Calgary via SFO with Virgin!

All,

Work commitments will see me moving to Calgary around March time for the next foreseeable.
I have checked out direct flights and I can fly with Air Canada, in Y, for around £350. No 'Air Canada Club' PE service seems to be available on the flights I looked at out of LHR, which is the service I was really after, and I cannot afford Executive First @ £3,500.

So, it has engineered itself (funny that ) that I can fly Virgin if I go via SFO. Now, I do have a lot of air miles with Virgin, (and this will be the first time I have used them) so I want to use some miles to upgrade from PE to UCS.

I want the ticket to be flexible (I don't mind paying a small surcharge to change), and right now the cost for a PE flexible via website is around £1,250. That is fine with me, and I presume that the ticket as it's flexible is a fare code that is eligible for an upgrade to UCS providing there is room in G? Please correct me if I am wrong. I know the fare code system is complicated.

If I upgrade both outbound and return (to be taken some months later), does the upgrade attached to the ticket move as well if I continually move the date out? I guess that depends if an upgrade to upper is available on my newly selected date in G? Is that how it works? How often can I keep moving the date out providing there is room in G?

Also with the 'new' flying club redemption levels coming into affect 01st March. My earnings for completing the trip will be:

LHR - SFO - LHR @ PE = + 16,074
Silver Member @ 25%= + 4,019
Total = 20,093
Upgrade PE>UCS = - 40,000

Therefore mathematically the total upgrade cost me around 20,000 miles. I have never used my miles before for anything and this seems like, well almost a bargain!

I have probably answered my own question but any opinions info will help me greatly.
Thanks
Jon

Consider flying via JFK and connect to AC new JFK-YYC service (some excellent fares on AC website at the moment, but it is a seasonal service)

The VS website is probably quoting you a W to SFO; you should be able to get a cheaper S fare to JFK than £1250.

[HighFlyer]

In my own experience of a similar situation, there will always have to be a G available on your chosen/moved to dates, but I had a note put on my account to say that I had an upgrade linked with the flight so that anyone at FC looking at my notes would know Ð and hopefully the two wouldnÕt get separated and that I would always be able to grab that G. I didnÕt have a problem. Hopefully if you have a word with FC you can do something similar and they can advise you exactly of the changes allowed with your purchased ticket fare. Do you know what this is (maybe S or W?)

AFAIK, you can change your dates as many times as your ticket fare class allows, but obviously the more you move it the more likely you may not find a flight with the free G

Thanks Sarah!

I think I will do the SFO route, and not via JFK. Not because I want to maximise my time in the UCS of course...[:w]

I am glad you have done something similar, as it gives me a little bit of hope that things won't go wrong!

Thanks
jon

[HighFlyer]

No worries Jon!

Flying to SFO also means you will earn more VS miles .. thus getting you closer to that next upgrade! Plus the SFO CH is very lovely, hence winning the V-Flyer award for best CH.

Let us know how you get on! As long as you have a flexible fare (and you explain to FC why you want the flexibility) then im sure you wont have a problem. After all, thats what you are paying the extra for - the flexibility to change your flight plans! Its just a case of swings and roundabouts on getting that G to be as flexible [}:)]

As a side, you have just reminded me that I have a PE credit in my account with a U linked to it, so I might check for my own sake when/whether I can utilise that U.

The only tough thing about flying via SFO is that you are going to fly pretty close past YYC, on some days you can see YYC from 35,000 feet - and you think to yourself how much nicer it would be if they could just make a quick stop and save you the hassle of coming all the way back on Air Canada. I have the same problem when we fly past Seattle and I think about the short but still mundane flight awaiting me from SFO back to SEA. It's such a letdown after 10+ hours in VS UC.