Can I book a reward flight for someone else?

Thinking of treating the old father-in-law. Sadly won't be able to travel myself (to Barbados... sob ) so can I use my miles to book him a reward flight on his own?

(with apologies for the basic question, but as I've never managed to spend a mile yet, it's not my area of expertise...)

yes

you just put their details when it asked your for the travellers details.

super, cheers. That said, seen some options on BA that he hadn't previously spotted, including in 1st, and he has a mountain of Avios, so could be a moot point. But good to know anyway!

Absolutely yes - Virgin don't mind who you splash your miles on for a reward flight, as long as the flying club account holder (or someone they have authorised to access the account) makes the booking. You could book a ticket to Florida for a passenger MOUSE/MICHAELMR and as long as the payment card went through for the taxes/charges, the e-ticket would arrive in due course.

If you were to have a lot of miles that you were not going to use, there is nothing to stop you - unofficially of course - booking a flight for a friend and coming to an "informal arrangement" with them about reimbursement for the taxes/charges (& maybe something for the miles too - just keep that bit quiet!)

Lucky father in law!

As an aside, whichever you choose, it might be wise to give your father in law a copy of your debit card/credit card statement that shows the booking (taxes etc), as T&Cs used to state that the credit card may be asked for that the booking was charged to. I know some pax may no longer hold the credit card, that's why it might be wisest to take a paper copy.

When I paid for my daughter's honeymoon, that's what I did, just to be on the safe side. It wasn't needed but it saved me worrying that the happy couple might be left behind.

Do let us know what you decide.

Roxy-Popsy

I think the "you must show the debit / credit card used to pay" clause was dropped sometime around 2004 / 2005. I know when a group of us did a MCO trip in 2004 one of the party was worried as he'd cancelled the card used to pay between buying the ticket and the date of travel.

I know I gave Orlando a "gap year" in 2005 & when I did my first UC trip in Upper Class in 2006 I was not asked for the payment card - never have been since then either.

But as always, better to be safe than sorry - I still always carry a printout of my ESTA approval confirmation, just in case.

Yep you can! I've only so far redeemed miles for other people...! I did manage an M-G return for OH and me once but had subsequently cancelled that. Maybe next time

Further to this question if I book a reward UC flight from my account and my friend has an orphan 17.5k miles that they won't use can I use his miles (without transferring them to me) to book the chauffeur service?

Further to this question if I book a reward UC flight from my account and my friend has an orphan 17.5k miles that they won't use can I use his miles (without transferring them to me) to book the chauffeur service?

That is a very good question. For certain, you cannot use his miles [by making the booking yourself] unless you are an authorised person on his flying club account.

Given that Virgin allow miles to be spent on tickets for anyone by the FC account holder, the answer - in theory - should be yes. I somehow suspect there will be a clause / hidden rule in there that says the miles for the chauffeur car have to come from the same FC account that bought the G fare.

The only way to find out is to call Flying Club.