Advice on How to use miles and rewards

Hi

I have a round 100k points
Looking to go to NYC also have free upgrade to PE and a companion flight
How should i sort it out that two of my firends can get a PE ticket with me using my rewards and miles
I am very confused so would be grateful for any advice

Well, you need 67500 miles for PE tickets. And I believe I am right in saying you cannot upgrade a reward fare, so there is no point in using miles for an economy ticket then upgrading it with your voucher(although I of course do not know what your free upgrade is for or the rules associated). Nor can you use a companion with a reward (ISTBC)

So with the combo of schmutter you have, I don't think you can go for a total freebee. But you could use miles for one PE, then buy and econ and upgrade that. But that still leave you buying an additional PE. Or you could buy a PE and use the companion with it, and use miles for one further PE ticket.

Ultimately you will need to work out the miles and £ costs of the various choices, then check on availablity of the options with VS, and finally choose - not easy I understand.

Now you watch all the smart guys round here correct me where I have gone wrong, and point out all the tricks I missed.

Originally posted by amitav
Hi

I have a round 100k points
Looking to go to NYC also have free upgrade to PE and a companion flight
How should i sort it out that two of my firends can get a PE ticket with me using my rewards and miles
I am very confused so would be grateful for any advice

You don't say whether you are willing to pay for your ticket - I took the inference in the post to mean could your friends travel for free (although you may be looking for all three foc)?

With a companion award (see lots of other posts) it is often believed that the best value for money for this is to buy an S class PE ticket - which is more expensive than the usual K class advance purchase but less than the full W class. Then for the three of you book the companion free on a U class (miles or companion) fare. Then book another U class using your miles. Thus three for the price of one and 32,500 miles and one upgrade voucher left over. This seems to me the most straight forward but of course there is a cost.

To use the companion you must book at least one fare in the same cabin of travel not a combination of fare and miles or voucher upgrade.

Trying to use your combinations to best effect is difficult, for example if you booked two economy fares, one using a fare code that allows the companion to get in to make three, you'd need to use 2 x 30,000 miles to upgrade to PE plus the voucher. However the rub is that I don't think you can upgrade a companion fare with miles so this wouldn't work.

I leave this to brighter and more alert minds!

Thanks for your help
I am willing to pay for my ticket
Is it best to sort out these reward and comapnion fares with the flying club team in order to find out about avaiablitiy rather than boooking via the internet?
I think i will probably go for a 'S' PE get the companion flight
Use 36-40k Miles for an economy ticket and use the ugrade reward from Amex to get my friend in to PE
Does that sound correct i am aware it depends on availability .
I am planning to go aroudn May when would be the best time to sort it out

[HighFlyer]

Hi Amitav,

Yes that sounds correct, one S fare, one Companion U fare and a T->U PE upgrade, and yes, you'll need to call Flying Club in order to book your flights. Advise them of the dates that you want to go in May, but you may be led by availability. I'd call as soon as you can in order to secure all three seats.

Thanks,
Sarah