What are the chances?...

-kat- · 27 Aug 17, 04:38 PM

Hey there guys

...Sorry I'm another Virgin reward flight newbie

I've been looking through all the reward flight threads on here and have also spoken directly to Virgin flying club in order to educate myself on the various uses of my miles.
We had planned on continuing our collection of them as we thought we were a million miles away from actually being able to use them for anything remotely useful...however, as Virgin have introduced the peak/off peak thing we're now in a position to use miles to cover all 4 of our flights for next year...yay!
I know that I can book our flights at 331 days out but just wondered if any of you have experience of actually getting reward flights around end September/October time at all? We normally always book as soon as flights are released, however I've been keeping a close eye on availability/prices this year and have been quite surprised to still see decent availability and at a decent (ish) price, so is it worth playing the waiting game and hoping that they release reward flights?
In an ideal world we'd like to fly Sunday 30th for 3 weeks but could go Saturday 30th so our return date means coming back around Scottish & English holiday time...this could obviously be an issue if we managed to book our outbound flight as soon as it's released and then can't get our return flight! So what would flying club experts say are my chances?

When I spoke with a flying club staff member she said that they don't always release reward flights straight away and it very much depends on the demand so therefore they may not release them for a month or so after initial release

...the obvious downside to this is that all the cheap seats always go very quickly...especially from Glasgow so I just wondered if any of have experience of this situation? And would you say its worth the risk?...especially given that flights will obviously be nowhere near as cheap as using miles and just paying tax.

Oh and I noticed on here that those of you who've successfully booked reward flights seem to have done so at like 3am etc?! Is this definitely the best way? I asked the Virgin lady and she reckoned it wasn't necessary but I was thinking surely it's best to get in there first?!

All help really greatly appreciated, thanks

loldis · 27 Aug 17, 04:50 PM

The last few times I've booked rewards flights, there hasn't been any availability until about 8-9 months. I rarely know I'll be travelling at 11 months anyway, but I definitely wouldn't be up at 3am on flight release date to check! I can only speak for the dates I was looking at, but I was surprised at how many rewards were available this year around April/May 2018. When I booked last month, I could pick pretty much any day and rewards were available.

IME, if you're flexible with dates and also airports (e.g. going via Miami or Atlanta) you can usually get at least most of the way there around the time you want to go. I've been lucky with my last two bookings (west and east coast) that I've been able to do direct flights to the airport I wanted on the exact days I wanted without any issues. Which probably means their cash sales are performing badly which won't be good long term but hey, I got my rewards seats. So win for me.

ChrisS · 27 Aug 17, 05:05 PM

Hiya Kat - reward seats can be drip fed at any time onto VA's site. Last year I acquired our Nov 2016, Man to MCO, UC on 25 May, 6 month afore our flight. I anticipated a return would be available by November, but one month later, 24th June, our 19th May 2017, MCO to Man, hit their site whilst I was surfing, I rang and grabbed the only two UC seats. I'd recommend checking perhaps twice daily once within the 330 days, but Dibbers are reporting reward seats not showing on site but being available via phone.

Good luck

hawki · 27 Aug 17, 06:19 PM

I booked my first reward flight last year for this October. I just wanted an Orlando to Manchester one way flight for 2. I checked daily from release date at all times of day. My flight was available from 21st November & premium reward seats appeared on 2nd December I think at 6.30am, 5 days later upper appeared & I upgraded.
I was nervous they wouldn't appear being a Saturday & I think in half term? not sure, plus I was not flexible! Luckily they did

I forgot to say when my flights appeared I rang to book as I wanted to use my upgrade voucher, but the flying club agent said she couldn't see the flights available & told me to book online if I could then call back & she would manually refund my miles.

-kat- · 28 Aug 17, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by loldis

The last few times I've booked rewards flights, there hasn't been any availability until about 8-9 months. I rarely know I'll be travelling at 11 months anyway, but I definitely wouldn't be up at 3am on flight release date to check! I can only speak for the dates I was looking at, but I was surprised at how many rewards were available this year around April/May 2018. When I booked last month, I could pick pretty much any day and rewards were available.

IME, if you're flexible with dates and also airports (e.g. going via Miami or Atlanta) you can usually get at least most of the way there around the time you want to go. I've been lucky with my last two bookings (west and east coast) that I've been able to do direct flights to the airport I wanted on the exact days I wanted without any issues. Which probably means their cash sales are performing badly which won't be good long term but hey, I got my rewards seats. So win for me.

