half an amex pe upgrade voucher at a time?

Hi

I would like to use one of those amex pe upgrade vouchers, but currently there is no reward PE availability on my return leg within a week either way of when I want to come back.

So two questions on the same theme:
- Can I book my outbound reward flight with the PE upgrade voucher, and then later on phone up when there is PE availability and use the other half of my upgrade voucher and book my return leg?
- or, Can I book both legs at the same time, but the outbound utilising the PE ugprade voucher and leave the inbound in economy and then phone them up and use the other half of the voucher when there is PE availability?
- or, Am I better off picking some random PE return flight in the future, and then paying 25 to move the flight when the right PE flight appears?

I hope that makes sense!

James

three questions, even

Are you sure that the full priced economy ticket (which you have to purchase to claim the upgrade reward) is cheaper than just buying the lowest PE seat?

Every time I've tried to use these vouchers it's turned out cheaper to just but the a PE fare - they're usually having a sale anyway!

The vouchers are a con and should be exposed as such [V]

[Neil]

To use the Amex PE upgrade vouchers, you need to 'buy' the economy fare with miles. You cannot buy an economy fare with cash and then use the voucher to upgrade to PE.

I believe, from previous conversations I've have with FC about using these vouchers, you have to the whole voucher in one go, you cannot 'forfeit' one part of it if you want however, but remember that the return leg would be classed as a one way fare and unless you used miles you would have to buy a flexible ticket and not a cheap fare.

[Nottingham Nick]

quote:Originally posted by Capt.Pag
Are you sure that the full priced economy ticket (which you have to purchase to claim the upgrade reward) is cheaper than just buying the lowest PE seat?

You are getting your vouchers mixed up.
The voucher that the OP is talking about using is the PE upgrade voucher - only usable when booking an economy reward seat. See here for details.

I have never used these vouchers, as I never book a reward flight in Y due to the excessive taxes and charges.

To the OP - you haven't said which route you plan on using the voucher on. If you have done the maths and this is the best use of you miles / cash, and the dates of the trip aren't flexible to wait for a sale, then I think I would be tempted to secure the available date, and hope other PE seats open up.

Others may think different however.

Nick

[Nottingham Nick]

quote:Originally posted by Neil
..I've have with FC about using these vouchers, you have to the whole voucher in one go, you cannot 'forfeit' one part of it if you want however, but remember that the return leg would be classed as a one way fare and unless you used miles you would have to buy a flexible ticket and not a cheap fare.


Surely the ethos is that you book a return Y reward trip and the upgrade to PE is on a 'space available' basis - confirmed at time of booking (or later if seats become available). As you say, booking a one way trip using cash is a VERY expensive option.


Nick

quote:You are getting your vouchers mixed up.
The voucher that the OP is talking about using is the PE upgrade voucher - only usable when booking an economy reward seat. See here for details.

Yes that's what I'm talking about, thanks.

quote:I have never used these vouchers, as I never book a reward flight in Y due to the excessive taxes and charges.

To the OP - you haven't said which route you plan on using the voucher on. If you have done the maths and this is the best use of you miles / cash, and the dates of the trip aren't flexible to wait for a sale, then I think I would be tempted to secure the available date, and hope other PE seats open up.

The route is London to Sydney over Christmas and New Year. I was thinking it wasn't likely that there would be a sale over that time period and on that route. The cheapest economy flight (maybe 1200 with other carriers, virgin is a bit more) is significantly more expensive than a reward economy surcharges/taxes (312).

Currently there are no PE flights coming back from Sydney between 3rd Jan and 20th Jan, although there are economy reward flights.

So if I have to use the voucher to upgrade both inbound and outbound, and not just one at a time, I would need to take the flight back on the 20th and then hope something else comes up later on.

The alternative I've been thinking about is to book an economy reward flight both ways and then when both PEs turn up use the reward voucher, but I probably get hit by the 25 and risk losing the outbound PE reward that's available now. Although the upside is that I actually have a flight, even if it's economy

If only booking reward flights was easy.

James

Ooops [:I]
Wrong voucher!

be sure to check that the LHR-SYD can be done on ONE upgrade voucher. Each flight counts as 2 legs, so you may only be able to use the upgrade one way anyway.