V-Flyer

I’m looking for a bit of advice on forward planning with regard to the most cost effective way of getting a flight in UC to SYD and returning from NRT. Basically am I better saving up all my money and paying, or should I be looking at trying to take cheap transatlantic flights to bump up my mileage and by an upgradeable PE ticket.

To give you a bit of background, I’ll be headed out to Sydney in December 2007, to take part in the Clipper RTW Yacht Race. I’ll be sailing from Fremantle to Singapore, spending a few days there before getting back on the yacht to head up to Qingdao, China. The plan then is to see a bit of China, fly over to Japan and then head home from there in March 2008.

I have friends over in Mobile, Alabama who I’ve usually gone over to see every year in Sept/Oct, but given the amount I’m going to be spending on this trip of a lifetime (I got my kit list last week - ouch!), I was resigned to the fact that I’d probably have to shelve these trips until after the yachting adventure. However I’m now wondering if by purchasing cheap tickets to Mobile (they seem quite reasonable in Nov), and racking up the miles it might actually work out cheaper in the long run. At the moment I have 20,000 FC miles and each trip to MOB usually gets me around 10,000.

I’ve tried pricing the trip as if I was headed out this Dec and returning in 2007 and the UC prices seem to fluctuate between £3,000 & £5,000 depending on the dates. £5,000 would be out of the question (unless SRB wants to be my sponsor!), but £3,000 would be doable, and given that I’m flexible with the dates, I would imagine I’d be able to shift them around to make sure I got the cheaper fare. Also on the va.com site I don’t seem to be able to mix classes when arriving and departing from different locations, so I wonder whether UC out & PE back with a mileage upgrade might work out quite reasonable - as I’m guessing I’d only need the 20,000 to do that, which I’ve already got.

Basically any help or advice on my options would be great.

jmf,
I'd give FC a call as not all ticket types are upgradable

The VS website unfortunately doesnt give you the fare codes that you'd need to see if the ticket is upgradable - FC are generally veryt helpful and at least you'll then know how much an upgradable fare costs!!

Humm. Not sure I approve of this going off sailing lark . Expect congratulations are in order though....

Hey,

I donÕt know about the T&CÕsÉ.. Maybe you could do the great escapade?
As I said I donÕt know too much about the T&CÕs and there could be an issue with the dates..

Good luck!!!

Patrick

In all resiousness, think flexibility in your tickets. Yachts have ETA's not schedules, and so you do often need to move things around. Also you should think about getting seaman's tickets. These give you additional luggage (35KG in Y) and flex tickets. Griffin travel is an agent who specialises in these tickets, but I understand there are better.

Originally posted by sailor99
In all resiousness, think flexibility in your tickets. Yachts have ETA's not schedules, and so you do often need to move things around. Also you should think about getting seaman's tickets. These give you additional luggage (35KG in Y) and flex tickets. Griffin travel is an agent who specialises in these tickets, but I understand there are better.

Great advice [y][oo]

Thanks for all the advice folks [y]

Jeremy, cheers for the tip on the seamans tickets - who knew such a thing existed! I was hoping not to have to travel in Y, after my 13 hour trip to Vegas last month, I swore I'd sell everything I owned before I did a trip that long in Y again - I want a last bit of luxury before I spend a month and a bit on the yacht, where no doubt Y will seem like luxury , but the flex ticket expertise would be very handy. I had planned to have quite a bit of padding either side of the leg - arriving at the beginning of Dec and returning sometime in the first 2 weeks of March, however this years race has shown that things can be very unpredictable, so I need to be prepared for anything!

Patrick, not sure I'd qualify for a Great Escapade as I seem to recall that you need to travel transatlantic and transpacific.

Do VS do different levels of flexibility on their tickets or are tickets generally either flexible or not?

in Upper Class, they are normally either Flexible (full J) or NOT, although Miles Plus Money fares are now flexible (but do not earn any miles or tier points) and I am not sure you can mix 'countries' for the Miles Plus money fares. Open Jaw travel is ok (ie: into one city and out of another) but (ISTBC) Open jaw across differing countries cannot work with miles plus money.

Why not ring Premier and ask them?

I was looking into the great escapde (Upper Class) and Virgin told me the ticket was on Z but you can make changes when you want:)

Originally posted by patrickj77

I was looking into the great escapde (Upper Class) and Virgin told me the ticket was on Z but you can make changes when you want:)

Escapade can be changed, but does need both a transatlantic AND a transpacific crossing. Unless this trip was going to go LHR-HKG-SYD..... NRT-SIN-AKL-LAX-LHR (which is definately the LONG way home) the escapade will not work in this instance.

Would be a nice way home though!!

And think of the miles I'd earn!

In all seriousness, if it's a good way to get a cheaper flexible UC ticket, then it could be worth considering. It would be a chance to see NZ whilst I'm "in the area" and I wouldn't be averse to a few days in LA - my US friend come and see me for a change.

Armed with some suggestions, I'll definitely give FC a call and see what they can suggest.

Thanks everyone [y]