USA West Coast Reward Flights

Has anyone else had problems getting Upper Class reward flights to the west coast? Before Xmas we checked availability for 2 seats to LAS or LAX in September or October - FC kindly told us that there was no availability at all during these two months!

...so whats the secret?! Waiting up until midnight 364 days before hand??

Now flying into EWR then business internal to the coast - pain in the a***!.

Neil

[preiffer]

Hi Neil, and welcome. [y]


Actually, you need to wait up until midnight 330 days in advance, as that's the booking window...

I've never encountered a scenario where there are NO reward flights for 2 months solidly, and by the sound of it - you were booking early enough (and in a quiet season, too - as the holidays are over at the start of September).

Have you tried the dates online yourself as well as through the call center? I can see a few dates with availability to LAX...

[ChuckC]

Hi Neil,
Allow me to add my welcome. I agree with Paul; there are seats, but I have found that most of the time the LAX route's VS7/VS8 combination is the most popular and fills the fastest.

Chuck-

[Nottingham Nick]

Welcome Neil.

Don't hold your breath waiting for reward seat availability to LAS. Due to the fact that it is a LGW flight, there are only 14 suites available.

It is a very popular route. You stand a much better chance of getting seats via LAX or - even better SFO - where you can take advantage of the excellent SFO Clubhouse.

Nick

Thanks for the help guys.

I tried the FC help line again yesterday and was told that I had no chance (or words to that effect!).

Are you finding this availability on the virgin site?

Cheers,

Neil

[Scrooge]

Just my 2 cents....I have tried a few times to get seats and had no luck,at one point last year I couldn't get a seat out of any airport for a month !

However I did manage to get two seats this time for our trip in Dec and yes I did call 330 days out [:#]

As Nick said,getting a reward UC ticket into Vegas is next to impossible.Your best chance to get one into the other two cities is to be a little bit flexible with your dates and pray.

Sepy-Oct is the end of peak season for the airline industry,you may end up having to book outside those dates,also have you checked into SFO?

We've got a ten day window in each direction - the furthest east I can find is Boston!

Gone for EWR with an internal Continental in the end. Thanks for your guidance though.

Neil

[preiffer]

What dates, Neil?

Need to be Vegas by October 4th, leaving after the 11th - pretty flexible either side of that as we want to take in some sights (and shopping - doh!) in LAX or SFO. FC helpline reckon that theres nothing in September or October!

Neil

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by nibbs
FC helpline reckon that theres nothing in September or October!

Could that be a hangover from all the people who rushed to book their trips before the redemption values went up.??

Nick

...maybe so! Either way, Hilton and Continental will do very nicely out of us as a result (just as well we can get some miles in the process!).

Neil

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by Nottingham Nick

Originally posted by nibbs
FC helpline reckon that theres nothing in September or October!

Could that be a hangover from all the people who rushed to book their trips before the redemption values went up.??

Nick

Like who [:I]

Could be,I know it promted me to book earlier,if even only by a week or two.