V-Flyer

I'm starting to think about planning next years holiday and would appreciate some advice as to the best way to use my miles.

I've looked at Virgin Holidays, but generally they appear to be very expensive so not sure this is the best use?

Not decided on a destination yet but want to take the family of four UC if we decied to use them for flights (400K miles)

I'm guessing that availabilty of four UC seats isn't going to be easy?

Any and all advice welcome!

Four seats in G (Upper Reward class) can be done, but not on the LGW routes given they only have 14 seats.

There were 9+ G seats to places like PVG and NRT at various times last year. All depends on your route, time of year you want to travel, and day of week as they are the key factors. But 4 Upper reward seats are not out of the question. [y]

Do you have any must visit destinations. How old are the 4 travellers, are we talking kids in this mix?

Thanks,
Richard

Kids 5 and 7. Ideally summer holidays so late July to September, but as they are still quite young we are not against taking them out of school.

I'm open minded to destinations. I've traveled around the states a fair bit, and San Francisco and San Diego are my favourites, so possibly LA and Disney for the kids and then on to somewhere else.

We are also thinking about something quieter, i.e. Caribbean etc, but availabiliy looks slim to nothing.

Originally posted by SteveA
Kids 5 and 7. Ideally summer holidays so late July to September, but as they are still quite young we are not against taking them out of school.

I'm open minded to destinations. I've traveled around the states a fair bit, and San Francisco and San Diego are my favourites, so possibly LA and Disney for the kids and then on to somewhere else.

We are also thinking about something quieter, i.e. Caribbean etc, but availabiliy looks slim to nothing.

I'd hazard that, at that time, and to those destinations, 4 x Gs would be most unlikely - but not impossible, particularly to LA where there are two flights per day. For SFO, July is peak holiday season and September is high conference season, both times will be busy.
Don't forget that you can only book in 336 ( arrgh, forget the precise number but someone will insert this) or so days in advance, so you'll have to wait a good few months yet for availability to appear.

I think more realistically you should set your sights on 2 UC and 2 PE.

I got 3 x UC G's to SFO this July without any bother at all.

Having said that, I did book the flights as soon as they opened and was flexible with my dates.

Slinky's PE / UC split suggestion is a good one, as you will still get the full Clubhouse experience.

Nick

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick

Slinky's PE / UC split suggestion is a good one, as you will still get the full Clubhouse experience.

And if you allocate 1*UC leg to each passenger everyone gets to experience the suites. Of course there are some on this board that would suggest 1*UC ticket for you and leave the missus in the middle with the kids. [B)]

FM

Thanks for the feedback.

PE isn't going to work really. I've flown UC many times before and don't want to sit in PE as it's a holiday. I won't even suggest that the wife / kids sit in the back (not that stupid....)

The other way to approach it would be to secure what you can, say two G's for you and the Wife, and two U's in PE for the kids, and try to upgrade the U fares later on. Depending on availability, more reward seats may open up a few months later, and on the day of departure you usually have a very good chance of upgrading with miles if there are enough free seats.

Personally, I'd leave the kids in PE [:D]

Thanks,
Sarah