Advice on best use of miles

Hi there,
I intend to fly with the family to EWR from LHR between 24th and 27th July and back 3 weeks later.
I will be travelling with my wife and a total of 4 children (her 2 and my 2).
2 of them are now 12 so we will be 'paying' adult fares for them.
We will fly economy as the holiday will be expensive enough as it is!

I have around 65,000 miles.
My question is on the best use of these miles.

Reward flights are 29,500 I believe and companion flights are 20,000.

Can I book 3 flights and get 3 companion flights? What class do the paid flights need to be?
Is MPM the way to go?

Any help greatfully received.

Cheers
Tim
[:D]

quote:Originally posted by thompst
Hi there,
I intend to fly with the family to EWR from LHR between 24th and 27th July and back 3 weeks later.
I will be travelling with my wife and a total of 4 children (her 2 and my 2).
2 of them are now 12 so we will be 'paying' adult fares for them.
We will fly economy as the holiday will be expensive enough as it is!

I have around 65,000 miles.
My question is on the best use of these miles.

Reward flights are 29,500 I believe and companion flights are 20,000.

Can I book 3 flights and get 3 companion flights? What class do the paid flights need to be?
Is MPM the way to go?

Any help greatfully received.

Cheers
Tim
[:D]


First off I'd play around with the base costs, you'll need qualifying fares to even begin to look at Companion seats & then hinges on availability; price up via the below under L fares
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/spendmiles/upgradeandcompanionflights/index.jsp

you may find these fares don't save you much over best available individually..and you'll use up all your miles.

Bear in mind, I beleive if they are now 12 you could enrole them via MMF and gain some miles for each of them if they fly on a bought ticket (they could also set their own balances rolling if you're likely to go again). Your younger two will obviously be cheaper, albeit not by much, but they won't earn or qualify for any miles.

2 adults + two child & two straight reward seats maybe the way to go, all depends on availability and prices, again a comparison with MPM fares. You just need to price up all the options and it should be obvious from that list.

Or buy one L fare & 5 cheapest Y tickets, upgrade yourself to UC and relax[}:)]

NH

After reading the other thread about leaving the kids in Y whilst travelling upfront I was not going to broach that subject!! Although I suppose I could leave the wife back there too! (Cue the abuse...)
Funnily we were watching Home Alone at Xmas wuth our lot where the parents seemed to do that, upon suggesting it to our brood there were howls of displeasure.

Anyway I digress, so back to the matter in hand.
Thanks for the info, I will get a spreadsheet open and plug in the variables and costs.

[Neil]

I agree with Mike, you should really check out the difference between a lowest fare economy ticket paid for with cash, and also a L fare, which is the lowest fare you would be able to buy to buy a companion ticket.

Using miles for economy travel, either full redemption or companion often does not work out to be the best use of miles, or a good way to save cash. The actual fare element is still very low, and a good % of the cost is made up in taxes which you still need to pay when using miles.

Neil

quote:Originally posted by Neil
Using miles for economy travel, either full redemption or companion often does not work out to be the best use of miles, or a good way to save cash.


Careful Neil, it hinges on peoples situation, I've just had this very discussion with my folks. It was better in their circumstances to save x hundreds by using straight miles for a Y seat, rather than the 'additional' costs of upgrading. It did make a substantial difference, especially if you're watching the 's. They got rtn to MCO for 180, which -for them- makes a huge difference, to those on retirement income.
Agree its 'overall better value/mile' but you do end up paying more than the cheapest available 'bus seat' if its viewed as a way of getting from A to B...

July/August coincides with peak travel demand to the US. That means base fares will be at their highest. Redeeming miles for Y travel may not always be the best value but it makes much more sense when fares are expensive. And if travel is on a weekend there is no 15 surcharge each way. For a family it all adds up and using miles in this way may be the best use.