Virgin Reward seat sale

[Simon Galloway]

Usually its 50k miles to LV round trip (75k PE and 100k upper)

Assuming for ease of maths the taxes are the same for each cabin class (you pay a little bit more in higher cabins)

Assume for ease of maths that you can get a economy seat for £500 by being organised and booking during a sale fare.  (perhaps I should assume that you are all poker players and will pay £900 a couple of days before..)

So, by redeeming 50k miles for a rewards flight, it costs you nearly £300 in taxes anyway, so 50k miles saves you £200 (but the reward flight doesn't earn you any reward miles or tier points) so it really isn't that big a benefit.

By that maths, using 2 reward flights @ 50k saves you £400 (less the benefits of miles foregone).  BUT, the 100k pts COULD have got you an Upper Class return.

So the best value is undoubtedly to save the miles and treat yourself to Upper.  Or enquire at the desk (not check in desk) about availability of upgrades on the day.  Personally, I'd rather just book Upper, you know you can take extra luggage, you don't mind getting there in plenty of time as you know you can use the clubhouse.  Admittedly, they don't put up too many reward seats in Upper, but they can be had, particularly if you are flexible on dates by a few days.

For those that don't fly very often or are on a tight budget, I couldn't put anyone off taking a 50% sale fare for 25k miles.

[suzanne]

Dont talk to me about Flying Club.

I had 35k + miles which are now lost because my account was dormant even though I was still playing on Virgin but didnt transfer points 

[Simon Galloway]

Sorry to hear.  For anyone else in similar situation, transfer points in from partner sites, (you can make 1k miles providing random answers to questionnaires for example) or if you have to, buy 1k miles.  Points earned automatically on their credit card keep the account active.

[Marky147]

For the travel donks it means you won't even have a Flying Club account so it won't matter.

For those that do have Flying Club accounts and have earned miles before, you can redeem your miles at a heavily discounted rate during this sale.  25k miles will get you a free return flight to Las Vegas (you pay taxes)

ROFL I am a travel donk and I have a Flying Club account so I guess I'm the exception

I only have like 8k miles from my flight to Vegas last year though so I guess that's not much good. My plan was this year to buy a few thousand miles each month so I could get a cheaper PE flight when I book in January/February for next Summer.

This is where I'm a donk now as I am a bit lost with the requirements etc.

Should I buy a lump of miles this side of xmas then some more after xmas and how many would I need to take advantage of this promo?

[Marky147]

Ah I think I get it, if I buy 17k miles now I could get a flight and only pay taxes to Vegas?

[Simon Galloway]

I think the "buy miles" option is on offer at the moment too.  The reward seat sale is only on until 20th Sep.

It should be some easy maths to work out which is best:

a) Buy 17k miles + your 8k miles + ~£285 taxes = ?
b) Pay for the ticket, earn another 8k miles = ?
c) Or pay for an economy ticket, in a non-sale fare ticket class, and buy+use 20k miles to upgrade to Premium.

For me personally I would never cash in 75k miles for P.E to Vegas.  Another 25k miles would get you Upper,  Upper is soooooooo much better than Premium, AINEC.

[Simon Galloway]

And just out of curiosity, I took a closer look.  15% buy miles sale until 5th Oct.

Sooo, mid Nov economy flight = £569.50 (+ earn 5,222 miles + 4 tier points)

Buying 25k miles atm = £333.75, redeem them for limited flight slots + £285 tax = £618.75 (and no miles or tier point earned)

For my money, 25k miles + credit card voucher for free premium is ok.  30k miles to upgrade from economy to Upper on the way back is ok.  100k miles for Upper round trip is ok.  Everything else seems to be pretty meh. 

[Marky147]

Thanks Simon I'll not be booking up for the summer until next year so that option isn't a goer....

I think I'll buy 22k miles and upgrade to upper on the way back for 30k. I'll no doubt be depressed after knocking it in for a few weeks so that should make the journey home much better

[Rotty]

If you buy miles do they credit straight away, don't want to buy some and then fine when I go for the flights they are gone

[Simon Galloway]

Thanks Simon I'll not be booking up for the summer until next year so that option isn't a goer....

I think I'll buy 22k miles and upgrade to upper on the way back for 30k. I'll no doubt be depressed after knocking it in for a few weeks so that should make the journey home much better

If you are upgrading one leg, return leg ftw imo.  Most people that I have heard of have upgraded going out, but getting to lie down flat and sleep the return journey is >>>> filling your face with aeroplane f&b on the way out.

and bear in mind that the upgrade on spec is far from a certainty.  They may not do it due to availability or restriction on flight ticket class.

[nirvana]

Being extremely posh I don't mind going PE but always try to come back upper. Price for this upgrade at the airport on the day is very decent, or has been when I've done it and have been lucky enough to get a seat each time. Tis a bit of a risk though

The other thing worth looking at that I did last time I went to LV is to book Upper to a non businessy destination - I went to Orlando and it was very cheap (less than half the price) versus Upper to LV. Internal flight from Florida to LV still quite long but felt OK, was cheap, and I had a few days on the gulf coast which was nice.

No idea if there are other destinations where you can get Upper quite cheap that provide for a shorter internal flight, also, it may be that if you book this far out that upper to LV aint that bad. It was over 5K at the time I last booked but did Orlando for around £1700.

[Longines]

OK, who swapped my bookmarks for blonde and flyertalk.com?

[Marky147]

If you are upgrading one leg, return leg ftw imo.  Most people that I have heard of have upgraded going out, but getting to lie down flat and sleep the return journey is >>>> filling your face with aeroplane f&b on the way out.

and bear in mind that the upgrade on spec is far from a certainty.  They may not do it due to availability or restriction on flight ticket class.

Yeah on the way out there just the fact I'm gonna be in heaven for a few weeks means I couldn't give a fk if I was on the floor. The flight home is as depressing as it gets though and I'm almost suicidal after sitting in the airport for a couple hours in that POS terminal. If you're gonna be flat for most of the flight home and living it up then it might be more bearable.

I like a nice sweat and hopefully the fact I get assistance at the airport will work in my favour too. Can't do any harm going for a bit of the old sympathy from the checkin staff too


My budget stretches to an upgrade from econ to PE Nirvana but I have to think about my 5 star dining fund which would be light should I start thinking about flying upper as an initial purchase. I'd say probably 50% of my annual spend in Vegas is on food which won't surprise many that have met me as I'm a lump

[nirvana]

I eat nothing and stay in crap hotels so I can lump it on the flight :-)

[Marky147]

I eat nothing and stay in crap hotels so I can lump it on the flight :-)

Haha