How do people afford all these UC flights?

forgot to mention I used Delta last year and would rate virgin economy on a par with delta's business class in terms of comfort and service compared to their economy. Worst flight i have ever had! even had to pay for the beer!! $3 outbound / £3 inbound. What sort of exchange method where they using?

neil

no, all fares quoted are the "restricted" or "lowest" one's

neil

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by fadge
no, all fares quoted are the "restricted" or "lowest" one's

neil

one of the bad point of the VS site is that it can't give you the fare code..a Z will run around 2200 pounds as said before..the PE price looks like an S which is the second highest.

Originally posted by fadge
no, all fares quoted are the "restricted" or "lowest" one's

Indeed - this late before the flight, it's highly likely that the "lowest fare" available will be a D or J fare for UC, S or W for PE - i.e. all the cheaper APEX - Z (UC) or K (PE) - fares will be gone

Cheers

Michael

the uc fare quoted was restricted. the flexible fare is £6236 exclusive.

neil

check if the UC fare has a limo - you then know it is not a Z fare (will be either D or J)

I had the sheer pleasure of being updgraded from PE to UC from LHR-SFO and being completely spoilt rotten. The people I met at the bar seemed to fly weekly on business. Can I join one of these companies??

My company won't even pay Û400 on a Eco to PE upgrade and they take no pity on my height (6'5") Any lawyers out there think I can sue for a bad back??

I pray for an upgrade on my next flight on 7th Nov [oo]

Well done!! I have only been upgarded with BA and that was fun.... since then I have now made the switch to Virgin [8D] so I have had to start off at Red.............. On the slipery slope trying to get to Silver (Next week trip to Mumbai) then a trip to Sydney

Cant wait!!

Well the green eyes are truly on!!

I have to fly economy every time (once a year for our two week holiday, and we take our daughter out of school because we can't afford school holiday prices).

Just once had the good fortune to be upgraded to PE, couldn't believe my luck, I was so excited. The experience even in PE was lovely for myself, my husband and daughter.

Unfortunately being a lowly Childminder and my husband being an engineer on low pay (or at least from what I've seen on this link) we will never be able to afford even PE out of our own pockets, we don't even earn enough to take advantage with our Virgin Credit Card and earn enough miles that way or buy wines (a bit of a luxury for us)[:#]

Love to read all the TR's and dream of the day we can join in with the jet set [8D]

Ok I'll dry my eyes and stop moaning, after all a posh aircraft seat is surely not everything, I suppose I am luck I can at least travel abroad with Virgin at all.

thelaceys

Originally posted by thelaceys

after all a posh aircraft seat is surely not everything:D

How very true that is. Maybe the lottery... Mind you, you may be unlucky and get one of the infamous Good Night (Lights out) Flights[ii]

I will be using a 50% voucher that i gained on mi first vs trip when we were delayed. i no that i couldnt afford traveling uc one way and PE the other without The 50% off![n]

Originally posted by AlanA
Same for us, We fly to the USA once a year and I pay for the flights out of my own pocket (well, credit card)
If I cannot get UC at a decent Z price, then I look at alternative airlines promotions. The one thing I just cannot do is fly Virgin (or charter companies) economy. Nothing to do with snobbery or anything like that, but down to seat pitch and size. As we are 6 footers, with long legs, 8 hours in econ seats are torture, including bad backs. If that was the only way to go, then we would not go.
Sure its expensive, but so is the holiday, and to lose days due to bad backs is false economy.
PE would be and is an option, but I still feel VS short change PE customers by giveing really only extra leg room and nothing else

The problem is that, having once flown n a class other than economy, it's (almost) impossible to go back....

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by AlanA
Same for us, We fly to the USA once a year and I pay for the flights out of my own pocket (well, credit card)
If I cannot get UC at a decent Z price, then I look at alternative airlines promotions. The one thing I just cannot do is fly Virgin (or charter companies) economy. Nothing to do with snobbery or anything like that, but down to seat pitch and size. As we are 6 footers, with long legs, 8 hours in econ seats are torture, including bad backs. If that was the only way to go, then we would not go.
Sure its expensive, but so is the holiday, and to lose days due to bad backs is false economy.
PE would be and is an option, but I still feel VS short change PE customers by giveing really only extra leg room and nothing else

The problem is that, having once flown n a class other than economy, it's (almost) impossible to go back....

So very true...[:#]

I have now come to the conclusion that both PE with that dreadful new seat(old style one upstairs on LGW 747 routes is fantastic value) and BA WT+ are extremely poor value and I still get off with a bad back and cramp.So from now on its either up the front or right down the back:D

For me, I have been so close in the past to being so shattered from flying back from the USA in Economy (I just cannot sleep sitting virtually upright with my legs trapped under the seat in front)that I have almost fallen asleep on the M40. Those of us who live outside the capital have no other choice but to drive back to the midlands (no flights to midlands airports from LGW/LHR, trains take five hours!) and I just won't endanger the family.
Its worse when coming back from Vermont, as it takes about 24 hours total from getting up to getting home.

Once you've gone right (or up:D) you can't go back![:p]

Cheers,
VS045

Once you've gone right (or up) you can't go back!

think you mean left:D



Alan as a fellow midland/northener, I have the joy also of 150 miles up the M1/M40, it's definately an easier drive after a J flight.On a couple of occasions we have booked into a hotel on our return then driven back the next morning, usually very early due to off body clock, so no traffic and very relaxed.When time is not an issue I will always look to do this plus you can have a good drink on the flight and a few liveners in revivals[|)][:$]:D

Originally posted by jaguarpig

Once you've gone right (or up) you can't go back!

think you mean left:D



Alan as a fellow midland/northener, I have the joy also of 150 miles up the M1/M40, it's definately an easier drive after a J flight.On a couple of occasions we have booked into a hotel on our return then driven back the next morning, usually very early due to off body clock, so no traffic and very relaxed.When time is not an issue I will always look to do this plus you can have a good drink on the flight and a few liveners in revivals[|)][:$]:D

yes, that's a good idea, the problem is that we normally come back on a Sunday and have work the next morning

How do people afford all these UC flights? Not all do. Many people here, me incl, fly Y or S on business. But because the FC scheme is pretty good at giving upgrade rewards, people upgrade to J (strictly speaking G I think) that way.

Take an example. I flew to PVG a few weeks ago during their triple miles promo and bagged 54000 miles, and already had baout 20000. Now I spend 49000 on a ticket to CPT for the rear admiral. Just before she goes to CPT I fly to JNB then onto DUR for work. I then go to CPT to join her. We have a holiday and then fly back. I earn another 17000 miles for the LHR-DUR/CPT-LHR trip, so I am back up to 41000. We both do the casino promotion bagging another 20000 miles and spend a bit on our amex/VS credit cards. That gets up up to around 70000.

Next we will pick somewhere else to go, proably buy 2 PE tickets, and spend 60000 upgrading them one way. We would spend 60000 miles doing that, but earn another 2 x 18000 = 36000. So net miles cost say 24000. Throw in some promotional miles and amex/VSCC miles, and we will be back where we started. And so the merry-go-round goes on.

My point is that some spend on free flights, and some on upgrades. But either way, with FC rewards are not too difficult to earn.