise the savvy traveller would never book a UC fare and would instead rely on being able to use miles from a lower cabin.

pjh wrote:
Not necessarily. They do not always look to fill Upper Class, and particularly not with miles based upgrades. Otherwise the savvy traveller would never book a UC fare and would instead rely on being able to use miles from a lower cabin.

Isn't that a bit of a gamble cos they would have to buy the upgradeable fare, which is more dosh?

Also, why would VS have a seat empty as opposed to offering an upgrade? Wouldn't they still cover their costs with the "Fuel Surcharge"?

L.

lucavigg wrote:Isn't that a bit of a gamble cos they would have to buy the upgradeable fare, which is more dosh?

Also, why would VS have a seat empty as opposed to offering an upgrade? Wouldn't they still cover their costs with the "Fuel Surcharge"?

L.

Fair points both. On the first, I was thinking more of frequent flyers who would pay a flexible business fare. On the second, again why offer out a premium product for a pounds? As with your friend, my experience was a few years ago, but I flew to Chicago on an A346 with only 6 (or was it 8?) in UC. I saw the manifest at the desk in the CH and thought "we're in here" and enquired about upgrading using miles. Fine they said, give us your miles plus the price of a small car. Granted I wasn't on the upgradable fare (hence the cost) but I thought they'd be trying to fill the cabin - I learned that I was wrong.