Limited reward flight availability to Caribbean

Hi all,

Thinking ahead to next easter (2012), when I typically take the family to Barbados or St Lucia. I'll have enough miles for flights for everyone by then (either Y or PE if I'm lucky). Just looking on the VA website, and it looks like there is very limited reward availability throughout the year to both BGI/UVF. And that's just in Y - I can't find anything at all in PE...

I can understand the school holidays getting snapped up, but it seems to be a consistent theme, even in (what I'd think of as) low season.

I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences here - are VA just being very stingy with allocations, or do people tend to grab them the second they become available (12 months ahead?). Also any suggestions/tips on the best time to look out for more reward flights getting released...

thanks
RC

[Neil]

There really is no set or easy answer to give. You have highlighted all the main points, and all could be valid reasons. I personally think rewards seem to be harder to get hold of this year, and unlike previous years when looking and booking, there hasn't been as much initial availability, but the release has been very random over the whole period before the flight.

Of course check as soon as flights are released at 11 months out, but the only thing you can do is check on a regular (daily!) basis and be flexible with your dates.

If you really need to book sooner look at flying to MIA and then connect - there is always (usually anyway) MIA reward availablity and you then get to fly from LHR... much nicer than Gatwick IMHO.

[Neil]

If you really need to book sooner look at flying to MIA and then connect - there is always (usually anyway) MIA reward availability and you then get to fly from LHR... much nicer than Gatwick IMHO.

I really struggled with MIA availability when looking for later this year. PE was especially hard to come by.

Thats strange... I managed to get 4 G's in April to MIA and back in PE all rewards and have done so in the past (last Aug/Sept)- maybe I have just been lucky with my dates.

Last year my friend and self, flew to new york for a spot of christmas shopping. I booked two reward flights at the end of November for travel 2 weeks later on Friday 10th December. I was fortunate enough to secure the day and flight time I wanted and I was really lucky considering the time of the year. Hoping to do the same for Dec 2011 ii) .
Normally they only put the 'reward' weekend flights on the later flight times to nyc - I must have checked just at the right time coz I got the 9.30am into JFK.
Keep looking every day from approx. mid May (when the flights will be on sale)for your Barbados fares. April dates are hard to get hold of if they clash with the school hols.

When we did this a few years ago in the summer low season we had to be very flexible about dates. Aiming for a 14 nights pattern didn't work, it was (IIRC) either 10 days or around 16 that produced a result.

If you really need to book sooner look at flying to MIA and then connect - there is always (usually anyway) MIA reward availablity and you then get to fly from LHR... much nicer than Gatwick IMHO.

I too really struggled with MIA last year found that route one of the hardest to find any joy with G,s.

Regarding the OP i guess its about being in the right place at the right time, i found plenty of G,s thru out march this year so i booked up last month to BGI, im sure that if i looked 12 months back there would have been virtually none!

cheers

alex

[Nottingham Nick]

I have mentioned this before, but I am convinced there has been a policy change by VS (even though it has been denied on their FB page).

It used to be that the best time to book reward flights was as soon as they were released. This appears not to be the case anymore. This release seems far more random, and the 'check every day' maxim seems to have taken over.

I can see that this is better for the airline, they can react to loads, and release as appropriate (or not, as the case may be). I do not think that is as good for the customer, especially if we are planning a big trip - as we did last year, when we were away for five weeks.

I have yet to experience this personally, so am interested in the experiences of others.

Maybe we should start a sticky discussion about reward availability and release dates of seats?

Nick

Thanks all for your replies. It's very frustrating that Virgin doesn't seem to have any discernable process around releasing reward flight availability. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of hanging around on the offchance that something might come up when these flights are going to be used for family trips during the school holidays.

As you say Nick - good for Virgin, bad for the poor old customer...

RC

I have been trying for an inbound UC reward flight MIA-LHR for October/early November since the 11 month window and only a handful have ever come up, mostly for one person which was no good to us. In the end I had to go for PE and extend my holiday as they only had a few in November I'm hoping there will be a chance to upgrade.

We did the same for this last year and only had to put the date we wanted 11 months before and we had a choice, no problem. So I would think there is a change in policy. Sometimes I wonder how they expect us to spend our hard earned points. ii)

[Neil]

I have been trying for an inbound UC reward flight MIA-LHR for October/early November since the 11 month window and only a handful have ever come up, mostly for one person which was no good to us. In the end I had to go for PE and extend my holiday as they only had a few in November I'm hoping there will be a chance to upgrade.

I was the same, could get LHR-MIA pretty much fine, but couldn't get a return during October for love nor money,and I ended up booking a return from JFK, but in the end changed totally as managed to get some rewards ex MAN which suits us much better.

Have you tried ringing flying club helpline rather that just the website?

I've just booked 4 reward PE flights to EWR this July, middle of school holidays. Website showed no reward flights for the dates I wanted although availability seemed fine when I booked on the phone.

Same thing happened last year booking when booking trip to BOS.

Not sure how often website updated but worth a try if you haven't done already.

Nick,

I recently (December) booked 2 PE NYC-LHR out and UC returns as no UC was available on the flight I wanted on the way out. I kept checking and sure enough a few weeks later UC seats popped up, seems quite clear that the 11 month rule thing has now become much more haphazard...

Hi, I too have been looking for UC or PE flights to Barbados for Nov 2011. There had been nothing for ages then suddenly Nov 18th UC outbound turned up. I went through the booking process entered cc details etc only to get to the very end and be told to contact customer services... I tried again - same thing, then the dates disappeared but Nov 17th appeared. I tried that and it worked OK first time. The interesting thing is that when I went through to chose seats I had the choice of all the UC seats, nothing else had been booked (either reward or paid for). I used to believe that a cetain amount of seats needed to be sold before reward seats were released so the airline ensure they are getting a certain level of money for the flight. However this seems not to be the case unless others have paid for flights on this date but not chosen their seats... I am still looking for return flights but at least I have been able to sort out accommodation, knowing when we are going to be arriving on the island. I think it is easier to get reward seats much nearer departure as by then many more seats will have been bought and the 'free' allocation hopefully increases. However this is no good when you need to plan and book other elements of your holiday. Rather makes the whole system a bit of a nonsense and inflexible. In response to the person who suggested there might be more up to date info if you phoned them, I found that when I called (at the same time as trying to book the Nov 18th seats) I was told there was nothing showing at all... of course those dates are no longer showing as available.