Miles + Money?

Hi folks, I appreciate there is a plethora of posts on this subject, please excuse my asking something that has probably been asked a million times

I have been looking at the Virgin credit cards as a way of collecting miles. Particularly as I have university fees to pay, it makes sense to try and get something back for that outlay. I wouldn't realistically collect enough miles to completely pay for UC flights e.g. 2 x return UC flights to west coast. But how many miles would I need to upgrade from an economy fare to PE and from PE to UC? Is this something that varies wildly depending on route etc? Is this the best value way to get myself out of cattle class more often? I would probably fly once or, max twice, a year.

Thanks
Fiona

US east coast flights are 40k miles to get a round trip upgrade from Economy to UC.

US west cost flights are 50k miles for the same.

Halve the number for Economy to PE or PE to UC.

Having just finished paying the offspring's fees and sundry other items I have to say I could never use an Amex card (the higher earning card whether White or Black); strictly Visa and Mastercard only.

[Neil]

This page on the VS site gives the current mileage amounts require to upgrade for each route.

You also need to remember that you need to be booked in to an upgradable fare code (see the Fare code section in the Toolbox for which codes can be upgraded) and there needs to be miles seats available.

Neil

Hi PF,

Please also remember there are regular offers enticing take up of the cards, often 18,000-20,000 miles being offered [usually based on £3000 spend in first 90 days], have even been approached in the clubhouse, it may well be worth waiting until the next offer/promotion.

Miles add up very quickly if you put everything on the card

Thanks for the replies! y) Just looking also that you can get your Tesco Clubcard points converted to miles. So say I buy my shopping and petrol using the credit card - I get miles on the credit card. And I'd also get miles via the Clubcard points - so it's like getting double the amount of miles for one transaction? ?|

[Neil]

Thanks for the replies! y) Just looking also that you can get your Tesco Clubcard points converted to miles. So say I buy my shopping and petrol using the credit card - I get miles on the credit card. And I'd also get miles via the Clubcard points - so it's like getting double the amount of miles for one transaction? ?|

Sort of, you don't get a straight 1:1 conversion from Tesco club card points to FC miles, it's something like for every £2.50's worth of Club card vouchers you get 625 FC miles.

Sorry to bump this again, we're still looking into it. (I've checked and I can use AMEX to pay my university fees y) ). Is the miles + money option as difficult to redeem as actual reward flights? When blew our mileage last year with G tickets, it felt like the best part of 18 months/2 years to get availability. Are the offers of companion flights/PE upgrade just as difficult to get? We won't have much difficulty in building up the miles through the aforementioned fees and regular spending habits, but I'm just concerned we'll have all these miles, have paid an annual fee for the credit card, and not able to use them. I have also realised I missed the deadline for the promotion of Tesco Clubcard points, d'oh! xx(

[Neil]

M&M seats tend to be slightly easier to come by, partly because the demand for them isn't as great as the savings can be very minimal at times (especially during a sale period).

Hi Fiona, unless you need the miles urgently don't worry, Tesco may have another bonus miles promotion on later in the year, just wait it out.

Last year they had one on in the summer.

There aren't many G's around this year, or so it seems, the key is being very flexible. Good Luck. Linda

I've checked and I can use AMEX to pay my university fees y)

Result!

I've checked and I can use AMEX to pay my university fees y)

Result!

also check on the charges, some Uni's charge 1.5% to 2% for using Amex to pay fees