Reward flight to Sydney

Hi All,

I've been a lurker here for a while, but have decided to jump onboard as I need some help!

Is it me or is the Flying Club|Rewards flight checker really misleading?

My partner and I have been carefully saving our points in order to book a reward flight from London to Sydney travelling out next Feb, coming back early March. I've been keeping an eye on the 'L' class flights until we had enough points to upgrade to PE. That day arrived today.

On the website it says 'Book your qualifying flight below and you will become eligible for an upgrade.'. 'L' is listed as a qualifying flight.

The website gives the impression that, all I need to do is book a qualifying flight and then I can upgrade. But for some reason, I decided to call the call centre. The call centre tells me there are no class 'U' flights available for the return leg in March - on any date!

But hang on I said, the online checker says there are class 'L' flights, it says there is PE space available - it says in bold 'Book your qualifying flight below'. Yes says the operator, but then you have to select your upgrade and you'll see that there are no class 'U' tickets.

So, I've returned to the online system, I've gone through the process again, but it doesn't make any mention of upgrading other than by spending further cash!

So, am I missing something here? Am I being really really stupid or is the website extremely (and maybe delibertely) misleading? Could you end up buying what you think is a qualify and eligible ticket only to be told you cannot upgrade? What happens then? Will they give you a full refund including the credit card fee?

Is it really the case that there is no option to upgrade the return leg of the journey on any date in March?

And finally, how will BA's WT+ compare? I'm rapidly falling out with VS and wondering if BA might be a better option - during the 4 day sale this weekend, I can get a better price on WT+ than Class 'K' PE. If I cannot by an upgradable ticket, then BA may be a better option. But I'd love to know what people think!

[Scrooge]

The wording is not very good, I have always called the FC when booking anything with miles, it is just so much easier to have someone to talk to rather than trying to deal with the VS booking engine.

WT+ really does not measure up to PE, I would look at QF PE as an alternative, it is better than WT+ and PE

[HighFlyer]

Welcome to V-Flyer [y]

Yes, if you wish to upgrade with miles you do need availability in the reward class (U for PE and G for UC) as well as buying the appropriate fare. The same applies to BA, although BA allow a greater type of fares to be upgraded.

You could purchase the L fare and hope that more reward seats are made available later but there are no guarantees, and VS would not refund you if none appeared I am afraid. Getting reward seats can be a bit of a science with a dollop of luck at times, depending on the route you are after. Our advice is always to be flexible with dates and book well ahead as it can never be guaranteed to rely upon actually using your miles when desired.

Thanks,
Sarah

Thanks for the speedy reply!

One thing I have learnt from lerking here is that the operators that answer the phones vary in their knowledge enormously! I can confirm that this is certainly the case. I've called three times now and on each occassion had slighlty different information.

The third person said that the reason I cannot upgrade is not because all upgrade seats are gone, but that none have been relased yet! Of courss this leaves me in a very different situation. It would also explain why there in nothing available in Marh.

This is a case where a bad operator nearly lost a customer.

Based on your feedback, I'll hold off booking the WT+ and wait and see if the PE upgrades become available. The third operator said keep an eye on the website and when the 'spend miles' seats become availalbe, the upgrade seats will be availalbe at the same time.

quote:Originally posted by HighFlyer
Welcome to V-Flyer [y]


Thanks [8D]

quote:
Yes, if you wish to upgrade with miles you do need availability in the reward class (U for PE and G for UC) as well as buying the appropriate fare. The same applies to BA, although BA allow a greater type of fares to be upgraded.


I think it's just a little frustrating that the site leads you down the path of believing you will be able to upgrade, when actually that may not be the case. Despite the impression the site gives, there is no way to check for classes U or G. At least non I can see.

[HighFlyer]

To test for reward availability you just need to do a dummy booking. Go to VS.com, search on your preferred travel dates for seats in PE and use the 'spend miles' option. If you get shown seats (you don't need to have the right amount of miles to search) then you can see if there is no reward availability. This is what most of us do, and of course you can call in to customer services.

Thanks,
Sarah

Stepster

If you think that booking VS reward tickets with VS miles is difficult / misleading / fraught with problems, DON'T try booking partner reward flights - it's at least 10x more difficult. The FC staff who book for you (as you can't book online) have to ask their computer / crystal ball 'can I book this flight'. The computer then waits for minutes or up to 48 hours, before 'computer says no'. They don't get any information like 'but you could go the following day, as seats are available'. One FC agent described it like trying to make bookings looking at a calendar through a keyhole!
SG is almost impossible (although I've done it mainly due to cock ups in schedule changes) and MH nearly as bad

Anyone else want to add to my difficulty list?