M&M fares.

Hi,

Just had an online chat with a very helpful VA representative!

We are flying PE MAN to MCO in August and I am looking to book our next flights after that which will be March/April 2012.

In a perfect world I would like to fly PE out and UC back and would like to book a M&M fare. The rep said that this is possible 11250 points per person. I didn't think you could book different cabins if you wanted to use miles?

Also I presume that I am pretty much wasting my time hoping to get 4 M&M fares MAN to MCO PE out UC back? We managed to book a reward seat UC MAN to MCO on once occasion but don't think I have ever found a M&M fare for this cabin??

I have always been able to find M&M fares for the PE cabin and so this will be my back up plan.....

Any thoughts please?

Thanks,

Ali

I think you are right about reward UC seats MAN to MCO, especially since there is now a much reduced service in the shape of VS73.

Your info about the M and M dual cabin is useful. The booking engine doesn't seem to yield up any fares but perhaps FC staff can.

[Neil]

I haven't been able to find ANY UC availability on the MAN - MCO with miles (either full miles or MPM) since they announced the VS75 is on the A330 with no UC. So I pretty much think you will be wasting your time, do try MIA as an option.

You have always been able to fly out/back in different cabins on an MPM ticket.

Hi Ali,
It says on the VS website that they have now introduced new Upper Class Miles Plus Money fares on all their routes (except Orlando and Las Vegas). These fares are no longer seasonal and they are now available all year round.

So it's a little unclear but I'm presuming that they don't have MPM fares for Upper Class on any MCO route, MAN or LGW?

So it's a little unclear but I'm presuming that they don't have MPM fares for Upper Class on any MCO route, MAN or LGW?

As there are only 14 seats in UC on the LGW / MAN fleets it is unlikely and if there are it wont be for nice rouns 7/14 day travel periods !

A little off the topic but still on the M+M fares issue.

On our recent trip to Orlando and back via Boston, my daughter used a significant amount of her accrued miles because a) she was not sure if the family will be flying again within the next 3 years and, b) also no reward or upgrade type fares were available.

We all (6) travelled out PE to Orlando and then back from Boston. This is the first time I have experienced the 'terms & conditions' which mean no miles or tier points are awarded whatsoever for a M+M flight. In the past because the M+M was a discounted fare, then obviously the amount of miles given was significantly reduced, rightly so. However after this flight, on all of our Flying club accounts there is no recognition of us travelling with VS. In my son-in-laws & grandaughters case, they will now loose all their amounted miles unless they open a VS credit card or take another VS flight.

I have seen this topic discussed on this and other forums in the past and yes I am the first to I agree that if you purchase a discounted fare you cannot expect 'full' miles to be awarded but my arguement with VS is this.... I went to Tesco today and spent over £200 on my shopping and I purchased some reduced products, however I still got my Tesco points on the face value of purchases made (even on the discounted items).

Our fares for this holiday topped £5450 and I find it hard to swallow that we are not enitled to a few miles just to keep our FC accounts in operation

I guess to morale of the story is - M+M fares are a 'con' and it is best to save the miles to use like I have done in the past to upgrade from Econ to UC but that's if you can get the fare on the actual dates you need to travel. I personally think VS are being very harsh on some of their loyal passengers.

I would dispute your use of the word 'con'. Nor do I believe VS are being 'harsh'.

M+M fares work for some people and not for others. People need to do their research before commiting their cash and/or miles.

You get a discount off the £ fare for using up your miles, to then get miles and TP awarded is then (to me) illogical. VS could award miles but then to make up for this they would then simply increase the redemption levels.

For someone to loose accrued miles means that they have not done any earning activity in the last 3years.

If someone is in that situation it does indicate a lack of loyalty on their part to VS.

3 years is actually very generous - my UA miles expire 18 months after the last earning activity.

In my son-in-laws & grandaughters case, they will now loose all their amounted miles unless they open a VS credit card or take another VS flight.

This is not the case - any earning activity will keep the accounts valid. Just for example a small purchase via the shopping link (ebay etc etc) on the FC page will keep the accounts valid.
DL

[Neil]

I 100% agree with Tonty.

There is no 'conning' going on at all. VS make it perfectly clear before booking that MPM tickets do not earn miles or TP's, so if you choose to buy one of those fares you do so knowing the rules.

Using MPM offers a way for less frequent travellers to use their miles and save money on a flight. Some family have just flown on MPM tickets, which they used miles earned on their one and only long haul flight nearly 3 years, it gave them a saving of nearly £120 per person (there was 5 of them), which was a big saving on their holiday. They would never earn enough miles or travel outside of peak periods to be able to get full reward tickets.

Yes, they don't work for everyone, personally they don't suit me or the way we use our miles/travel, so we don't book them, a simple choice I make knowing the earning rules.

VS make it perfectly clear before booking that MPM tickets do not earn miles or TP's, so if you choose to buy one of those fares you do so knowing the rules.

Yes I understand that now. However it was only through reading previous posts on this forum that I realised the rules had changed since we booked our last M+M fare back in 2008. Since then we have not used M+M and had just paid with straight cash.

We as a "family" have been travelling with VS every year, sometimes even twice a year, long-haul since 2000 (myself and partner since 1991) and I could copy & paste my paper FC accounts going back to the years when VS did in fact award a small significant amount of miles when a customer used the M+M fare.

We are regular and loyal passengers on VS - not just one off family travellers. However I admit we do seek to book a VS flight in PE at the best possible price, saving where possible. In the future we will now be much more careful how we use the miles and will let them mount up in order to get upgrades or reward fares.

This was learning experience and certainly no big deal