C'mon. Talk me into it.

Have nothing planned hols wise for the mdviponds' Autumn/Winter schedule. Have 300K miles. Mrs. mdvipond has 70K. Fancy HKG and SYD this December.

Firstly, the 360K required for the round trip - will VS accept mine and Mrs. mdvipond's miles together (my guess is they won't)? If not, would buying 10K for Mrs. mean that I could use mine for 2 x LHR-HKG and 1 x HKG-SYD (280K) and Mrs. mdvipond use her 80K for 1 x HKG-SYD work (my guess is it would)?

Finally, the small matter of mdvipond jr., who rather inconveniently will be turning two in October and will therefore be a 'child'. Not enough G availability for her - even if we had the miles - so the best we can do is a Z out and D back, which will set us back somewhere in the region of £2.5K (and no miles for jr.!). Is this the best we can expect, or is there some other miraculous way around this? Complicated I know, but hope someone can guide us on the path to righteousness...

[Scrooge]

Why not book the reward seat for Jr, then buy a Z and D for yourself, a little more money but at least you get the miles....and we get another MDV trip report [^][y]

[mitchja]

All I'll say is that you will struggle to get any reward flights in either Upper or PE on the LHR>HKG leg. They are near on impossible to get. I've been trying for months now to get either for any date in 2007 and all there is to HKG are reward economy flights.

Regards

I got 2 G's to SYD booking 7 months in advance for this June, December is a whole different kettle of fish though.

If you are lucky enough to find seats now, I would book them straight away and echo Dave's recommendation of using your miles on the little one...

SYD is definitely a great destination, and december is a superb time to visit.

Originally posted by Scrooge
Why not book the reward seat for Jr, then buy a Z and D for yourself, a little more money but at least you get the miles....and we get another MDV trip report [^][y]

Darn fine idea Mr. Scrooge. Just checked and it's only another 300 quid more for - in effect - 42K miles. A special mention for you in the trip report, methinks, you charmer.

And you're all quite right about the lack of availability on the LHR-HKG leg. I - and the lady I've just spoken to at FC - were amazed at what we were seeing. She suggested that if I didn't go for them she'd be sorely tempted to book them herself (clearly been on a sales course recently). They've got 2 x G for the 4th Dec. to HKG, onward to SYD on the 10th and back to LHR on the 30th/31st. And she's held them for us until Friday so that we can mull it over, bless her.

The Z/D for me plus taxes will bring the cash side of the trip to about £3,800. So, as the topic title suggests, anyone out there what to talk me into it (please...)?

[honey lamb]

Take it! Take it!

Originally posted by honey lamb
Take it! Take it!

I must say, you make a most convincing argument, honey lamb...

Originally posted by honey lamb
Take it! Take it!

I agree grab them !!

Do it - you know you want to. Think of it as money SAVED not money spent! By my reckoning the miles tally will be nearer 48,000 FC miles too(as I don't think think your silver FC status has been taken into account).And all those lovely tier points....Need I go on??

Oh God. Look what's happened to my countdown! mdvipond's only gone and done it...

Thanks one and all for your advice and encouragement [^]

Originally posted by mdvipond
Oh God. Look what's happened to my countdown! mdvipond's only gone and done it...

Thanks one and all for your advice and encouragement [^]

You will all have a BRILLIANT time! And I'm sure its more than worth it, for the experience and money saving alone!!

Looking forward to a lovely TR, with Jr in her own seat!

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by mdvipond
Oh God. Look what's happened to my countdown! mdvipond's only gone and done it...

Thanks one and all for your advice and encouragement [^]

Congratulations on a job well done. [^] It's an excellent result especially cornering those G fares on the LHR-HKG leg. You'll have a brilliant time

Well done on snagging those G fares. [y]

Thank you, thank you. Had to be done, didn't it. Going to have to do some pretty strict saving between now and Christmas. The price of the flights I can live with, but a month's accommodation won't come cheap (especially with Mrs. mdvipond's tastes...).

And then there's the small matter of letting the Senior Ponds know that they'll be Christmasing alone this year. Oh boy...

[Decker]

Don't forget to look at getting an Entertainment card - may help with hotel prices...

Originally posted by Decker
Don't forget to look at getting an Entertainment card - may help with hotel prices...

Please; do tell me more...

[Decker]

http://www.entertainmentbook.com.au/

Thanks Decker, looks interesting. I'm probably being characteristically dim here, but how do I get my hands on one?

[Decker]

You need a contact in Australia to buy one off a charity for you I suspect - that's what we did last time...

Aha. Cunning. OK, will be contacting my old school buddy in Sydney in due course, so will mention it to her. Thanks again.

[Decker]

We used it to stay at the Rocks in some cool apartments for 50% of rack.

Just an annoying little postscript to our otherwise joyful UC booking experience. Found out yesterday that my VS Amex wasn't working. Checked online to discover that I had £16,600 in unposted transactions. Now, I did have a pretty good weekend, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't 16 grands-worth good. A little bit of investigation, and it all tracks back to dear old VS - they put my Z/D fare through 5 times!

To make matters worse, they then tried to take the 400 or so quid for tax on Mrs. & jr.'s Gs, and couldn't beacause - wait for it - they had maxed my card out. Got an e-mail this morn telling me we have 14 days to pay or they'll cancel the reservation. Aaargh! Can we get anything right in this country?!?!?

Spoken with Amex and UC reservations and apparently it'll all be sorted in a few days. Still, far too much added stress and inconvenience than I'd like...

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by mdvipond
Just an annoying little postscript to our otherwise joyful UC booking experience. Found out yesterday that my VS Amex wasn't working. Checked online to discover that I had £16,600 in unposted transactions. Now, I did have a pretty good weekend, but I'm fairly sure it wasn't 16 grands-worth good. A little bit of investigation, and it all tracks back to dear old VS - they put my Z/D fare through 5 times!

To make matters worse, they then tried to take the 400 or so quid for tax on Mrs. & jr.'s Gs, and couldn't beacause - wait for it - they had maxed my card out. Got an e-mail this morn telling me we have 14 days to pay or they'll cancel the reservation. Aaargh! Can we get anything right in this country?!?!?

Spoken with Amex and UC reservations and apparently it'll all be sorted in a few days. Still, far too much added stress and inconvenience than I'd like...

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