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#962762 by profmatt
09 Nov 2023, 13:47
I decided to book myself a trip to New York (from the UK) in August next year. I had 60,000 Virgin points so I decided to see if I could get a flight just with points.

To my surprise all flights appear to cost the same: 55,000 points for Premium (plus about £500) and 115,000 points for Upper (plus about £1,000). Great! I booked Premium.

I then thought about taking a friend with me. So I looked up the cash prices. The results were . . . surprising.

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First off: Premium costs more than Upper? And regular Economy is cheaper than Economy Light?

Also: it costs OVER TWO THOUSAND POUNDS to travel to New York in August, even in Economy?

But here's my main point. If you choose to pay with miles and money, Virgin values your points at £16.50 per 3,000. So for my 60,000 points that's a discount of £330. But if you pay wholly with miles (plus the surcharge) then my Premium tickets were discounted by £1,800 for only 55,000 points. Meaning that they are worth £100 per 3,000.
Last edited by profmatt on 09 Nov 2023, 13:52, edited 1 time in total.
#962764 by CommanderB
09 Nov 2023, 14:54
This is one of these odd times where using points is cheaper than the cash equivalent. That’s why you should always compare cash, reward and cash + upgrade when booking flights.

I suspect the Y and W prices are so high because that specific flight is already heavily loaded. Either that or you’re not hitting the fare rules for the cheaper fares. I.e. minimum stay/Saturday night etc.

Enjoy the trip! :cool:
#962765 by profmatt
09 Nov 2023, 15:14
CommanderB wrote:I suspect the Y and W prices are so high because that specific flight is already heavily loaded. Either that or you’re not hitting the fare rules for the cheaper fares. I.e. minimum stay/Saturday night etc.


Oh! Yes. You’re right. I leave MAN on Monday and fly back from JFK on Saturday. I checked the prices for a slightly longer stay including Saturday night and they are about half the cash price, though the points-only price is the same.

I chose my dates to minimise the cost of the trip. The hotel I’m using was cheaper during the week and I only wanted a five night stay.

So I still feel like it’s a win. The points would be worth about double the £16.50 per 3,000 had I booked a longer stay, so that would still have been better value.
#962766 by CommanderB
09 Nov 2023, 15:29
profmatt wrote:
CommanderB wrote:I suspect the Y and W prices are so high because that specific flight is already heavily loaded. Either that or you’re not hitting the fare rules for the cheaper fares. I.e. minimum stay/Saturday night etc.


Oh! Yes. You’re right. I leave MAN on Monday and fly back from JFK on Saturday. I checked the prices for a slightly longer stay including Saturday night and they are about half the cash price, though the points-only price is the same.

I chose my dates to minimise the cost of the trip. The hotel I’m using was cheaper during the week and I only wanted a five night stay.

So I still feel like it’s a win. The points would be worth about double the £16.50 per 3,000 had I booked a longer stay, so that would still have been better value.


Definitely still a win! Knowing all of this maths is important if your a frequent flyer and want to get good value for your points, so thanks for sharing!

More often than not, the extra hotel nights are cheaper than the fully flex fares. So I will always try and do Saturday nights when possible to get the best deal.

Points tickets are a great way of circumventing the Saturday night rule as well (as you've found out!).
#962772 by evanspa1
12 Nov 2023, 22:38
The other trick to get around expensive non-Saturday night stays is to use virgin holidays as long as have 3+ nights away

Often get a PE VH with rental car for less economy flight only
#962850 by starquake
27 Nov 2023, 15:09
As (previously) a work frequent traveller to US I found that you could use the Saturday fare rules to your advantage, and get a free Saturday night of your choice in US under my companies "fare" rules for personal. Basically if your personal stay lowered the net cost of the work trip you could have the company pay for accomom, food and bev, and save the company money.

Effectively if I could move to a cheap place on company rates, internal flight + fly home on the Sunday cheaper than the Friday night (ie, play the ~ £1000-1500 difference in my favour) I could get a free 2 day vacation with every sub 5 day (ie leave Monday back Friday) trip. This lead in my case to 3 vegas weekends, one in Arizona, and one in Florida leaving work location Friday night, arriving LAS (or other destination) late Friday or early Sat, a couple of nights (Fri+Sat) in a cheap work rate Vegas casino hotel, and a flight home, all for less than going home on the (Friday) originally. Win win, as saved company I work for money and gave me a weekend away!
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