Honeymoon Prep

Hello again V-Flyers,

I used to be an active user of this forum many years ago, when I had enough spare cash to have >2 holidays per year. Ah, I miss those days!

Well now I'm getting ready for our big day and my main job is organising the honeymoon. I used to have a decent idea of the best fares to go for, but just wanted to clarify a few things to make sure they haven't changed too much.

We are looking to ask our guests to contribute in whatever way they seem fit to our honeymoon fund. I wasn't sure whether to ask for vouchers (Virgin or Debenhams, that can be used with VS), or if I should set up some sort of cash account. Has anyone had any experience in this? If so, I have heard that some vouchers can't be used in conjunction with any discount deals or sales.

The other question is relevant to our flight. I have just over 120,000miles in my account and these would be used to get my mrs and I upgraded to either PE or UC from EC. I also have an MBNA Virgin Atlantic Black CC which has just put 2x EC to PE upgrades onto my VS FC account. Now this is where my time away from you guys has forced me to ask cap in hand to what will be my best solution. My mrs doesn't have a VS FC account if that info helps. We are also looking at either straight flights to Miami (then onto the Keys) or maybe an Indian Ocean Holiday (Virgin Holidays) around early to mid Sep (2014) after the schools got back to term.

Any advice would be very much appreciated and if anyone needs more info from me then please feel free to ask. This really is an awesome forum and something I was very happy to buy into those many years ago.

Always Chilled.

Hi Always Chilled,

I don't know about the vouchers / gifts for your honeymoon aspect, but for flights I've picked up one or two tips.

With the miles you have you could upgrade from EC to UC on most VS destinations for 50,000 miles each return. You'd be looking for an M class EC ticket which is the cheapest miles upgradeable fare. However, I think the general consensus is that upgrades into UC on the MIA or MCO routes are hard to come by as the UC cabins are smaller on the LGW / MAN planes. That said, it's not impossible, but most likely that you might get to upgrade one way only, all depends how flexible your dates are. Some upgrades don't materialise until the departure date apparently.

Your EC to PE upgrade vouchers require you to make a reward redemption in EC and then it gets upgraded into PE. In this situation, there must be reward seats available in PE rather than EC, and these are not upgradeable any further, i.e. into UC with either miles or cash AFAIK. Round trip EC reward are between 20 - 25,000 miles per person, and you'll need to pay taxes and surcharges on top.

It all depends on whether you want UC or PE or a combination of both. There are combi fares which allow travel one way in UC and the other in PE for a combination of miles and cash. Ultimately though, availability depends on how flexible you can be with dates.

There have been one or two posts lately where the upgrade fairy has waved her wand and granted people's wishes.

Congratulation on your pending nuptials by the way

We are looking to ask our guests to contribute in whatever way they seem fit to our honeymoon fund. I wasn't sure whether to ask for vouchers (Virgin or Debenhams, that can be used with VS), or if I should set up some sort of cash account. Has anyone had any experience in this? If so, I have heard that some vouchers can't be used in conjunction with any discount deals or sales.

IMHO, I would set up a clear and concise "Honeymoon Fund" account. If you are comfortable asking people to contribute this way- least then your eggs aren't all in one basket, should your options need changing.
I think the allegiance to a specific airline prior to firming a booking would be risky, as you may find a better deal/ holiday option.

Also you could then pay for the holiday via your VS Black card and pay of the balance with the Fund, gaining said miles in the process.... :w

NH

Welcome back and congrats on your news ^) ^)

Your EC to PE upgrade vouchers require you to make a reward redemption in EC and then it gets upgraded into PE. In this situation, there must be reward seats available in PE rather than EC, and these are not upgradeable any further, i.e. into UC with either miles or cash AFAIK. Round trip EC reward are between 20 - 25,000 miles per person, and you'll need to pay taxes and surcharges on top.

Just a note on the above to say that it is worth contacting FC hotline as last October my wife and I bagged reward Economy mileage seats, then used our PE upgrade vouchers and then, by some form of witchcraft, the agent turned this into a UC seat for peanuts.

Whatever you choose to do have an awesome time y)

Brilliant replies, as I expected from this fantastic forum.

I think I'll be calling them soon and finding out what our options are. It's great to be armed with the knowledge you've offered me too! Hopefully I'll get a switched on cookie straight away and don't get fobbed off like some people here that I've read about. Seems to be a bit hit or miss when they call.

So I take it not many here know about the voucher side of VS when it comes to booking? I was hoping it wouldn't have any restrictions and you could just use it as if it were cash.

Thanks again everyone, I'll keep you posted but feel free to add any thoughts to this thread if you think of anything else.

