Upgrading at the airport

Hi,

I hope someone can provide a little guidance.

I'm flying LGW-LAS this week on an "X" fare which is not eligible for upgrade with miles. (there are 6 PE seats for reward available on this service)

I called VS to see if there was a way around this, and was advised that I can use miles to upgrade at the airport.

My questions are:

How early should I try to be at the airport to get the upgrade Who do I ask - the check in agent or ticket desk What payment methods are accepted for the associated taxes Can I upgrade the return leg at Gatwick or would I have to request this at LAS

Thanks in advance!

Bear in mind you're still going to have to upgrade the fare type from 'X' to 'L' before you can upgrade. If there is reward availability at the moment you may as well just ring FC and get them to upgrade the booking now.
Are you sure there's 6 reward seats going, or just 6 PE seats?

Originally posted by AndyK
Bear in mind you're still going to have to upgrade the fare type from 'X' to 'L' before you can upgrade. If there is reward availability at the moment you may as well just ring FC and get them to upgrade the booking now.
Are you sure there's 6 reward seats going, or just 6 PE seats?

In my experience, if it's just regular PE seats they'll begin releasing them about three hours before the flight is due to depart. It's a waiting game but make sure you let the check in staff aware of your desire to upgrade and you may get lucky.

(Yes, it's 6 reward seats currently on the way out)

I don't want to pay to upgrade the ticket to an 'L', will they upgrade for miles from any fare at the airport?

Just going to keep my fingers crossed and check in early for this one...

Thanks

Generally speaking, no. I think there's been a couple of mentions on the forums where it's happened but I don't recall them being recently.

Out of interest, what kind of 'on the day' upgrade charges (£ not miles) are there to PE?

Thanks

[preiffer]

They certainly upgrade for "cash specials" from any fare at the airport, but not on a mileage basis (that needs the cash to an L first). For the LAS run, there's a proper "list" of costs for the return leg posted here.

Thanks Paul - appreciate your help on this!

There is a single UC reward seat available for 29/7 LAS-LGW.

Could I forefit my paid Econ ticket on this flight and take this reward seat paying with miles??

[preiffer]

Well, if you were to do this on your outbound leg, then definitely not as your return leg would be cancelled.

And if you didn't need VS to be further involved, then I'd say definitely yes. BUT the fact that you need them to book your reward flight to return may complicate things - they'll see you're on the plane twice.


Having said that, I don't think they'd complain at having you "purchase" two seats and only use one of them. If it were me, I'd book the reward flight online, check-in online, and let them know you won't be using the economy return when you get to the airport (so at least they can re-use it for another passenger).


I don't believe you'd get much/any of the taxes back for the unused economy sector though, so this would be a pure waste of that element of the money you've spent.

Also weigh up in your mind the "cost" of those miles. The return will cost you 50k miles straight out. On the upgrade price list, the (non flexible) Y to Upper is £1,699. Your new ticket will also incur around £50 in taxes, one way but if you upgraded at the airport with cash, you'd also be earning a further 10k on an Upper return - so...

It'd cost you the equivalent of £1,649 for 60k miles. If you think that's a reasonable amount, upgrade with cash on the day and earn the miles. If not, you're saving yourself nearly two grand by throwing away your Y ticket.

[RichardMannion]

There was a sheet of on the day upgrade prices at UC check-in last week, can't remember it exactly but it was something like this:

East Coast (BOS, NYC, IAD, MIA)
N,V,X,Q - £289 to PE
M,L.B,Y - £239 to PE

K,H,S,W - £999 to UC

Add them togehter if you want to do Economy to Upper (so a N to Upper, was 289+999

West Coast + LAS + ORD
N,V,X,Q - £389 to PE
M,L.B,Y - £339 to PE

K,H,S,W - £1199 to UC

Thanks,
Richard

[mitchja]

£999 for PE>Upper on East coast routes [:0] Should that not be £699 Richard [:?]

The 2 PE>Upper East coast upgrades I've done at the airport were both ~£599 2 years ago.

Regards

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by mitchja
£999 for PE>Upper on East coast routes [:0] Should that not be £699 Richard [:?]

The 2 PE>Upper East coast upgrades I've done at the airport were both ~£599 2 years ago.

Regards

Hi James,

Can't remember exactly, I don't think it was as low as £699 though (it might have been £899)... Like you I remember when it was lower, I remember paying £199 to upgrade from VH V tickets to PE, I do seem to recall the upgrade from Economy to Upper being as low as £599 one way.

[preiffer]

The LAS numbers in Scrooge's post are the official prices they charge at the airport. I know, because it was me that got the sheet...

OK, thanks for your help everything!

I called VS earlier and booked the reward seat for 50k miles. They were fine that the return leg of the X booking will not be used and made notes to this effect.

So.....at least I'll be comfortable.

The "cost" in miles doesn't bother me as there's nothing I'm saving them for in particular.