Yup, another upgrade for Miles or money Question!

So were getting married in Sept 09 and are hooneymooning for a few days in Orlando before heading of on a cruise, anyway I was about to book the Tickets when I looked in to upgrades etc.

I was 'going' to purchase Economy which are coming up at 430.60 pp on a Q ticket (MAN-MCO) (well parents treat I shuold say
[}:)])
Then I check PE and they are coming up at 840 pp on a K ticket
I then thought what the hell ill check the UC and to my utter surprise they were only coming in at 1680 pp (think it was a Z??)

So I dont have a CC and was going to get one just before the honeymoon but then I was worried I would get a rubbish credit limit so decided to get one now and buy petrol & food on it and pay it off in order to get a decent credit limit for the honeymoon, I went for the Virgin Atlantic Black card as I decided I would try my damdest to upgrade my flights with my miles earned.

Am I correct in thinking if I buy the economy Q class tix I can upgrade (subject to availability of course) with miles or miles+money the month before we go?

Is it also correct that for me to upgrade from Econ to UC using just miles I would need 120k (for both of us to do it return) but for Miles+Money I would need 30k miles plus xxx??

In past circumstances does anyone know if the miles + money upgrade has worked out more expensive than just buying the flights direct @ the 1680pp price? So if I paid 430 plus 15000 miles would the extra funds they want take me to or above the same price I can get the UC for if i buy them out right now??

Im in such a quandry what to do! Buy or wait...[i]

I really want to treat my OH as a surprise but at this second would need to purchase them on CC and pay it off monthly which im a little reluctant to do in this climate.....[:?]

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Neil]

Hi and welcome to V-Flyer.

Unfortunately things aren't quite as simple as you(and us all) would like them to be.

If you buy a Q Economy fare, this is not upgradable with miles, or mile plus money. It is a discount fare and to be able to upgrade with miles you will need to have either a Y, B or L fare. These are obviously more expensive than a Q fare, so you would need to speak to Virgin to get a price. Then you would be able to use 60k miles per person to upgrade to Upper Class. However, to do this there will need to be reward availability (a G fare). Unfortunately again, G fares are not easy to come by on the MCO route, only a select number are available on certain (not all) flights and as MCO is a popular route with a small UC cabin it makes it very difficult, and the longer you leave it the less chance of there been any availability, so your thoughts of been able to upgrade the month before you go is quite unlikely.

As far as I know, regarding MPM fares, you cannot change a normal fare in to a MPM fare. One thing to think about is that MPM fares quite often do not offer good value for money, often been similar price, or more than a normal fare and with them you won't earn any miles or TP's.

It really is a difficult one to advise you what to do, I think you need to first decide exactly which cabin you want to fly in and then work out your best options from there. I would however, imagine that you will have to end up just using cash. Without having the miles available now and knowing how busy the MCO route gets, rewards are VERY difficult to come by (we couldn't even get a reward return in February which is a VERY quiet month).

Neil

I remember saying to someone at FC once that it had been easier carrying out a house purchase and house sale then book six people on a flight to orlando using a combination of rewards tickets / revenue seats!

It is extremely hard using miles unless you are very flexible and dont have more than one person to worry about.

It is impossible to use the companion reward you get with the Virgin card unless you want to pay more for a single ticket than you would for two discount tickets. Has anyone ever used one of these tickets and it worked out cheaper than buying two?

Thanks guys especially Neil for the info!!

I checked the other flights for the economy (upgradeable ones) and they are a touch over £1000 that seems daft to me to pay that for economy in the 'hope' that I could upgrade when I could pay an extra £600 pp and be guranteed an UC seat!!

I think ill keep the black VA card and use it to build up miles for the future, hopefully in a few years I would have enough for another trip somewhere!!

I have flown Virgin MAN-MCO a couple of times going back a few years 2005 & 2006 iirc and I thought they were upgrading the planes, have they not bothered? I rem reading somewhere MAN was virgins plane graveyard?? Are the UC at MAN same as flying UC from London airport (minus the airport lounge of course!). We would travel down to london in normal circumstances but we land from a week in cyprus about 6pm on the wed in to Leeds/Bfd, 20 min journey home, repack, go to sleep and travel to MCO next day, we just couldnt face getting less sleep and travelling down to london

[HighFlyer]

Are the UC at MAN same as flying UC from London airport

Yup, the aircraft that service MAN are the same ones that service LGW for the MCO route. Most of the aircraft (5 out of 7) do not have games but the aircraft are not really old by any means. The seats in Y have actually been refurbished recently so I wouldnt worry at all.

Another option is to ask about paying to upgrade on the day of departure. Sometimes you can get a reasonable deal to PE from Econ if the flight isnt too full. It doesnt hurt to ask at any rate.

Thanks,
Sarah

Very slight correction - there are 8 planes in the LGW/MAN fleet... 5 of which are the [now infamous from facebook] 'Alitalia 5' - G-VROY / G-VROM / G-VLIP / G-VGAL & G-VROS - these 5 are the newest 747's in the Virgin fleet, all of which joined Virgin in 2001 when SRB snapped up the cancelled Alitalia order. All these aircraft have Super-Nova IFE (no games).

The other 3 aircraft in the LGW/MAN fleet are all ex-Heathrow aircraft - G-VAST, G-VTOP & G-VXLG - these 3 aircraft are all older than the others in the LGW/MAN fleet, but they have the better IFE system, Odyssey, which includes the Nintendo games.

