Upper Class Z fares

Have got UC reward (G) fares booked for December. Out of interest, I just pinged our travel dates into the VS website to see what cash tickets were being sold at... for the exact same flights (MAN-MCO-MAN) the cheapest UC (Z) fare is coming in at £3379. Put the same dates in for a LHR-JFK-LHR and the cheapest US (Z) fare is £4218.

This is crazy. I know fuel prices have risen again & there is £700 of YQ bundled into the fare ("carrier imposed surcharges"). But what is happening? It wasn't that long ago when you could get a Z fare return to the USA for close on £2k.

It all of a sudden makes having to pay close of £1k in taxes/fees/charges to burn your miles a very attractive option.

A Z fare doesn't mean cheap, it just usually means cheapest. There are plenty of Z MCO-MAN returns next year for around £2300.

I've gone back to ex-Eu... Another upcoming BA trip, but it cost £1,000 and bumps us to Silver. Seemed silly spending the same and having to use VS miles or Avios. A shame the BA ground product isn't that great but I'm beginning to prefer Club Suites and the food to what VS are offering.

I looked at some recent BA Club World menus on Flyertalk the other day - they seem way better than what VS are offering in Upper. The photos of the food looked pretty good too.

Problem for me is BA are London Airways & I live in the East Midlands, so unless I do an ex-EU from BHX or MAN it means Heathrow & the dreaded M25.

Just to add to whats been said, mitchja wrote a fantastic summary of the rules for the various Upper fare buckets here.

As a general rule, if Upper is more than £3000, it usually makes sense to use points if there are reward seats available.