Combi fares

I spoke to someone at VA's FC today to enquire about booking a combi fare but was told there was no reward seats for the date I wanted to fly out on, now I was under the impression you used miles for one leg and paid for the other so even though I'd be paying for the outbound leg is it correct that there still needs to be reward seats available for it?

Has anyone actually manage to book one of these? what are the costs like for the part you pay cash for?

Looking to fly into MCO (econ) and out of MIA (econ or PE depending on miles needed)

yes paying with money gets you revenue seats and paying with miles gets you miles seats. You cannot use miles for money seats.

I think what the OP is saying is he wants to do money out and miles back. For the return that's fine but FC told him that there needs to be rewards seats on the out too which sounds crazy.

ISTBC of course.

I think what the OP is saying is he wants to do money out and miles back. For the return that's fine but FC told him that there needs to be rewards seats on the out too which sounds crazy.

ISTBC of course.

Spot on, thats exactly what I meant y)
Surely what I was told isn't correct though? if im paying cash for the seat while does there need to be a 'reward' seat available?
I get the feeling the lady didn't know too much about the combi fare as when I mentioned it she said about miles + money then told me to hold the line and came back a few moments later to say yes combifare is also something they do

[Neil]

I think what the OP is saying is he wants to do money out and miles back. For the return that's fine but FC told him that there needs to be rewards seats on the out too which sounds crazy.

ISTBC of course.

Yes that it was the OP was talking about.

I sounds like FC have given incorrect info to the OP, the whole point of the combi fares is that you can use miles for one leg and still pay a discounted fare on the return (or visa versa).

I think what the OP is saying is he wants to do money out and miles back. For the return that's fine but FC told him that there needs to be rewards seats on the out too which sounds crazy.

ISTBC of course.

Yes that it was the OP was talking about.

I sounds like FC have given incorrect info to the OP, the whole point of the combi fares is that you can use miles for one leg and still pay a discounted fare on the return (or visa versa).

Thats what I thought, think i'll call back and try again.

I have booked several combi fares via the Premier team for family members and I have to say the Premier Team seem to have a better grasp of things like this. Personally I would only use them for an UC reward and cash combi redemption (personally I think miles rewards in Y are very poor value). The cash fare part will be costed at the lowest booking class available in the cabin you choose unless you specifically ask for a more expensive flexible fare class, and will be basically half the cost of the return cash fare. Taxes/ fees etc will be applied on the reward portion of the fare much the same as a full reward redemption.
There only needs to be reward availability on the sector you are wishing to use miles for. What the agent has told you in bumkum v( .
Hope that all makes sense
DL

I have booked several combi fares via the Premier team for family members and I have to say the Premier Team seem to have a better grasp of things like this. Personally I would only use them for an UC reward and cash combi redemption (personally I think miles rewards in Y are very poor value). The cash fare part will be costed at the lowest booking class available in the cabin you choose unless you specifically ask for a more expensive flexible fare class, and will be basically half the cost of the return cash fare. Taxes/ fees etc will be applied on the reward portion of the fare much the same as a full reward redemption.
There only needs to be reward availability on the sector you are wishing to use miles for. What the agent has told you in bumkum v( .
Hope that all makes sense
DL

Thank you, made perfect sense and is exactly how I thought it worked until I spoke to someone today.
Rang back this evening though and got excatly the answer I was looking for and no confussion £390 for Econ out & PE rtn which suits me perfectly y)