[HighFlyer]

Ah yes, i always forget G-VXLG for some reason. Great summary Kraken [y]

Thanks,
Sarah

[Neil]

Originally posted by vodkagirl001
I have flown Virgin MAN-MCO a couple of times going back a few years 2005 & 2006 iirc and I thought they were upgrading the planes, have they not bothered? I rem reading somewhere MAN was virgins plane graveyard?? Are the UC at MAN same as flying UC from London airport (minus the airport lounge of course!).

The MAN/LGW a/c haven't been upgraded to the new PE seats or the VOD IFE yet, but otherwise, as Sarah said, they are exactly the same as the LHR ones. They do receive some fair, and very unfair critism, but they are still very modern and comfortable. I have flown both Y and J to MCO ex MAN and received superb service in both cabins, and most of us on here would agree, that it is the service you receive that really makes a good flight a really good flight.

I agree about you not buying an upgrable Y fare if you don't have the miles and can't confirm a UC upgrade now as I would think it highly likely the closer you get the less chance you will have.

Neil

Another option is to ask about paying to upgrade on the day of departure. Sometimes you can get a reasonable deal to PE from Econ if the flight isnt too full. It doesnt hurt to ask at any rate.

If my Economy purchase is a Q seat though would I beable to upgrade at the airport for the same price (i.e the £185 pp each way it is quoting now) or would it bump me up to an upgradeable fare first (i.e the £1000 econ seat im being offered) then give me the upgradeable £185 pp PE seats??

Its all very confusing [:p]

I guess I could just get to the airport early and pay for exit seats and leave it at that ha ha, although I somehow dont think that would compaire ''Honey I was going to treat us to UC for our wedding present, but it was far to complicated so I just decided to get us here early and get exit seat, don't worry your not missing out on anything behind the curtain'' [}:)]

Thanks everyone else for all the info on the IFE, I cant for the life of me rem if we had games or not the other flights the only thing I rem is that we both loved the VA and after all the flights we had been on with most marjor airlines we both agreed Virgin had been the best for us, comfort wise, Entertainment wise and also service wise. On one of the flights, the CC lovley lady even gave us some minitures to put in our bag ''for later'' [:w]

In the mean time, I know no one can answer this set in stone but the prices for the flights are so low at the moment, they have been that price (well the Econ & PE Ive been looking at) for about 3/4 weeks, do you estimate they might take a price hike shortly? Is it down to economy or that they allocate a certain number of seats at cheap rate and once they are gone, the more expensive ones get released?

[Neil]

Originally posted by vodkagirl001
Is it down to economy or that they allocate a certain number of seats at cheap rate and once they are gone, the more expensive ones get released?

Out of all the Economy seats, they will sell so many as a N fare, so many as Q, and so on for X, M, L, B, Y etc, each fare been more expensive than the last, so if you leave it and all the cheap fares sell, then you would only have the more expensive options available. Obvioulsy prices due fluctuate anyways, sales happen etc but there are no ways of predicting these things. We always say, buy at a price you are happy with, if you want to risk it getting cheaper then fine, but be prepared that you might end up paying more.

Re, on the day upgrades, the are just 'special' prices sometimes offered at the airport, the won't charge to make your exisiting fare flexible and then the upgrade price on top. Of course, if PE/UC are full then these won't be available.

Neil

Out of all the Economy seats, they will sell so many as a N fare, so many as Q, and so on for X, M, L, B, Y etc, each fare been more expensive than the last, so if you leave it and all the cheap fares sell, then you would only have the more expensive options available. Obvioulsy prices due fluctuate anyways, sales happen etc but there are no ways of predicting these things. We always say, buy at a price you are happy with, if you want to risk it getting cheaper then fine, but be prepared that you might end up paying more.

Yes this is what I thuoght, the longer I leave it the more chance I have of it going up and I don't want that to happen!!

Re, on the day upgrades, the are just 'special' prices sometimes offered at the airport, the won't charge to make your exisiting fare flexible and then the upgrade price on top. Of course, if PE/UC are full then these won't be available.

Neil

Oh well at least that is something, just the risk on if another class would be available [:?] perhaps ill purchase PE now, hope for an upgrade at the airport, if not at least we will have the PE seats for more comfort, if we can, then an extra bonus and surprise for us, more so for OH! I would usually discuss things like this with my OH and we would work out the best options for us, since its a surprise for him I cant do that & anoyone else I talk has a big mouth and wont beable to contain themselves if I book it which will ruin the surprise and Im not having that[V] ha

Thanks again for your help Neil

Originally posted by sickbag

It is extremely hard using miles unless you are very flexible and dont have more than one person to worry about.

It is impossible to use the companion reward you get with the Virgin card unless you want to pay more for a single ticket than you would for two discount tickets. Has anyone ever used one of these tickets and it worked out cheaper than buying two?

Sickbag - agreed it is difficult, but we have managed to do it on quite a few occasions, but out of LGW. An 'S' class is the best option. With 3 of us going I try to do the 'free' companion ticket coupled with a 'free' reward flight upgrade (currently only costing 40k miles). I have the revenue S class ticket for the TP's.

Not easy, and I usually spend about an hour on the 'phone trying to book it and you do need a bit of flexibility. You also end up with multiple booking Refs which can pose problems (especially if there is a connecting flight with those muppets at Delta)

Last couple of journeys we have had to come back via JFK - I am wondering if they have reduced avaialability of these reward flights (although Feb 2009 will be 2 reward flts).