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Your advice is sought……
I have about 500,000 Flying Club miles. I have a “companion voucher”. Through flying with SQ, I am a Virgin Gold.
But despite this seemingly attractive profile, I cannot consumate my miles into Upper Class tickets.
I understand how BA works (when it works). I have phoned BA at midnight, and succeeded in getting tickets.
– What tactics do readers advise that would end my frustration?
Thanks in advance.Dear @1958,
What exactly is it that you want to do with your miles?! Further detail would be helpful.
Dear @1958,
What exactly is it that you want to do with your miles?! Further detail would be helpful.
Sorry for being unclear. I would like advice on “How to book two Upper Class returns, well in advance”.
We would like to travel to the USA West Coast in late April 2023. (which is currently just over 330 days away). I understand that BA reliably release seats at T-355, and that if you are quick and lucky, you can book them.
What are the appropriate tactics to use with Virgin?
ThanksI don’t think Virgin guarantee to release seats, unlike BA, and you also have to call to use the voucher which doesn’t help, especially at the moment. As @FFoxSake notes, signing up to SeatSpy will let you see current availability. However, it’s showing very slim pickings to LAX and SFO. An alternative might be to use your voucher to JFK (good availability showing in March, but don’t forget a big chunk of April will be Easter holidays and therefore high demand), and get a connecting flight from there (possibly using Virgin miles on Delta?).
There have been a lot of comments on here about lack of award seats on VS, so it’ll be interesting when I’m trying to redeem my own voucher next year!Buy a couple of shops full of Gregg’s sausage rolls.
That’ll end your frustration, and probably end your life too if you eat them all!
Convert Virgin to Hilton/IHG and use on nice hotels. Pay for cash flights, on the exact day/time/airline you want, using the money saved.
I’m not claiming it will get you the best £/point return ever, but if Virgin flights don’t become available (or you’re forced to take unnecessary connections you didn’t want just to use them) it would be a way of using your points to upgrade your ideal holiday or reduce the cost rather than living your life to the tune of airline availability.Which should be the aim of the game.
Or – as per article today – you could go on a cruise.
Or Greggs.
I don’t think Virgin guarantee to release seats, unlike BA, and you also have to call to use the voucher which doesn’t help, especially at the moment. As @FFoxSake notes, signing up to SeatSpy will let you see current availability. However, it’s showing very slim pickings to LAX and SFO. An alternative might be to use your voucher to JFK (good availability showing in March, but don’t forget a big chunk of April will be Easter holidays and therefore high demand), and get a connecting flight from there (possibly using Virgin miles on Delta?).
There have been a lot of comments on here about lack of award seats on VS, so it’ll be interesting when I’m trying to redeem my own voucher next year!I haven’t seen reward seats or upgrades since pre-pandemic. I’ve done LHR to JFK/LAX/LAS/SFO/SEA and soon IAD with them in the last few months, and nothing. Hoping for some news on the award/reward front soon. At least VS Points are now more flexible.
There are definitely seats showing on SeatSpy. I can’t get into my Virgin account at the moment so I can’t check whether this is reflected on the website.
As I had time at the weekend I checked every day Sept to Dec for UC availability MAN to JFK. I found 3 dates total; 2 of which were in late October. However I couldn’t find availability JFK to MAN to get me home using an upgrade voucher. Only a hanfdul of dates showed inboubd availability and they were either the same date as the outbound availability or flying on KLM via AMS and thus voucher-ineligible. (And also probably phantom KLM space).
Yes, availability seems to be concentrated in the next 3 months then 8 months+ out. But as with BA, flexibility and booking well ahead seem to be key.
Made me laugh that this is how my Google news feed showed this post:
Also had this issue
Regarding needing to call up to redeem voucher, u can book both with miles and then call after to change to voucher,
Also if you are super flexible i have found a couple of days before they release some more upper class seats occasionally
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