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Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 09:22
by mrsw
I’ve started looking into mileage upgrades for Mr W and I for 2015 from EC to UC, and are quite flexible in terms of where we go and when. Having done a couple of dummy searches for LHR – MIA (at the start of the year) and LHR – CHI (for the just released tickets in May), I’m actually surprised by how many Gs appear to be available. In fact, I wanted to see the calendar, and had to try a few times to find a date without availability… It’s a promising start anyway.

Then I went into the Companion ticket page when logged into my FC, and looked for M fares. I wanted to price it all up |:) (M fare plus additional taxes and surcharges etc) and compare our options, but when I click on “one way”, “economy lowest” or “economy flexible”, then in the dropdown “M”, and “exact dates”, every time, for different dates and different routes, I’ve only ever seen Y fares come up in the search.

So I’ll throw this one to the experts out here – am I doing something wrong? Or will the VS website simply not show up anything other than Y fares for EC? Or the worst scenario of all, there aren’t any cheaper EC fares available for all the dummy searches that I’ve run? The last one seems (hopefully) unlikely, especially for the tickets that are 11 months ahead…

Any help would be much appreciated.

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 09:27
by joeyc
Yeh, the VS website is broken.....

Ha ha ha, I can foresee a fair amount of comments that are going to follow on from my statement. None of them endearing of the VS IT department.

The only way to price up what you want these days is to call VS directly. Sorry :|

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 09:27
by Smid
VS website seems to be broken for M fares:

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?t=27 ... =viewtopic

Shows how to use itamatrix to do it.

Quick search gives 854 for an M fare.

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 10:01
by mrsw
Ah great, thanks for all the quick replies. Very helpful as usual.

The VS IT is absolutely terrible, isn't it? There are typos on their website (I've alerted them of a few via online chat), and it seems like the search has been out of action since 2012 based on the link above.

ITA it is. Once I've done my initial research I'll be sure to give VS a call to book :) Wish me luck!

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 14:27
by Maximus
Just call the Flying Club team and ask them. I have done this a couple of times and have found them to be extremely efficient and friendly and very helpful. Probably one of the best customer encounters I have ever had on the telephone.

Unlike Virgin IT they actually do work :)

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 15:16
by JCBR
If you search for a one way fare it will always give you a full Y as lower fares are only available on a roundtrip basis.

Re: Availability of M fares

PostPosted: 25 Jun 2014, 18:38
by mrsw
JCBR - very good point, thank you. I had not realised that.

Guess what? I searched for round trip, specifying M class, and what fares came up? X. and no, I was not trying to send you all a kiss...