V-Flyer

I admit it, I dont understand how to make the most of my Companion flight flying Upper Class.

I have read loads of the postings and spent an hour on the phone to Flying Club but I can not see any way of getting two return flights London to Sydney using a Companion flight and saving any thing.

It seems that no matter what I do I end up paying more by using the Companion flight that by buying two of the lower priced seats.

One posting from 2005 says they they saved about £1200 but I don't understand how?

Any help would be really welcome. I have a Companion ticket from the Virgin Card and also 100,000 miles and need to know how best to use either and treat us to probably our one and only ever trip in Upper Class.
Thanks
Chris

Hi chrisinessex and welcome to V-Flyer

There have been several posts on this topic but unfortunately I have been unable to find them using the search function. However the wisdom on the board is that the companion tickets are not good value in UC as you have to pay a J fare which is the most expensive and in fact 2 x Z fares are cheaper. it is in PE that companion tickets come into their own.

I'm sure the more enlightened members on the site will be able to direct you further

How much do you want to fly WITH your companion?

If the answer is "well, not THAT much..." then I'd do the following:


Buy an upgradable PE fare (S class) for not much.
Use your companion ticket to put your travelling partner into PE for free (+ taxes, of course)
Upgrade YOUR ticket to Upper for 80k miles return to SYD.

(Companion tickets are non-upgradeable, so your partner can't get mad at you : VS made the rules... [:w])

Thanks to you both.
Flying in Upper Class using an upgrade with my companion in PE sounds like a good option but would probably result in a rather ill tempered partner on holiday.
So the only thing I could gain using a companion flight on Upper Class is the Limo and option to change flights?
I am confused how the posting of 11/07/2005 "Upper Class Companion Ticket LHR-SYD" mentions saving £1200.

I stand to be corrected but I think the saving refers to the fact that the agent wanted to book the companion fare only as far as HKG. The savings of £1200 refer to the cost of the fare from HKG to SYD if he/she had prevailed in this argument.

Chris,
I would agree that UC COmpanions are not good for saving money, unless you want a J fare in the first place. It does save a whole bunch if you fly PE. Can you keep and and use it on say a xmas trip to NYC (that's why Mrs B and I do)

Paul

If you're travelling on business, on a J, it's great - as a friend/partner can come along for free. I've done this twice, but I think my current companion ticket's going to end up disappearing without use.

Other than that, agreed - the UC option is not attractive.

Ive lost a companion ticket before as I couldn't fly J at the time!

PE seems the most cost effective use of the reward.

Even Economy needs a Y/B or L ticket!

Chris,

I was looking to use my Companion ticket for LHR-SYD but had the same dilemma. 1 x J really was equal to 2 x Z, so the only benefit was the car service, which may be useful depending on how far away from the airport you live / stay.

Certainly I think the car service is available at London, Hong Kong and Sydney so you would save on taxi's / other transport at each. Within the UK the car service seems more valuable the farther away from London you live ( for me it's not so valuable as Heathrow Express / tube is far quicker )

The best use I've found for the Companion ticket is to South Africa. When I last looked at it a Z ticket came in around £2400 whereas a J was £3600, so a potential saving of £1200 over 2 x Z. This is the only route where I'm aware this is the case though.

Thanks,

David.

Originally posted by Jonathan
Ive lost a companion ticket before as I couldn't fly J at the time!

PE seems the most cost effective use of the reward.

Even Economy needs a Y/B or L ticket!

The value of a companion tickets is not purely a matter of which class it is more a matter of when you are intending to fly.

At off peak times the differential between the cheapest flight and a qualifying flight is at it's greatest - as suggested the qualifying flight is often around 2*the cheapest. However at peak times the differential decreases as the cheapest fares increase by a greater amount than the qualifying flights.

Phil

Thanks everyone!

Looks like we will end up in PE and try and make the best saving we can.

I'm rather pleased that it wasn't me being stupid that could not figure the system, but unhappy that spending all that cash on the credit card hasn't actually earned us as much as we hoped it could.

Oh well thats life