Reward availibility

Always a mystery to me and I am sure it's been discussed at length before.

Saturday 19th April is showing and it's in 2 days time.

VS08 J7 D7 Z7 W7 S7 K7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q0 X0 N0
VS24 J7 D7 Z6 W4 S2 K2 Y2 B2 L2 M1 Q0 X0 N0

However when I try and get a J seat for miles there are none available.

My previous experience is that this close to the flight date seats are available.

Any ideas why there are no seats availible?

Presumably all the 'G' seats are booked at present. Keep checking or you might be able to upgrade on the day, space permitting.

[Scrooge]

Yep, it's an old story, a couple of years ago I tried to get G on VS 8...I kept being told I could buy a seat in PE then try at the airport...so I flew BA... and yes the flight left with empty seats in UC...Revenue mismanagement at work [n]

Originally posted by manymiles
Always a mystery to me and I am sure it's been discussed at length before.

Saturday 19th April is showing and it's in 2 days time.

VS08 J7 D7 Z7 W7 S7 K7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q0 X0 N0
VS24 J7 D7 Z6 W4 S2 K2 Y2 B2 L2 M1 Q0 X0 N0

However when I try and get a J seat for miles there are none available.

My previous experience is that this close to the flight date seats are available.

Any ideas why there are no seats availible?

Are you looking online or calling the premium desk?

Revenue management either being lazy or very snide; holding out to the last moment to see if they can sell any more seats. I would be interested to know the success rates of getting G class on-the-day at the sales desk. Is it still revenue management that decides whether they will permit this or a sales clerk with targets and variable moods?

i think on the day it comes down to if a seat is available they will take your miles and/or cash to upgrade you. I am surprised that with that availability that they wouldn't make one available upfront if you called them....the do if the loads are looking ok for gold members a week in advance.

Magically a seat appeared during the evening and I grabbed it

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by mcnaugha
Revenue management either being lazy or very snide; holding out to the last moment to see if they can sell any more seats.

Err.. last time I looked Virgin Atlantic was a business aiming to make a profit - this is achieved, to a large extend, by selling seats for the best price possible.

Calling a group of people at the airline 'snide', because they are trying to do their job is totally out of order in my view. [n]

It doesn't break site rules, as the insult is not aimed at an individual, but I still think it is uncalled for and inappropriate.

Nick

Can I tag a question to this thread? (mods feel free to move or delete if appropriate).

I desperatly want to fly UC back from SFO on the 9th May as it is something I always have wanted to do. I will have, providing my Amex miles go through at the end of this month (if you know they won't please tell me!) 29,937 miles.

I am willing to pay the cost of an upgrade to a flexible economy ticket and I guess the cost of 1000 miles unless anyone else knows how I can find 63 miles quickly - I don't think the e-rewards thing will come in in time although did this two weeks ago

When I phoned Flying Club they told me there is no availability but like the OP I'm getting 7's for all classes available (but obviously no upgrades).

So what are my chances on the day? Can I buy miles on the day? and is there a standard cost to upgrade to a more flexible Y ticket on the day?

Thanks for your help

Steve

I can only speak from experience but I have never yet failed to upgrade with airmiles at the airport. The kid all have access to my airmiles and regularly 'pinch' them at check in too. We are usually going to Sydney, SFO or Washington and I would imagine some destinations are less busy in UC than others.

I have noticed that the cost of upgrading to a flexible Y ticket differs - London was double Sydney price.

Originally posted by steveb
Can I tag a question to this thread? (mods feel free to move or delete if appropriate).

I desperatly want to fly UC back from SFO on the 9th May as it is something I always have wanted to do. I will have, providing my Amex miles go through at the end of this month (if you know they won't please tell me!) 29,937 miles.

I am willing to pay the cost of an upgrade to a flexible economy ticket and I guess the cost of 1000 miles unless anyone else knows how I can find 63 miles quickly - I don't think the e-rewards thing will come in in time although did this two weeks ago

When I phoned Flying Club they told me there is no availability but like the OP I'm getting 7's for all classes available (but obviously no upgrades).

So what are my chances on the day? Can I buy miles on the day? and is there a standard cost to upgrade to a more flexible Y ticket on the day?

Thanks for your help

Steve

GHiven availability, I would say your chances are very good. Certainly has been my experience. Once managed to upgrade the entire family from Premium to Upper coming home from SFO. Well worth it.

I do not believe you can buy miles at the airport as I believe you can only do this online (the premier team have told me that they cannot do it over the phone either - you have to ring off, go online and buy the miles, then call back) so you will probably have to buy these before you get to the airport.

Good luck.
Chris

Originally posted by steveb
Can I tag a question to this thread? (mods feel free to move or delete if appropriate).

I desperatly want to fly UC back from SFO on the 9th May as it is something I always have wanted to do. I will have, providing my Amex miles go through at the end of this month (if you know they won't please tell me!) 29,937 miles.

I am willing to pay the cost of an upgrade to a flexible economy ticket and I guess the cost of 1000 miles unless anyone else knows how I can find 63 miles quickly - I don't think the e-rewards thing will come in in time although did this two weeks ago

When I phoned Flying Club they told me there is no availability but like the OP I'm getting 7's for all classes available (but obviously no upgrades).

So what are my chances on the day? Can I buy miles on the day? and is there a standard cost to upgrade to a more flexible Y ticket on the day?

Thanks for your help

Steve

You can buy 1,000 miles for £30 online through the FC. [:)]