Redeemed my Miles - Noob questions

Hi All,

Wish I'd seen this site before I booked - so much great info on here!

Anyway - I managed to build up 130,000 virgin miles via my Amex card and through a few flights and friend referals for colleagues taking Virgin flights

I was scratching my head wondering what to do with the miles and after thinking about it for a bit I decided to book 2 Economy flights to Miami in april next year for me and my other half - using the miles to upgrade them to Upper Class.

In total this ended up costing a total of £1,937 for the economy tickets and then 120,000 miles to upgrade them.

A little late now, I know - but out of curiosity I wanted to ask, is using miles to upgrade like this generally a good use of a miles balance like that (in terms of getting the most value from them?). Could I have got better bang for my miles doing something else with them?

Looking online at 2 UC tickets to Miami(lowest without ground transfer) came to a total of £5,200 so my 120,000 miles netted me a saving of £3,263. Is that the right way to look at it?

I've never really collected any other FF miles before -just Virgins - so wasn't sure if I'd goofed up using them like this?

[Neil]

Welcome to the site.

Personally i think upgrading an economy ticket with miles to UCis the best use of miles and with the amount you had, it was by far the best way to get the most value from them.

I'm not sure what fare code economy ticket you bought (L is the lowest you could use), as £1900 sounds a little high, but as you say, you have saved well over £3000 so it's still a really excellent saving.

Enjoy your flight
Neil

Thanks Neil, thats put my mind at rest. Even though I'm not the most experienced miles collector around, I did want to make sure it wasn't a rip off.

Am I naiive to expect that Virgin would have given me the absolute lowest available economy fare that is eligible to upgrade - even if I did not specifically ask for L class? Or do you actually have to prompt them check that fare class?

Whilst I understand they are a busines, it would seem a little "off" if they did default to giving you higher priced fare unless you knew to specifically ask for a certain class.

Actually, I probably am being naiive aren't I... lol.

Am I naiive to expect that Virgin would have given me the absolute lowest available economy fare that is eligible to upgrade - even if I did not specifically ask for L class? Or do you actually have to prompt them check that fare class?

Whilst I understand they are a busines, it would seem a little "off" if they did default to giving you higher priced fare unless you knew to specifically ask for a certain class.

Actually, I probably am being naiive aren't I... lol.

Could be worth checking as its likely that they may not of done this.. :w

Also, if you have ended up with a fully flexible fare (and given those prices sounds likely), worth seeing if the numbers stack up for changing it to a L if available, as this may be surprisingly cheaper, if you do over the phone you shouldn't have an issue with losing your reward seats, worth a call to find out if nothing else..
If they say no L fares available, weigh up changing the dates and looking for rewards, all depends on any saving and the hassle factor..

NH

Actually the price seems what I would expect given that for example an L to MIA next March is coming in at £820- £850 ish + per person. Don't forget the extras fees /taxes/ APD (whatever they call them) are quite a bit higher in UC and will be applied on top of the basic L fare.
DL

Looking online at 2 UC tickets to Miami(lowest without ground transfer) came to a total of £5,200 so my 120,000 miles netted me a saving of £3,263. Is that the right way to look at it?

No, it's only a saving if you were prepared to pay the £5,200 in the first place. But as Neil says it is a good use of miles.

BTW my reading of the original question was that he paid £1.9k for his tickets so approx £950 per person so not unreasonable.

DL - difference in APD from Y to UC is £ 60. Difference in fuel surcharge is £ 80 (£ 175 vs £ 255).

Yep - perhaps "saving" was the wrong word - but 120,000 miles equating to approx £3,200 of value is hopefully not too bad a deal!

I checked L class through the website out of curiosity and it seemed to come out at £35 per ticket cheaper - so £70 difference in total, so I either was booked on L and the fare price has fluctuated a little or its one of the other classes. In either case I'm not going to sweat £70 too much.

Going to use my remaining miles to get a CDC up to LHR to round off the experience.

Thanks all for your help answering my questions!

and yes - its was £1,934 for both tickets

If I remember correctly, return flights from the US must be in Y or B classes (but the outbound can be in L) to be upgradable - so may explain the slight difference in prices that you're seeing!

Sub £2k for 2 UC seats is fantastic... after all that's what miles are for!

It works out at over 2p value per mile which is also good.

Now just enjoy it!

If I remember correctly, return flights from the US must be in Y or B classes (but the outbound can be in L) to be upgradable - so may explain the slight difference in prices that you're seeing!

For flights originatining ex UK an L class fare both ways is sufficient.
DL

If I remember correctly, return flights from the US must be in Y or B classes (but the outbound can be in L) to be upgradable - so may explain the slight difference in prices that you're seeing!

For flights originatining ex UK an L class fare both ways is sufficient.
DL

Doh! Wish I'd realised than when booking my last flight, serves me right for going on what the VS booking site said, should have known not to believe that haha!

Will remember for next time, thanks!

[Neil]

Doh! Wish I'd realised than when booking my last flight, serves me right for going on what the VS booking site said, should have known not to believe that haha!

Will remember for next time, thanks!

The VS does state the same as what DL has said. The key word is 'originating', so if you are booking a round trip that starts in the UK an L fare is okay for both legs, however if the trip starts in the USA then you would need a B fare for both legs.

Neil