In a few weeks it will be time to book the first flight for a trip to the US West Coast where I am planning to use a Premium Economy upgrade voucher (from the MBNA credit card). The whole trip will last about 6 weeks, so I won't be able to book the return flight for a month and a half. I am wondering how this works. If I wait until I am able to book the return, I may not get the seats I want for the outgoing flight. What to do?
I've always had good experiences ringing up Virgin Atlantic with queries on points redemptions, upgrade vouchers and the like. I'd therefore suggest you just give them a call and ask, they can explain the options and talk you through what can and can't be done!
I've also found the Live Chat on their website to be pretty useful too if you don't fancy sitting on hold on the phone for a while. You get to save the chat transcript so you can keep your chat history.
Yes, the live chat can be surprisingly useful. I like Virgin customer service, though that might just be because I'm used to BA and the LCCs most of the time...
Just in case anyone else has this question, the answer proved simple. I have two Premium Economy upgrade vouchers from the Virgin Atlantic American Express card, each good for a round-trip upgrade from an Economy reward booking to a Premium Economy booking. It turns out that I can use one voucher for the two outgoing seats and the other voucher for the two return seats, and just book one-way flights each time. It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this will have on the amount of tax and surcharges I pay.
Taxes and fees for two tickets on the westbound flight from London amounted to £676.14; for two tickets on the return eastbound flight to London, £259.20.
