V-Flyer

Looking for next year so was considering VH mainly because I can book now only leaving a deposit and because it's just over 11 months in advance. I've noticed a quirk.

Family of 5, if I book fights and car hire standard SUV with full insurance it comes out at circa £4900. The problem seems to be upgrading from the standard/basic to full insurance (which includes CDW) whacks a £400 charge into it.

However booking the car separately with VH (which is what I usually do) it only costs £318. When booking car hire separately it comes with fully inclusive insurance as standard so no additional costs.

This gives the bizarre situation that if I downgrade the included car to the cheapest possible (Chevy Spark) and then book another hire car separately I can save over £200! Has anyone done this before?

Additionally, can I use any of my Virgin miles towards the holiday either to upgrade or reduce the cost? Can this be done online or do I need to phone thus losing the £100 online discount?

Thanks!

Yes I have booked a VH fly drive before and not picked up the car.

Just a quirk that flights were cheaper like this than if I had booked with VA

When I booked a VH over the phone, I got a 7% discount for being flying club red. No reference to this when booking online (although you do get the online discount). Not sure which gives you the greater discount though.

rlong405 wrote:When I booked a VH over the phone, I got a 7% discount for being flying club red. No reference to this when booking online (although you do get the online discount). Not sure which gives you the greater discount though.

Booking online is a 2% discount, FC 7%. I forgot all about the FC discount that's significant thank you very much!

Link here, can only book over the phone
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... bmit1.x=20

When I book a VH I get my price online and then call my local store (or pop in if I can). I get the 7% FC discount (more if you're AU) and they will generally price match the online price. On the last two occasions I have had the v-room chucked in gratis also.

You can convert your miles to vouchers (10,000 = £50) but it's a poor use of miles.

They wouldn't give me the 7% discount because I was only booking a fly-drive, so I booked it online with the cheapest car (Chevvy Spark) and I'll now go and book another car separately (Jeep Grand Cherokee) to save money. Weird!