Awe that's great, thanks! Good to know I don't need to be sitting up till 3am to book for start

...I actually hadn't even considered going via Miami or Atlanta so that's a great alternative if we decide to hold fire on booking at release date and play the long waiting game. We don't have too much flexibility with dates unfortunately as we're trying to time it all around the cruise...obviously the hotel can and probably will change but fingers...and toes crossed it all goes according to our ideal plan

-kat- · 28 Aug 17, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hiya Kat - reward seats can be drip fed at any time onto VA's site. Last year I acquired our Nov 2016, Man to MCO, UC on 25 May, 6 month afore our flight. I anticipated a return would be available by November, but one month later, 24th June, our 19th May 2017, MCO to Man, hit their site whilst I was surfing, I rang and grabbed the only two UC seats. I'd recommend checking perhaps twice daily once within the 330 days, but Dibbers are reporting reward seats not showing on site but being available via phone.

Good luck

Perfect, thanks! Weirdly, I actually enjoy checking back regularly for flight costs etc...in fact, truth be told...I get a bit OCD about it

...there are worse things to be doing though to be fair! So, i will most definitely be following your advice and checking religiously until I get something booked!
It must be fab to go UC?! Can't imagine...how cool! Mind you, I can imagine that once you go UC it's tough to go back to anything less

...something to aim for though I guess!

-kat- · 28 Aug 17, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by hawki

I booked my first reward flight last year for this October. I just wanted an Orlando to Manchester one way flight for 2. I checked daily from release date at all times of day. My flight was available from 21st November & premium reward seats appeared on 2nd December I think at 6.30am, 5 days later upper appeared & I upgraded.
I was nervous they wouldn't appear being a Saturday & I think in half term? not sure, plus I was not flexible! Luckily they did

I forgot to say when my flights appeared I rang to book as I wanted to use my upgrade voucher, but the flying club agent said she couldn't see the flights available & told me to book online if I could then call back & she would manually refund my miles.

Fab, thanks so much! Like you, I'm nervous about wanting to fly on the Sunday as they've not even released that day yet for fly drives so they may not, it all depends on the demand. Mind you it's not really the end of the world if we don't get Virgin though to be honest but the direct route is far preferable especially after having a bit of a nightmare return trip last year with BA (nothing to do with BA, just my daughter took quite ill on the return flight and there was a long wait till our connecting flight from Gatwick etc)
Good to know that there's hope though and that it's also maybe worth calling to speak to them to keep me right if I do get lucky

ChrisS · 28 Aug 17, 06:26 PM

Originally Posted by -kat-

Perfect, thanks! Weirdly, I actually enjoy checking back regularly for flight costs etc...in fact, truth be told...I get a bit OCD about it

...there are worse things to be doing though to be fair! So, i will most definitely be following your advice and checking religiously until I get something booked!
It must be fab to go UC?! Can't imagine...how cool! Mind you, I can imagine that once you go UC it's tough to go back to anything less

...something to aim for though I guess!

Kat, clear cookies atween each VA search to avoid archive confliction, ensuring up to date live fares. Bought our UC reward seats in daylight hours. I was lucky with the MCO to Man, assumed I wouldn't see UC reward seats for a good few month. UC is canny, but we also like PE, hence PE Man to RSW this time. I researched Man to Atl, M&M or reward seats, then booking Atl to RSW with Delta but the miles/taxes and fees were the same as a flight into MCO. Altho I obtained �687 Man to RSW PE within an hour of VA's sale beginning 17th August, I noticed sale fares remain up/down.

Good luck hin

27 Aug 17, 04:50 PM	#2
	27 Aug 17, 04:50 PM loldis Imagineer
loldis Imagineer Join Date: May 17 Location: Sussex	The last few times I've booked rewards flights, there hasn't been any availability until about 8-9 months. I rarely know I'll be travelling at 11 months anyway, but I definitely wouldn't be up at 3am on flight release date to check! I can only speak for the dates I was looking at, but I was surprised at how many rewards were available this year around April/May 2018. When I booked last month, I could pick pretty much any day and rewards were available. IME, if you're flexible with dates and also airports (e.g. going via Miami or Atlanta) you can usually get at least most of the way there around the time you want to go. I've been lucky with my last two bookings (west and east coast) that I've been able to do direct flights to the airport I wanted on the exact days I wanted without any issues. Which probably means their cash sales are performing badly which won't be good long term but hey, I got my rewards seats. So win for me.