not as confused but still can't manage to decided!!!

Thank you everyone who has given me so much advice on this topic.

I am still a bit torn on this so I have narrowed it down to this (for now anyway)

I have my pe upgrade x2 from my amex card and 360k miles.
A
man - atlanta reward flight pe
atlanta - vegas/sfo paid for with cash
vegas to manchester uc reward flights

total cost 260k miles and £1690 cash

or
B
return flights from lon to vegas ec reward flights 170000 miles plus £836.84
will need to buy return flights from lba
and then hope I can use my upgrade voucher for one leg and upgrade with points for the other.

what is stopping me is for A what happens if I don't manage cheap enough connection flights from atlanta to vegas?
option B what happens if there is never any upgrades??? and by the time I have upped the taxes I might be better just going for option A

any comments please?

I could fly uc man - vegas and return vegas - man but I feel I will have wasted my upgrades and £140

How many of you are there?

3 adults 1 child !

Ok ... others will no doubt disagree but I think UC is wasted on children who won't appreciate the premium service. In my experience the main draw for kids is the IFE, and that's the same wherever you sit.

If money's no object fine, but I'm sure the £800 you save could be put to good use in Vegas. And if you go for the via ATL option you're looking at a minimum of £500 extra for the four of you, not to mention having to endure another 4-5 hour flight straight after an 8-9 hour transatlantic.

If you go for B and book Economy reward seats you can upgrade them to PE with miles/vouchers if it becomes available, and it's easy to change flights for a small fee if, say, PE reward availability suddenly appears on the MAN flight after you've booked from LGW.

Thank you gum shoe I have been wondering what is more important the holiday or the flight!! The further up the cabin I go the more the flight becomes a treat but money is not no object and I can still afford to fly using points next year then .

1 step forward 2 back !!
I will decided before all the flights are gone and if I don't well we'll go some where where there is availability !! Fingers crossed its not cold and outside the uk!

its vegas... You will get a lot more for that £800 in Vegas than you will upgrading a seat on a plane.
I would fly E out (maybe pay the extra & bag the extra legroom seats) & try to get PE back to help with sleep/jet lag - your 2x vouchers will be good for 4x one way, just may be hard to get 4x pe seats.
Spend the £800 on room upgrade or a good family meal, etc.
Once you're on the plane everyone will be glued to the IFE watching films, etc.

Do you really want to fly to Atlanta & be stuck in the airport waiting for connections?
Another option could be a 48 hour stopover in NYC?

Whilst I agree that children don't get the same value as an adult on a day flight, I think on an overnight flight it is definitely worth it for the flat bed. Taxes in Upper on the return are less than the outward too.
For my 2 pennies worth, I would book economy LGW-LAS and Upper LAS-MAN. I wouldn't want to return to London after an overnight flight in economy and then have to make my way back up north with tired and cranky kids. Travelling to London for the outward journey isn't so bad as the kids are excited and haven't just got off a red eye. Total cost 285,000 miles and £1208.84 so price wise, somewhere in between your two existing options.

I have thought of a stop over, but my dh has instructed not too many flights this year!! so I am trying to keep things simple. please no laughing!

we stopped over in ny the other year and loved new york, but don't really want to return just yet.

I do like the idea of ec out and uc back, just for the extreme!! and the price.

once I get this sorted I can start planning the bit in the middle. the holiday itself!

I also agree I don't want to get off a 9 hour plane to then travel another 5 hours.
and
I'm not too fond of having to fly up from london to manchester then to drive home, although if we fly to leeds bradford its only a 10 min drive home, taxi or lift

I don't think there are direct flights from either Leeds or Manchester to LGW, you'd have to fly to LHR then taxi/train across London. This would cause a problem with booking flights as you'd have to leave quite a bit of time because they wouldn't be booked on a through ticket so you'd have to collect luggage, travel across London with said luggage and check in with enough time for your next flight, a nightmare on the return. Could you drive to Manchester and leave your car there getting the train/flight down the night before and staying in a hotel? That way your car would be at Manchester for a quick jaunt across the Pennines on your direct return. You can get a frequent train from MAN TO Wilmslow (7 mins) and from there it's a 2 hour train to London.

And obviously keep checking for E or PE flights from Man and switch if they appear.
By the way, when you've successfully negotiated booking flights with the handicap of living up north (drives me mad!) and are ready for the fun bit, feel free to pm me for advice or recommendations on Vegas/California, we did so much when we went and I researched it to death!

polb you could be my new best friendx

I just phoned flying club - told them I wanted to use miles and asked if there was an upgrade on the lon to las flight. I was told that I could fly lon to las ec then home uc las to man. the price £4k plus miles but can upgrade when the upgrades become available.
I;m not sure they understood I didn't want to spend my money. I wanted it for nowt and to fly uc too

Even if you're using miles you still need to pay the taxes and fees - no such thing as a free flight!

I just phoned flying club - told them I wanted to use miles ........
I;m not sure they understood I didn't want to spend my money. I wanted it for nowt and to fly uc too

Hats off to you for that, but taxes still have to be paid.

A reward flight travelling direct from Manchester to LasVegas on Sunday August 14th and returning two weeks later would be as follows:-

3 adults + 1 child in Upper class
£1970.00 for taxes, fees, charges and carrier imposed surcharges plus 400,000 miles

You are not going to find any flights for "nowt" regardless of what class you travel and the taxes etc are a significant part of any fare.

Obviously you can't fly for nowt, but the op was quoted £4000 for out E back UC and that is definitely not the price for a full reward booking. I think you're right and they got confused by the upgrade request and were quoting you for an m fare which you could later upgrade (although you can't use vouchers to upgrade a paid fare, only a reward booking, so you obviously got a clueless rep). Phone back and ask for a price on a full miles redemption out E back UC (you can also price and book this online, that's how I priced it for you, you just click the more options button under where you put destinations and it allows you to book open jaw, mixed class). Don't even mention the upgrade if there are not currently PE seats because it obviously confused them. If premium seats become available for the outbound at a later date you can 100% call and use you upgrade vouchers for a change fee of £30 per person plus the extra tax.

sorry didn't mean nowt nowt, just not as much as the 4K. didn't mean to confuse xx

I've done it booked ec lon- Vegas and uc Vegas - man
285000 miles and just under 1200 squid
Just need to keep an eye open for an upgrade to pe to use my voucher
Apparently no upper class sold on the way out and only 6 pe to date , fingers crossed xxxxxx

Well done!

It's worth checking for PE availability daily as it appears at random. Fingers crossed indeed!

I've done it booked ec lon- Vegas and uc Vegas - man
285000 miles and just under 1200 squid
Just need to keep an eye open for an upgrade to pe to use my voucher
Apparently no upper class sold on the way out and only 6 pe to date , fingers crossed xxxxxx

might want to sign up to traveller 1 lounge & hope you get an offer email. Sometimes you can get in for as cheap as £15 per person, which is great value when you get some hot food (not a big portion), a buffet style layout of cold choices depending on depend of day & unlimited alcohol/soft drinks.

I've done it booked ec lon- Vegas and uc Vegas - man
285000 miles and just under 1200 squid
Just need to keep an eye open for an upgrade to pe to use my voucher
Apparently no upper class sold on the way out and only 6 pe to date , fingers crossed xxxxxx

Woohoo! Now the fun part of planning can start. West coast is definitely my favourite destination, so much diversity, beaches, desserts, forests, national parks, cities and theme parks. I'm very jealous and now am very tempted to cancel Barbados and go California again!