Don't assume Flying club is cheaper!

Today I was reviewing the ticket price for a mid November 2008 trip from London to New York. I was shocked to discover that the full price fare was cheaper than the miles plus money fare.

For example the miles plus money economy ticket was priced at 321.60 plus 2000 miles. The full price economy ticket 319.60 and you receive 3458 miles. For Premium economy the full price fare is 637.60 plus you get 10374 miles against a miles plus money fare of 731.60 and you pay 7500 miles.

I had always assumed that using your airmiles guaranteed a cheaper price, clearly that is not always the case. In future I will compare both prices before making a purchase.[V]

We've heard of glitches in this system, but it is also generally acknowledged that MPM fares do not present good value for money. Do a search in the site here for many similar comments.

Go for the published fare and get the miles I say.

[Neil]

Hi,

There have been numerous threads about this subject. Quite often when there are sale fares on you will find MPM fares do end up costing more than just buying the lowest, more restricted fare. The general feeling on here is that MPM fares are not good value for money, especially as you don't earn miles or TP's with them.

Neil

I agree with the previous posts. MPM fares doesn't alway come in cheaper.

In the current climate, the Miles Further fares are not a good either if you're travelling in Y. By the time you've paid the taxes and surcharges, you might as well pay a little bit more and get a full price fare and pocket the additional miles for later.

Thats about it in a nut shell, the longer you trawl VS for good options to make your miles go further, you will soon realise that MPM is not the way to go[y]

cheers
alex

I agree with the assertion that MpM fares are also generally bad value for money - especially that they are non-mileage and non-status earning.

I guess the real question is how MpM is mainly used?

If it is mostly done to upgrade a class of service, I wonder if VS would be better abolishing MpM as it stands, and instead implementing an automated 'upgrade from revenue' award system (i.e. upgrades from revenue awards are a different bucket to full rewards).

You then pay whatever is the lowest (or appropriate) upgradeable fare for your trip, and do all the upgrade availability and upgrade processing online, at the same time as you book.

Mike

I pointed friends in the M+M direction for flights this summer - departing 4th July to MCO, so peek season, and after purchasing the required miles, their party of 6 were still better off to the tune of £900, so it can be done (sometimes [;)])

David

Totally agree, there is definitely a place for MpM - I just wish they'd expand the number of originating points

[preiffer]

Also remember MPM fares are significantly more flexible than the cheapest fare buckets, should you need to make changes...

Originally posted by riveralt
Today I was reviewing the ticket price for a mid November 2008 trip from London to New York. I was shocked to discover that the full price fare was cheaper than the miles plus money fare.

For example the miles plus money economy ticket was priced at £321.60 plus 2000 miles. The full price economy ticket £319.60 and you receive 3458 miles. For Premium economy the full price fare is £637.60 plus you get 10374 miles against a miles plus money fare of £731.60 and you pay 7500 miles.

I had always assumed that using your airmiles guaranteed a cheaper price, clearly that is not always the case. In future I will compare both prices before making a purchase.[V]

surely you should always compare all the options anyway - i always look at mpm compared to full price and flexible tickets etc [:?]

Would a MPM fare have priority for a possible upgrade?

MPM is not an upgradable fare, unless you spend the difference in fare and miles to the next cabin for MPM.

I used MPM for an upper class for two from SFO-LHR for a family emergency, at the time of booking the only tickets available were J, so we saved around $10k.