Can you use points and the upgrade voucher to obtain a double upgrade?

[kebeliever]

Hi there,

Looking into the Virgin rewards scheme and considering the Virgin Premium credit card.

If I were to obtain a 2-for-1 / upgrade voucher, I am wondering if this could be combined with points to achieve a double upgrade on an economy cash booking.

For example, if I were to book 2x economy return fares with cash to the Caribbean for me and my girlfriend, could I then upgrade these seats to Premium for 15,000 points each – and then use the upgrade voucher to upgrade one seat to Upper Class (or both seats on one leg?).

This seems like it would be very advantageous if so – for the price of an economy round trip plus additional fees, 30,000 points, and the voucher, one would be able to obtain either one upper class and one premium seat, or one leg for both in each. As someone who is unlikely to hit the spend required to save up 100,000+ points anytime soon, this would be an attractive offer for me.

Apologies if this has been asked previously – I found one other thread where this idea was discussed, but not answered fully.

[davefl]

No, you can’t do a double upgrade with 2 vouchers. You can allegedly do a 2for1 then an upgrade for one leg for 2 people

See this for the method with 2 vouchers https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/ive-been-charged-95k-points-rather-than-55k-points-for-lhr-bgi-return/

But depending on your point of view and the person that answers the call it’ll be calculated differntly. I think @Krispy in the above thread will find the second voucher hasn’t been used. We’ll have to wait and see.

[kebeliever]

davefl wrote:

No, you can’t do a double upgrade with 2 vouchers. You can allegedly do a 2for1 then an upgrade for one leg for 2 people

See this for the method with 2 vouchers https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/ive-been-charged-95k-points-rather-than-55k-points-for-lhr-bgi-return/

But depending on your point of view and the person that answers the call it’ll be calculated differntly. I think @Krispy in the above thread will find the second voucher hasn’t been used. We’ll have to wait and see.

Thanks for the reply – and the useful link! However I’m not looking to use two vouchers, I’m asking a slightly different question.

For clarity, I’ll use a single ticket example. I am asking if the following would be possible / permitted:

Step 1. Purchasing a cash return fare, LHR to Caribbean, in economy

Step 2. Upgrading this economy seat to a premium economy reward seat using points (15k points + taxes and fees)

Step 3. Then, upgrading this premium economy reward seat to an upper class reward seat using the upgrade voucher (voucher + taxes and fees)

In this example, the total cost would therefore be the original cash economy price, plus the additional taxes and fees of the upgrades, 15k points, and one upgrade voucher. Would this be permitted?

[davefl]

Sorry I was reading on my phone earlier and my eyes are crap.

Yes that would be fine. You’d just need to make sure that both PE and UC were available for points. The agent should be able to do it all in one call.

[kebeliever]

Thanks for the reply – that is great to know.

Seems like astonishingly good value. I just had a look at what this would cost to Barbados in practice, for a random off-peak week next year when there is reward availability in all 3 classes.

Thursday 13th March to Thursday 20th:
– Economy classic return: £594 of which £323 is taxes and fees (the cash for the fare is therefore £261)
– Upgrade to PE: 15k points
– Upgrade to Upper Class: 1x CV + additional £390 in taxes and fees
Total cost: £974 + 15,000 points + CV (£261 fare + £713 taxes and fees)

Cash price of upper class return: £2580

I know you are using the voucher to upgrade, but in this example you’re getting nearly 11p a point. And for 30k points, £1848 and the voucher, you could fly two people PE outbound and Upper Class return.

[JohnBart]

The 2-4-1 voucher only gives you UC for 50% of points unless you are Virgin Silver/Gold

[marks7389]

kebeliever wrote:

I know you are using the voucher to upgrade, but in this example you’re getting nearly 11p a point. And for 30k points, £1848 and the voucher, you could fly two people PE outbound and Upper Class return.

That assumes that you would actually pay the cash price of course, and you feel that UC offers the value to be worth that much.

I also don’t think your taxes and fees are quite right. According to Rob’s chart from March it should be £819 for Barbados in UC, assuming no change since.

On the basis this multi-upgrade approach is possible (which I have no reason to doubt), the complexity may well cause issues getting it booked fast enough where there is competition for sought-after UC redemption seats. A simpler solution would be an upgraded PE->UC redemption which would cost £819+voucher+35K points (standard dates) and give you full cancellation flexibility.

[marks7389]

JohnBart wrote:

The 2-4-1 voucher only gives you UC for 50% of points unless you are Virgin Silver/Gold

50% for the second seat if used as a companion voucher. You can still use it as an upgrade voucher, which is what is being suggested here.