Checking for G - just checking

I've had a moment of doubt! I believe I have been checking for G reward seats, but....?

I go on to the website, put in my dates/route and check for "spend your miles" seats. This gives me the grid with dates and whether there is availability in any any class for a reward flight. I'm of course looking for upper.

Is this right? Sorry to ask what might be obvious!

Thats right, the UC seats that show up there are Gs

At the risk of sounding like Mr Punch, that's the way to do it.

What's causing the doubt?

Thanks both! Grateful

Doubting because I normally can get a G on my outward to HKG without too much trouble - in fact usually at the time I book an S. Zero for weeks. But it is likely to be just one of those things.

Thanks again

I don't know what's happened to the HKG G's as I too have been looking daily for the past 3 weeks and there was full availability in November and December for all dates. When I checked back last week, all G's had gone. I wonder if it was a glitch or something and they sorted it out. Regretting not booking it now, don't fancy 12 hours in anything other than UC!!

Ah! I've been looking daily for about 3 months! Got one easily for inward to LHR. Outward virtually nothing. At one point, the load check on my date to HKG showed no availability in any UC bucket. That seems to have changed now. Looks like S for me.

Have you tried phoning FC? Gs sometimes show up on their system that are not visible online.

It may be worth checking just one way.
I have found in the past asking for a return journey give different results.
Dick D

Ugh, we were looking at booking UC upgrades to HK in September and, last time I checked, there was availability on most days. Now, just a few days later, there's nothing at all. There must have been a glitch with the system.

Oh dear, not good. Never forget the first rule of V-Flyer: if you see a G, grab it now!

Ah! I've been looking daily for about 3 months! Got one easily for inward to LHR. Outward virtually nothing. At one point, the load check on my date to HKG showed no availability in any UC bucket. That seems to have changed now. Looks like S for me.

It always makes sense to book them separately. I assume you have booked your inbound, so just keep on looking for your outbound. I did exactly the same a little while ago for myself and my wife for August and September. The two inbound Gs were relatively easy, but I had to wait for a couple of months for the second G outbound to appear. When it did there were a mass released on the same day. I posted this about it on 31st Dec because I was so pleasantly surprised.

Keep looking - every day. They appear release batches in the morning, so check around 9-10am if you can. As soon as you see the one you want call asap.

If you are FC Gold, you can book a lower class reward seat such as P in PE and then change it to a G at no cost (just the extra miles) when it becomes available. That way you have a fallback if a G never becomes available.

Goog luck
Martin

Thanks! Really helpful (I never realised about the P to G tip).

Thanks! Really helpful (I never realised about the P to G tip).

Nothing beats a good cuppa

Im still checking daily for the G's from HKG-LHR....fingers crossed.

But something that I am baffled about are the taxes for this route.

EC is 726 HKD, yet PE and UC is less than half as much at 357 HKD. For all other destinations/routes I always see that PE and UC have higher fees and EC the lowest.

Can anyone explain? Or is it just one those things?

Hi - thanks to this thread I rang Virgin today as I was looking to go to HKG in November, and noticed that all the reward availability had vanished online.

Anyhow, to cut the whole story short I rang them, secured a G fare, and I'm off to Hong Kong. Moral of the story : use a telephone

I will say that there must be very limited availability, I called back after checking the fare to book it, and was told there was no upgrade on the flights I wanted. Additionally I had to push back my return trip by one day, but that's no biggie as my connection runs both days.

Even better was the new when I logged on to select my seat that the flight will be operated by a Dreamliner, and as much as I had been planning on experiencing the A340 because I've never been on one I am not going to complain!

Thanks for all help - secured a G this morning . Website actually changed to show availability as I refreshed the page to check the "one way" option.