AC

Hi,
I was in the same predicament 6 months ago and although my wife did all the wedding planning I have been left the honeymoon. We ummed and aahhed over the best way, but in the end we just had a poem in the invitation asking for cash donations for the honeymoon. This meant some people cuold give cash, others preferred vouchers (stuff being bought for the honeymoon) and others gave cheques. We were expecting about £1k but in the end was just over £2k oo) oo) !

Without trying to hijack your thread though, whilst looking at the VH website yesterday I have noticed the price of our honeymoon is around £1k cheaper. Obviously this is a big drop so I am looking at doing something around this. My inital thoughts were to just swallow the £300 deposit, cancel and rebook at the lower price. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

As above but also...
The MIA route is from LHR so they have the larger UC cabins, whether there will be G availability is another thing.
I'm flying to miami in 5 weeks and haven't seen much g availability.

Congrats and I hope you get lots of cash for an amazing honeymoon

Hi,
I was in the same predicament 6 months ago and although my wife did all the wedding planning I have been left the honeymoon. We ummed and aahhed over the best way, but in the end we just had a poem in the invitation asking for cash donations for the honeymoon. This meant some people cuold give cash, others preferred vouchers (stuff being bought for the honeymoon) and others gave cheques. We were expecting about £1k but in the end was just over £2k oo) oo) !

Without trying to hijack your thread though, whilst looking at the VH website yesterday I have noticed the price of our honeymoon is around £1k cheaper. Obviously this is a big drop so I am looking at doing something around this. My inital thoughts were to just swallow the £300 deposit, cancel and rebook at the lower price. Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Hi strattusflyer,
Last summer I booked miami with VH and upgraded to UC going out, PE on the return.
When they released the UC sale fares at Xmas the holiday price for return UC was only 100 or 200 more than what I had initially paid. I did ask if I could get the new price and have UC on both legs but they said no I would lose the 350 deposit.
I spoke with a manager and explained/begged him to change the booking w/out losing the deposit. They called me back within a few hours and they changed it all for me no loss of deposit and just a few hundred more.
I used the "I always fly with vs and always book with VH" line. It worked because we have got a few expensive bookings with them I think.
Try it they might just say yes.
Darren

Just a thought, if I bought 2 M's in EC and there were 2 G's in UC available, can I use my miles to upgrade us both?

Just a thought, if I bought 2 M's in EC and there were 2 G's in UC available, can I use my miles to upgrade us both?

Yes.
An "M" fare is upgradable using miles. y)
Amongst many others round these parts, I think its the best value of the miles. |:)


Paul

Spoke to a top bloke at VS FC this afternoon and he gave me a lot of good info. He was also very helpful in passing on tips that were more in my favour rather than a simple money making scheme for the company. I have a lot of time for these guys and girls, and it's very pleasing to know that there are some out there that are not just interested in taking you down an expensive path just to feed a simple commission.

So he informed me that I have a few choices.

The best wedding 'gift' plan would be to go for Virgin vouchers as Debenhams are not useable with Virgin Atlantic (only VH). I have personally gone off the idea of a cash gift as it just doesn't seem right.

Seeing as I've got over 120,000 FC miles, I'd be best to purchase the flights separately from the rest of the holiday. I can either use miles to get 2 EC seats then use my EC-PE upgrades from my MBNA CC. Or, I can buy 2 M's and either use my miles to upgrade to PE or UC (maybe UC out and PE back). But still not sure on those 2 options of upgrading. Would be a shame to waste the CC free vouchers but then the chance of UC outbound is a nice thought! The hotel stuff can either be purchase separately or via VH. Probably VH as I will no doubt have some vouchers spare!

Still got a few decisions to make and the wedding is getting closer!!

Cheers gang,

AC.

Great stuff, do keep us posted on what you decide won't you? I think I can safely say everybody on here loves to hear about other people's plans, and any deals they've secured, as much as talk about their own.

Happy hunting

Great stuff, do keep us posted on what you decide won't you? I think I can safely say everybody on here loves to hear about other people's plans, and any deals they've secured, as much as talk about their own.

Happy hunting

Update:-

We have decided to go with the Debenhams Honeymoon list, as they are now linked with Virgin Holidays. You set up a wedding account with Debenhams and they give you a bundle of pre printed cards to put into your invitations. The account opens 6wks before your big day and guests can pay by phone, online or in person at a store using your own code. You have to use the VH rep in one of their stores to book the honeymoon. The best bit is, you can refund the credit the card that paid for the holiday with as much or little from the account as you want.

Ok, enough sales talk! ][|)

For me, this is ideal as I can still negotiate with the VH staff to try for some miles upgrades on our flights. Also, I get to buy it on my VS AMEX then they refund my card with whatever is given into the gift account. y) It really is weird asking for a particular wedding gift, but this does seem more accessible.

So that's the latest. I will keep you up to speed as things progress.

AC