V-Flyer

About to book my first reward seats and have couple of questions...

1. If I book PE now at 35k each way and UC later becomes available can I upgrade at a cost of 15k each way?
2. If I need to cancel will I be refunded my miles plus the money I paid for tax?
3. Am I correct in saying that reward seats do not earn miles or TPs?

1. Not sure
2. Depends on how close to the departure you cancel (this changed recently)
3. Yes you are correct

Edited to add link to discussion on point 2, where the original Headforpoints discussion reveals a disparity between the t&c on the VS website and the views of the FC call centre staff.

http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?f=4& ... ic#p887346

1. Yes, plus the difference in fees and taxes of course

Yes you can ,done it many a time , and even from economy to premium and premium to upper over 3 months

yes

If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by the Member outside 7 days of departure, 100% of the Miles will be re-credited to the Member’s account. A cancellation fee of £30 for changes to flights originating in the UK, US$50 for changes to flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 for changes to flights originating in any other region will apply. If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by a member within 7 days prior to departure, no Miles will be refunded and a £30 administration fee will be charged to process the refund of any taxes, charges/sur-charges. If you change the original travel date (within 7 days of departure) and later decide to cancel your flights, you will forfeit the mileage used for the Reward. Once travel has commenced Miles cannot be refunded. Except as expressly stated in these Flying Club Terms, Miles are not refundable and changes or revalidation are not permitted in case of no-show.

That is correct - however, you do get the opportunity to buy the miles & double miles once booked.

Can I upgrade a reward PE seat to UC by paying cash or can i only use miles?

T&Cs are there for a reason, but should it ever be necessary to cancel or postpone, they can be human & very accommodating.

R-P

TheBigBad wrote:Can I upgrade a reward PE seat to UC by paying cash or can i only use miles?

Only miles.

TheBigBad wrote:About to book my first reward seats and have couple of questions...

1. If I book PE now at 35k each way and UC later becomes available can I upgrade at a cost of 15k each way?

Yes - it will be the difference in miles at the time that you make the change

I'm looking to book a reward seat, and the fare conditions for the flight say

75 percent of miles will be credited for cancellations made at least 7 days prior to departure of the outbound flight.

And the FC T&Cs say:

If for any reason a flight Reward is cancelled by the Member outside 24 hours of departure, 100% of the Miles will be re-credited to the Member’s account.

So which do I go with?

Neither, apparently! According to this you now get 100% of your miles back if you cancel at least 7 days before your flight, but nothing if it's less than 7 days.

http://www.headforpoints.com/2014/11/06 ... on-policy/

I'm looking at trips out to America next autumn...at the moment, I'm seeing reward seats available outbound (October) but not inbound (November). Paid seats are available no problem...are reward seats released slightly later than paid seats?

There is no apparent pattern for the release of reward seats. They can appear at random at any time from the day the flight goes on sale right up to the day before departure.

Availability on return flights from the US, however, is notoriously elusive, particularly in UC where demand is greater on overnight flights because of the flat beds.

The key is patience and persistence. If you keep checking for availability, daily if possible, your chances are good as many V-Flyers will testify.

Thanks Gumshoe! Will be persistent...

Now you can cancel with a small penalty but get your miles back, if the outbound flights appear, you can book them and add in inbound later on if they appear.

(Just make sure you cancel if needed within 24 hours or 7 days, depending on which agent you get when you call)

gumshoe wrote:There is no apparent pattern for the release of reward seats. They can appear at random at any time from the day the flight goes on sale right up to the day before departure.

Availability on return flights from the US, however, is notoriously elusive, particularly in UC where demand is greater on overnight flights because of the flat beds.

The key is patience and persistence. If you keep checking for availability, daily if possible, your chances are good as many V-Flyers will testify.

I second this advice - we normally travel MAN-MCO-MAN in May, outside of the school half term week. In our experience, there is normally one "full" Upper Class return released not long after the flights go on sale - which we nab. There will then often be an outbound UC / inbound PE released a bit later - again, nab it.

Then it is a case - as gumshoe says - of checking daily for the inbound Upper Class reward to appear. We have yet to be let down too - sometimes it has appeared months out of travel, sometimes very close to departure. We have been lucky in that we have never departed the UK without knowing that both flights were in Upper Class.

On the LGW/MAN routes as long as you are looking for reward seats outside of school holidays, the availability is not that bad - in PE / Y. Upper Class has the problem that there are only 14 seats, so there will never be many released for miles a long time out - but as departure day looms and the if the flight is empty....