Packing up my miles and leaving

So, I am busy trying to spend my miles (over 400K) but damn its hard... I considor myself quite flexible but more and more I am finding that to spend these miles around my everyday life is getting tougher. I am now finding myself earning miles with Virgin purchasing things I dont really want or need just because I get the miles, and then when I come to spend the miles I end up having to fly on dates I dont want to, to airports I dont want and with airlines I dont want just to try and get rid of them. They make it so easy and enticing to earn these miles yet spending them is such a pain, over the last 2 days I have been on the phone for almost 2 hours and still have no luck unless I want to spend them on an economy reward... sigh. I am moving all miles earnings activities now over to my AMEX Rewards program... I have threatened in the past but now its happening. There is only one winner with Virgins Reward System and that isnt the customer - not when it comes to me. Just got to find a way of getting rid of these miles so it somehow fits into my very flexible schedule... yet it appears I just am not flexible enough.

Apologies for the rant... I am just tired of it. I would rather get less for my miles but spend them on what I actually want, than apparently get a lot for them but never actually be able to spend them.

Oh well... just gotta wait another 24 hours to see if my partner booking request can be confirmed with another new date. Its interesting that if I book the flight using the actual airline partners miles system it isnt a problem but if I try with Virgin miles on the partner airline all dates are not available...

[Neil]

I guess for some the miles systems works well, for others not so. I think it would be almost impossible for a specific scheme to suit everyone and their needs, there are just to many variables and everyone is different, and I don't think that is something that is unique to VS FC, I'm pretty sure a scheme that works for someone else probably wouldn't work for me (I personally find I can spend my miles easily, using all cabins and reward options, my problem is not earning them enough )

MR points, whilst you will earn less miles if it means you can pick and choose your spending partner then you will probably benefit more in the long run.

MR points, whilst you will earn less miles if it means you can pick and choose your spending partner then you will probably benefit more in the long run.

Thats exactly what I am going to have to do... shame as I like virgin but its just too difficult for me.

I have been trying since before Christmas to use my BA miles to Florida in November/December! without any success and I can go any time during these 2 months. So VS are not the only ones who make it difficult to use miles.

Perhaps, but using BA miles is still much easier than using Virgin miles simply because you can go almost anywhere with BA miles and you can upgrade from almost any fare code.

This is a refrain that I hear regularly just lately, and I think it's tied in with VS being independent of any alliance and then a little further back the nowadays unpredictability of when redemption seats are released. And the consequence, some frequent fliers are leaving VS ... which is not good.

I think the big problem is not that there are no award seats available, but they are not released until just a few weeks before travel.
LHR-HKG has no seats available in UC (G) in April/May but I know that nearer the day (sometimes on the day) some will be released.
That works fine for many travellers but I appreciate the difficulty is that if you want to make a confirmed booking for a particular period it is very hard.
The best you can do it book an L economy and then use the miles to upgrade when (if) the seats are released.

I am currently in the process of trying to book a Malaysia Airlines flight, its taking some work but getting there. The issue I have is that I going there for a wedding and cant be away for too long. I am only booking one seat in F or J Class but they wont give me which options are available, so I have to give a date and flight number and class request, they then send that to Malaysia Airlines (which can take 24 hours) they then say no, then I go back with a different combination. I asked if they could just tell me which were available to save the days of going back and forth but was informed this is not possible and if we gave a couple of requests at once they would reject them all as they know what we are doing. So after 4 phone calls I now have a J return but am still trying to work out the outbound... gotta wait another 24 hours potentially, and then if they say no again I cant be anymore flexible than giving 2 different classes with 2 different timings on 2 different dates - all just for 1 seat in January next year.

I have a similar dilema, you have to be lucky and jump in right at teh opening of the reward seat availability, or leave it very late.

The same thing can happen with BA. I was originally heading to Singapore via Hong Kong in BA First, until 2 days before the flight.

The delay in getting confirmation from a Partner Airline is a right pain, but is probably the best option to use the miles.

Mark

More often than not L fares are more expensive than cheapest PE codes. So there's little point in upgrading unless you're going for UC which is a bigger outlay overall. So few options for spending miles in a satisfactory way.....

[Neil]

More often than not L fares are more expensive than cheapest PE codes. So there's little point in upgrading unless you're going for UC which is a bigger outlay overall. So few options for spending miles in a satisfactory way.....

Unless there is a good sale on, then I think you will find that an L fare will almost always offer a fairly decent saving over a K. Yes a straight Y fare could well cost more than a K but not an L, even when you add any extra surcharges/taxes it will offer a good saving still.

Trouble is, if you buy an L hoping to bag miles upgrades later, then don't, you've got a more expensive economy ticket. For, say, 3 people, this could be quite a bit of money over and above a low economy bucket fare.

Ok, so that's the price you need to pay to keep your options open, but as others have said or impied, it's quite restrictive in terms of confirmed bookings.

I have to give a date and flight number and class request, they then send that to Malaysia Airlines (which can take 24 hours) they then say no, then I go back with a different combination. I asked if they could just tell me which were available to save the days of going back and forth but was informed this is not possible and if we gave a couple of requests at once they would reject them all as they know what we are doing

They all know what you're doing??? Which is only, after all, using airmiles bought and paid for! Crazy world....

I think this is a problem with VS only having 'partnerships' rather than being in an alliance.

On CO for example you can see all the options for rewards - not just on CO but all the other airlines they have alliances with so last year I was presented with reward flights on CO/UA/VS (stopped now), LH/AC/LOT/SAS with different routes displayed (e.g. LH via FRA, MUC and DUS) the miles required for each flight in each available cabin so all presented in an easy table.

Booking was then easy via my CO account and instantaneous so no phone calls and waiting whilst someone elese checks etc

So it can be done !

I think this is a problem with VS only having 'partnerships' rather than being in an alliance...

BMI is part of Star (and temporarily part of LH), yet the only availibility and booking capability via the website is for BMI. Diamond club can look directly at VS availability (for the moment at least).