Help with flying club miles spend

Hi,

Im getting married next September (2013) in Florida. I hope to have saved enough miles for a return in upper class for myself and fiancee. How long beforehand should I book to be sure of getting 2x Upper Class seats on the same flight etc?

Do they book out fast?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

Kind regards, SC.

[Neil]

Hi, welcome and congrats on your upcoming nuptials.

Also welcome to the wonderfully difficult world of trying to plan and work out when/how to get UC rewards to MCO.

While it isn't impossible, it certainly isn't always easy, mainly due to the fact that the LGW/MAN a/c only have 14 UC on them, so they are popular anyway resulting in Virgin being very stingy with their release of UC (G fare code) reward seats. The good news is you have picked one of the quietest months in terms of load levels on flights to MCO.

What Virgin used to do is release a set amount of reward seats as soon as the flights go on sale, which is your case will be 11 months from your return date. However, now they just seem to release them randomly at any point from them going on sale until the day of the flight, all decided by the wonderful souls in revenue management.

You should certainly start looking at soon as possible and if/when you see any grab them straight away as delaying could result in them being snapped up by someone else. Sorry for sounding a bit negative, but to change that there are many members on here that have had G's to MCO, even in the busier peak periods, so with good planning you hopefully will be okay.

A few tips to help if you are struggling, be flexible as you can with your dates, midweek flights are less popular, and if you can have a few date options it obviously gives you more likelihood of finding some. If you are still struggling on a flight direct to MCO, have a look at maybe MIA and either driving or doing an internal flight up to MCO. The MIA a/c from LHR have a much larger UC cabin which increases the likelihood of reward seats.

Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.
Thanks,
Neil

Wow, thank you for the helpful reply. I really appreciate that. I will certainly have everything ready to book around eleven months in advance. I've been saving the miles for what seems like an eternity.

Out of curiosity, say for example I only had enough miles to book Upper Class out and Premium home, and then nearer the time I had enough to get to upper, will they allow me to change if they have the seat availability?

I'm sure I could be reasonably flexible with dates (well perhaps +/- 3 or 4 days). I would be really annoyed if after all this time I couldn't spend my miles!

Thanks again for your very informative post!

[Neil]

Yes, you could book UC/PE now and upgrade with more miles nearer the time (subject I availability of course).

apologies for jumping in on your thread, but what is the most 'economical' way of using miles; booking UC or booking a lower class & upgrading?

[Neil]

apologies for jumping in on your thread, but what is the most 'economical' way of using miles; booking UC or booking a lower class & upgrading?

That really depends on so many factors. A few for example could be:

How many miles do you have
Our desire to earn miles/TP's on a flight
Are you wanting the ultimate cheapest way to fly UC or to get best value out of your miles
Cost of the lowest upgradable Y fare.

Everyone has their own wants and needs out of a flight and use of miles. Personally I like to upgrade an L fare, that way I'm using less miles overall while still earning miles and TP's. Now it probably isn't the cheapest way but for what the extra is over a full miles reward I personally like saving the difference in miles for a future and earning some mean long term I am better off. Again though, I am pretty much committed to VS for my long haul travel, so I'm always thinking ahead, others might want to clear and use up all their miles knowing they won't be flying VS again anytime soon.

Ultimately you have to decide what is best for you.

Neil