V-Flyer

Currently in cancun awaiting delayed flight VS094 to take me home #gutted!

Looking at advice for spending air miles for return flight next year. I know flights not out for July/August/September 2016 yet but need a little guidance.
Between the two of us we have 250k miles, upgrade vouchers to PE and UC. When would I be best to book these? When the flights are released or January sale? How much do you actually save in sale time? We are not fixed on days, months or airport but would like to use our UC voucher upgrade.
Thanks for any help x

Welcome to V- flyer .
Not sure what your upgrade vouchers to UC are ?

DL

DragonLady wrote:Welcome to V- flyer .
Not sure what your upgrade vouchers to UC are ?

DL

Came from black cc once he hit the threshold needed to spend

JULES405 wrote:

DragonLady wrote:Welcome to V- flyer .
Not sure what your upgrade vouchers to UC are ?

DL

Came from black cc once he hit the threshold needed to spend

To PE not UC as a reward spend ( unless I've been asleep ... ).
DL

DragonLady wrote:

JULES405 wrote:

DragonLady wrote:Welcome to V- flyer .
Not sure what your upgrade vouchers to UC are ?

DL

Came from black cc once he hit the threshold needed to spend

To PE not UC as a reward spend ( unless I've been asleep ... ).
DL

You haven't DL, they are going to be the ECO to PE reward upgrade vouchers. Sorry Jules, no further bump into UC with miles technically permitted with those.

I've a PE and he has a UC upgrade voucher.

PS welcome to V-Flyer

JULES405 wrote:I've a PE and he has a UC upgrade voucher.

Are you saying this UC voucher is from the credit card spend? or is this one of the cabin upgrade vouchers they issue on people hitting 80 tier points in one year?

JULES405 wrote:

DragonLady wrote:Welcome to V- flyer .
Not sure what your upgrade vouchers to UC are ?

DL

Came from black cc once he hit the threshold needed to spend

I may be wrong but I *think* if using the upgrade vouchers from the CC you have to upgrade from a fully flexible Economy class ticket which are expensive, even more so than a low cost PE ticket at times!

In the sales it is the cheaper Economy seats that are discounted and you are not able to upgrade those. I believe the general view is the CC upgrade vouchers are not that useful for most people.

In your circumstances I would use miles for a M to G upgrade (Economy to UC). You just pay taxes and fees. I think it offers the best vfm ( and points).

I am sure someone with better knowledge will be along soon to confirm or refute my theories!

Hope you are not too delayed.

Maximus wrote:I may be wrong but I *think* if using the upgrade vouchers from the CC you have to upgrade from a fully flexible Economy class ticket which are expensive, even more so than a low cost PE ticket at times!

Sorry Maximus, that is incorrect... the upgrade vouchers issued can only be used on full reward bookings. It basically means that you use miles for an economy seat and these vouchers then upgrade that seat to a PE one.

joeyc wrote:

JULES405 wrote:I've a PE and he has a UC upgrade voucher.

Are you saying this UC voucher is from the credit card spend? or is this one of the cabin upgrade vouchers they issue on people hitting 80 tier points in one year?

Both are due to cc spend

JULES405 wrote:

joeyc wrote:

JULES405 wrote:I've a PE and he has a UC upgrade voucher.

Are you saying this UC voucher is from the credit card spend? or is this one of the cabin upgrade vouchers they issue on people hitting 80 tier points in one year?

Both are due to cc spend

I'm a bit bemused - unless you have AU (+) status there's no UC upgrade ( unless you're referring to the companion voucher for a fully flex rev purchase) ?
DL

joeyc wrote:

Maximus wrote:I may be wrong but I *think* if using the upgrade vouchers from the CC you have to upgrade from a fully flexible Economy class ticket which are expensive, even more so than a low cost PE ticket at times!

Sorry Maximus, that is incorrect... the upgrade vouchers issued can only be used on full reward bookings. It basically means that you use miles for an economy seat and these vouchers then upgrade that seat to a PE one.

Thanks! I stand corrected

I never got my voucher as I bailed out once I had got the FC points bonus.

<whisper> I am more of an Avios collector</whisper>

My recommendation would be to start looking as soon as the flights are released if you really want to use miles or upgrade vouchers. Although you might get lucky in a sale, I don't like to risk it and try to book as far in advance as I can! Obviously it's totally up to you, but as there are no specific dates for when rewards seats are released, I feel it best to start looking early! Just my two cents

JULES405 wrote:Both are due to cc spend

Sorry Jules I am with DL on the confused and bemused sofa - budge up..

I have never heard of an EC (or PE) to UC reward upgrade voucher. Is there any chance you could be mistaken?

If not and you are 100%, it sounds like we have some digging to do V-Flyers... this has got to be something new and by the sounds of it something very useful.

Just checked online. On my flying club account states**
26 Jan 2015 VAA Credit Card Econ>Premium Reward Upgrade

Hubby has the same but states upper class reward upgrade

Does his say something like this?

Reward: Upgrade o/w LHR-JFK Economy to Upper Cls.

If so that is the language they use when people spend miles on an upgrade.

Or is it 100% VAA Credit Card Econ>Upper Class Reward Upgrade?

What I copied and pasted above.
Haven't used any miles for anything, just stockpiled them,

Well in that case you have well and truly flummoxed everyone!

Barring some mistake or a hidden benefit that isn't advertised, the vouchers you get for spending a certain amount on VS credit cards issued in the UK only allow upgrades from economy to PE, not UC as clearly set out here: http://www.mbna.co.uk/credit-cards/virg ... edit-card/

I think everyone would be intrigued to know how your husband got it!

JULES405 wrote:What I copied and pasted above.
Haven't used any miles for anything, just stockpiled them,

Ok Jules, any chance you could post a screen shot of it?

I have never seen or heard of an EC to UC reward upgrade voucher I am afraid.

Welcome to V Flyer.
I ignore my upgrade vouchers.
On the day my planned return flight is issued I'm checking for reward seats. If there are any then I'm on the phone to purchase upgradeable economy tickets and use miles for the upgrades. 100,000 miles for the two of us to MCO plus £1600 for the economy tickets and extra taxes.
Last year there weren't any UC seats at time of issue but I bought anyway and upgraded to PE, then a couple of weeks later UC seats became available. I was checking many times daily as they get released and snapped up at any time.
This year, for next years trip, UC rewards came on line the same time as the ticket so I managed to do it all in one go.
I don't wait for the sales because I think I'm paying a fair price and want to be in early to grab the reward seats.
Best of luck.
Dick D

joeyc wrote:

JULES405 wrote:What I copied and pasted above.
Haven't used any miles for anything, just stockpiled them,

Ok Jules, any chance you could post a screen shot of it?

I have never seen or heard of an EC to UC reward upgrade voucher I am afraid.

Just spoken with VS (needed to get some miles credited for an upgrade... again ) and I am sorry to say there is no such voucher.

Don't worry V-Flyers we haven't missed anything

Also on the bemused sofa. the vouchers that come with the UK black credit card are definitely to upgrade an economy redemption to Premium economy. I'd keep quiet and book ASAP if you have one that allows upgrade to Upper:)

Maybe it was a typo from the IT gremlin, probably over fed it or something?

Well if it is a CC upgrade voucher then that is interesting. When you reach 80 TPs you do get a VS upgrade voucher from any fare class to the next cabin though.