UC LGW/MCO using miles?

Hi all,

I'm looking at going LGW/MCO in Feb next year. Going out will be out of school holidays but coming back with be at the end of the February half term.

I have 100k miles at the moment and am looking to buy a 100k miles while the 30% offer is still running (so actually only buying 80k)

My question is this - what realistically are my chances of getting a miles UC flight on this route? I know a lot of you have extensive experience in this and I'm hoping you will be able to advise! I don't want to run the risk of buying a PE and hoping to be able to upgrade and then not being able to.

Any advice would be great, thank you!

It's a tough one to call. One thing worth noting is that VS haven't released any reward flights ex MCO for January 2017 and there are currently no UC outbound either. I spoke to the Premier Team about this issue (note it also effect MIA as well) and the answer I got was very vague

-Steve

I noticed that Steve and just assumed they'd sold out. Were none released at all then?

I noticed that Steve and just assumed they'd sold out. Were none released at all then?

No nothing in any class has been released ex MCO or MIA. As I said above I spoke to FC and asked why reward fares had been released for all other routes but not these to be told your just have to wait and see

-Steve

That's worrying then. Do I spend the money on buying the miles and risk it or save the money with the view of buying cash flights when they're issued - eek

I think if you are flexible +/- a few days, they are usually there to be had. I used to log on every morning and see where there was availability, then watching as they added them. Found it appeared 11 months less two weeks.

Remember you have to pay taxes and charges on these flights. Add to that the 80k miles you are buying, someone on here might be able to suggest a better way of doing it?

That's worrying then. Do I spend the money on buying the miles and risk it or save the money with the view of buying cash flights when they're issued - eek

I'm assuming you know the amount of miles needed for an upgrade increases on March 1st.

-Steve

errr no, I didn't Steve! aarrgh is there somewhere I can see what the new mileages will be?

I think if you are flexible +/- a few days, they are usually there to be had. I used to log on every morning and see where there was availability, then watching as they added them. Found it appeared 11 months less two weeks.

Remember you have to pay taxes and charges on these flights. Add to that the 80k miles you are buying, someone on here might be able to suggest a better way of doing it?

I think it still works out a lot cheaper than booking two UC flights but not sure if upgrading would be cheaper? It's all so damn confusing lol

errr no, I didn't Steve! aarrgh is there somewhere I can see what the new mileages will be?

Increase of 5,000 miles, Economy to Premium, one way
Increase of 10,000 miles, Premium to Upper, one way
Increase of 15,000 miles, Economy to Upper, one way

There's a thread on here just below this one. Information is also on VS website

-Steve

Thanks Steve. I guess I'll just have to suck it and see!

I think if you are flexible +/- a few days, they are usually there to be had. I used to log on every morning and see where there was availability, then watching as they added them. Found it appeared 11 months less two weeks.

Remember you have to pay taxes and charges on these flights. Add to that the 80k miles you are buying, someone on here might be able to suggest a better way of doing it?

An ex-EU fare?

yeah, or sales/offers etc.

It is definitely do-able. I came out on Friday.
I book early but you do miss out on any discounts that get offered unless your timing is extremely lucky.
Dick D

As Dick D says it is possible, we managed to get 2 UC returns for this Sept upgrading from EC with miles. We booked 29th Oct for travel mid Sept, so as soon as they were released. I had been watching them all Oct, the reward flights were released about 4 days after the general release.

We have some PE seats to MCO for Sept / Oct this year, but have been looking for availability in UC to upgrade with extra miles that we have collected.
I've been checking every day and there is pretty much no UC (or in fact any class) outbound for September / October
I've been informed that no reward seats have been released in UC for my flight yet but there are still 8 seats available, so hoping something will show one day!

There's no discernible pattern to reward seat availability. They can pop up at random or sometimes, after months of zero availability, the floodgates will open and they'll release loads at once.

You just have to keep checking. Persistence generally pays off.

There's no discernible pattern to reward seat availability. They can pop up at random or sometimes, after months of zero availability, the floodgates will open and they'll release loads at once.

You just have to keep checking. Persistence generally pays off.

Agree there is no pattern but over the years when searching for reward flights, I have noticed that the popular route to Orlando MCO is often the last for any price discounts and usually doesn't figure in the initial release of UC reward availability.

However I booked two UC rewards for mid-March 2016 when they popped up in the box last June 2015

Keep looking every day and when they do finally appear grab them immediately because you don't get much time to think about it !!!!