V-Flyer

I reckon only the hardiest and longer-toothed of V-Flyers will remember little old me. It's been a while to say the least. But not only am I back, I also come posing (probably) a stupid question:

These 'ere Amex upgrade vouchers - am I right in assuming that there's no way on god's clean earth that they can solicit one an upgrade to UC, either by throwing more miles or cash at them? I'm guessing not, but thought I'd check, as in the market for some flights out to dear old Barbados, and now that we have mdvipond jr. Mark II in tow, I could do with some money/miles saving ideas...

He's baaaack! Time to up the TR game...

Paul

p.s. Have you got the spare keys to the Bar and Entrail Shack?

Hello Paul. When I coined the terms 'hardy' and 'longer-toothed' I did kind of have you in mind...

When I spoke to virgin on this the only way to upgrade to upper class (if you have already booked using the amex voucher) is to drop the voucher from your booking and upgrade using miles from EC to UC.

When I made a booking yesterday it sounded as though it would be possible to add more points for Upper on top of the upgrade voucher. Can't confirm that for sure as I haven't got my voucher yet, so have just booked the Economy and am waiting. Not sure if I can hold out before flinching though. Worried the PE seats will have gone for my June flight before the voucher arrives in March.

Haven't booked yet, but looking to grab a couple of Gs with a mixture of existing, transferred and bought miles (and the current 25% bonus is helping greatly!). If it was just the present Mrs. mdvipond and me, I might look at saving a small fortune and use the vouchers to travel in PE, but with the addition of a 9 year old and a ankle-biter, it has to be UC or nowt. Thanks for the info though...

Pretty sure pmramsay is correct, you cannot upgrade to UC having already used the Amex voucher to upgrade from Y to PE.

I tried last year at check-in at EWR but was told no after the agent called Crawley to check. The voucher was credited back to me and I had to upgrade from my 'M' fare to a 'G' at the normal rate plus taxes.

Hey Mark
Welcome back.
Hope mini mdvipond is keeping you active?...no doubt Tizer is a doting Sister?

I used the upgrade voucher earlier this year to upgrade my nephew from EC to PE..as per the normal voucher rules.
So that left me travelling in U.C. whilst Alex was in P.E.
Then I kept calling the F.C. team in the hope that I would get an agent who could work the magic further upgrade to G.

It took about 6 calls to do it but after a few more miles to upgrade from P.E to U.C.and a few more ££'s in "taxes" it worked!

So whilst the rules say it cant be done, it can if an agent tries really hard to help you or doesn't know the rules.

Mind you this can always still be declined if it gets caught at ticketing time!

Hope this helps.

I need a key for the B&ES as well!.

Cheers

Paul

Hello Paul. Jr. 2 is indeed keeping us very active. Tizer is an excellent big sister, as long as she doesn't have to go near a soiled nappy. Then she runs for the hills...

Was feeling quite positive reading your post, until 'can always still be declined if it gets caught at ticketing time'. Don't honestly think I could cope with the stress and uncertainty! VS are holding two Gs and a Z for us, which we'll need to confirm (or not) this evening, so I'll ask the question of the agent, for the hell of it; you never know.

As for the B&ES, I thought Starbucks had bought the place...?

Welcome back mdvipond - have missed your entertaining trip reports!

As others have said, I am 99.9% sure there is no official way to use the credit card voucher then upgrade further to UC. I'm pretty sure it's in the voucher T&C's, should you have a magnifying glass to hand to read them.

Your only hope is to get (1) an agent who does not know the rules & (2) someone in ticketing who does not realise what has happened and issues the e-ticket.

You may initially get lucky at airport check-in at one of the more remote down-route locations - but when they phone Crawley to process the upgrade (1) & (2) above still apply.

I do hope you get a Barbados trip sorted, as I can't wait to read the next trip report / instalment of what that Basil Fawlty-esque hotel manager is up to!

Putting Tizer in any cabin other than the pointy end is simply not an option.

You don't want a repeat of the 'eggy smell' comment do you?

I'm fairly new but even then have read your epic TR when you got stranded in the US during Sandy. That was you, right??

If so, I want to know what travel insurance you have and where you've got it from! And looking forward to more excellent and eventful TRs

It's not possible, I've tried a couple of times and the only way to progress to a G is refund the voucher and then add the miles needed from T to G.

Kraken wrote:I do hope you get a Barbados trip sorted, as I can't wait to read the next trip report / instalment of what that Basil Fawlty-esque hotel manager is up to!

As do I, Kraken. as do I. Although I've been in touch with 'Basil' and sadly they'll be shut for renovations, so we're going to have to try somewhere new...

tontybear wrote:You don't want a repeat of the 'eggy smell' comment do you?

