We've booked an economy flight using our points... Don't let the internet know!
In the miles and points world, the internet can make you feel guilty if you even dare think of buying anything but a long-haul business class flight. This is one of the reasons we started Points Well Made, to wrestle back the narrative from the spreadsheet warriors and forum gatekeepers, and bring it back to reality.
I started writing this a while back, but it was spurred on by a comment written by Samantha on our guest article by Beta and Nat from Fly Smart Club ....
It's finally gave me a kick up the backside to write this article... We've booked an economy flight, using points. To those of you in the back who have fainted, get up you wuss.
It was actually an extremely logical decision, so let me set the scene. We're travelling to the US next year (provided I secure the leave I need) to watch the Indy 500, "the greatest spectacle in racing".
(If you're a fan of sports in any way, please do watch the last lap of this year's Indy 500, and if you don't get goosebumps, then I cannot help you.)
Anyway, thank you for indulging me and my cars going round in circle passion. The plan as it stands is to fly into Nashville in Club on BA. We paid for these seats using Avios, in combination with a Barclays Cabin Upgrade voucher, totalling 104,500 Avios, plus £599 for the two of us.
We will then be picking up an RV, because hotel prices in America are ludicrous, often very tacky, and we should be able to camp at the race track, avoiding any event day traffic.
For the return, the obvious answer would be to fly back from Nashville on BA, using Avios again. But I wanted to be a bit crafty. You see, we have a few hundred thousand Virgin Points, but I've been loath to spend them ever since they raised the taxes and fees to numbers that even BA would balk at.
After assessing our options, we've booked a flight that's often piqued my curiosity, one of the New York - London day flights, and there are three reasons why.
I'm not unwilling to fly economy. Far from it. But my inability to sleep unless I am mostly horizontal renders overnight economy flights pretty miserable. If I'm flying back from New York, I usually pick the 6pm departures from JFK, make no attempt to sleep, land back in London at 6am UK, which would be 1am US time, before speeding back home to Hampshire before I crash head first into my own bed.
But the day flight is the perfect antidote to this. It leaves JFK at 8am, and arrives back into Heathrow at 8pm, thus avoiding the most aggressive parts of jetlag, which is the lack of sleep from the overnight flight. They don't call it a red-eye for nothing!
The second, the price. We were able to book it for only 12,000 Virgin Points, plus $326.20 in taxes, for the two of us.
In my opinion, which is warped by a normalisation of having to pay taxes and fees on reward flights, this is a good deal. If you were to fly from Heathrow to JFK on Virgin in economy, the taxes would be £243, barely a saving compared to the cash fare. Whereas our flight is roughly £120 each in taxes.
The third reason, is that the aircraft currently scheduled to fly us back is an A330-900neo. Those avgeeks in the audience will already know why this is a good thing, but for those who don't, the A330 family of aircraft features 2-4-2 seating in economy, making this the perfect layout for the two of us.
Would we upgrade if the right deal presented itself? Potentially. I did have a great time when I flew Upper Class on the A330neo, but since Virgin raised the taxes, they've spoilt the luster of such an experience due to uncontrollable dry-heaving from myself being faced with the taxes. Guys, you've ruined it. At least Virgin Points never expire, so I can just leave them sitting there, slowly accumulating, until someone at Virgin regains control over their senses and understands the value of value and aspiration.
What I hope you'll be able to pick out from my ramble is that you should book whatever you want, they're your points. Yes, you are likely to get more "value" from a long-haul business class flight, but book whatever suits your needs.
Take an example from another guest post, from Heather Shipley. She and her family fly the world using points in economy, multiple times a year! They wouldn't be able to achieve this if they insisted on flying business everywhere.
You know you best, don't let the internet make you feel bad for the choices that are right for you.
Sam
Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.
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