God forbid, tonty!

mrsw wrote:I'm fairly new but even then have read your epic TR when you got stranded in the US during Sandy. That was you, right??

If so, I want to know what travel insurance you have and where you've got it from! And looking forward to more excellent and eventful TRs

Yes, that was us, mrsw; as was the time we almost didn't make it out because of the volcano ash. And the time the snow closed Heathrow. Bad luck tends to stalk us like a stalky thing when we travel. As such, we include our travel cover as part of our business insurances. Thankfully, it's most comprehensive, although I do get the feeling our broker winces when she hears our name...

Thanks all for the advice, but it looks as I suspected. No such thing as a free lunch, as they say.

Welcome back good sir. You and the lovely Mrs mdvipond are real gluttons for punishment .I cannot believe Tizer is 9 ( or Dragonbaby now 22 for that matter) but congrats on the newish arrival.
Hope the Seniors are both well and are off to Barbados too?
Honey Lamb and Jacki( who has been absent of late too) will be thrilled at the possible re-opening of the shack ( if you're looking to upgrade the premesis I hear Tesco are looking to offload some floorspace ... )

DL

Hello dear DragonLady. How are you? Nice to be able to dip my toe back in the V-Flyer pool again.

Yes, Tizer is now 9 (going on 19), is stroppy to the max and 'Frozen' obsessed (could be worse; could be One Direction). Her chunky and mostly delightful brother is now 10 months old. His jet-setting has been limited to Italy so far, so we're yet to see how he'll cope on the long haul to BGI. And yes, my mother and father will be joining us out there for a week, bless 'em.

Still in touch with the Baroness Honey Lamb and Dame Jacki (visiting times permitting). If they were to hear that the Shack might be back in business they'd be knotting sheets together and scaling walls before you could say 'make mine a large one'.

Welcome back Sir, congratulations on your "new" arrival... Now, what about a TR from your Italy trip, sure something must have not gone to plan...

Did someone mention the B&ES? I still have my keys and if the police didn't change the locks we could be up and running before you had time to say "I have no idea why there is an RSPCA Inspector tied up in the Cellar Constable"! Make mine a bottle please - hic.

He's baaaaaaaaaaaccccckkkk!!!!!

OK, so Tizer is a Frozen-addicted 9 year old (who thankfully hasn't followed the One Direction herd); mini-Mark (who has still to garner a suitable soubriquet) has appeared; the delightful Mabel delighted us for only a short time before she went to that catnip patch in the sky; and now, Glory Hallelujah! there is a mdvipond TR potential.

However, I shall remind the good Doctor that there were a couple of TRs to Barbados in CW which never saw the light of day - and given that it was at a time there was a stampede towards the dark side, many of us waited eagerly for your comments.

Please do not disappoint.

Er... just for the record, Mabel was a cat. Would hate for there to be any confusion out there... You're right about Son & Heir though; going to have to come up with a suitable 'handle' for him.

And yes, honey lamb, I do 'owe' my BGI CW reports, but since it was October 2013 when we flew, I fear that boat may have sailed. The decision to try BA out was purely a financial one and, suffice to say, we didn't like it very much. It just felt very 'BA'. Flying Upper Class feels like an event; flying Club World felt like a slightly-more-comfortable-than-Economy way of getting from A to B.

But TRs for this next trip will be forthcoming, although you'll have to wait until July at the earliest (I'm sure you'll manage).

RLF wrote:Welcome back Sir, congratulations on your "new" arrival... Now, what about a TR from your Italy trip, sure something must have not gone to plan...

Thank you, RLF. Sadly, Leeds to Verona on Jet2 doesn't make for the most thrilling of trip reports (got on plane, ate sandwich, drank gin, got off plane). But nowadays, thrill-free flights suit me just fine, ta very much...

It is done. The mdviponds are going to Barbados!

Two Gs, three Zs and a baby Z out of MAN in July. Yay.

mdvipond wrote:
Two Gs, three Zs and a baby Z

Didn't Peter Greenaway once make a film with that title?

Congratulations. We expect sharpening of both bon mots and also apercus in the meantime so that come August entertainment won't be limited to wondering what really happened in the first series of Broadchurch.

Perhaps also by then Blacky may have done his Boston TR.

pjh wrote:

mdvipond wrote:
Two Gs, three Zs and a baby Z

Didn't Peter Greenaway once make a film with that title?

Congratulations. We expect sharpening of both bon mots and also apercus in the meantime so that come August entertainment won't be limited to wondering what really happened in the first series of Broadchurch.

Perhaps also by then Blacky may have done his Boston TR.

And hopefully you will have another trip under your belt. The cornucopia of TRs is about to be filled!