Mileage upgrade to UC

My friends want to join us in UC on MCO-LGW flight in late September. They've got enough miles each to upgrade from their booked PE ticket and will pay for their kids upgrades but VA is saying none are available. No mileage seats have been booked, the lady at reservations said they will be maybe released but their is no set date for this.

any of you guys know anything different? is there a usual time frame of when the mileage upgrade seats are released?

[Scrooge]

Mileage seats can be released at anytime, it's just a matter of keep checking.

The MCO route is notoriously hard to get G's so if you see them, grab them.

[Neil]

I would tell your friends not to get their hopes up for a mileage upgrade. The best chance is likely to be in the week or so before the flight and if UC is still very empty they *might* release a G or two. The problem is , the UC cabin is small (only 14 seats) on the LGW a/c and they are popular especially during anything but the lowest season really, although speaking from personal experience and a very recent thread on here, they are out there!

Neil

Plus did they pay for flexible PE tickets or just cheapest. If not flexible they might have to pay AND use miles (if there are even seats available). In 5 years of flying on VS back and to the UK 4 or 5 times a year, I've never had problems upgrading using miles, apart from my last 2 flights when I was told I had to pay to change my PE ticket to a flexible one, AND use miles aswell. The change in ticket price was $1000+ one way, so I said no thanks.

thanks guys,

is there anything other way to keep checking on if they are relased than calling them?

[Neil]

quote:Originally posted by Islander
thanks guys,

is there anything other way to keep checking on if they are relased than calling them?


The only other way is to cheap checking the VS website by attempting to make a dummy reward booking, this will show if anything is available.

Neil

quote:Originally posted by Neil
I would tell your friends not to get their hopes up for a mileage upgrade. The best chance is likely to be in the week or so before the flight and if UC is still very empty they *might* release a G or two. The problem is , the UC cabin is small (only 14 seats) on the LGW a/c and they are popular especially during anything but the lowest season really, although speaking from personal experience and a very recent thread on here, they are out there!

Neil


Even if there are seats available I wouldn't get too excited.

We flew MAN-MCO just before New Year, I was in D but only had the wife in S (due to the stupidity of rev. management and the costs etc). I called up a week before the flight, was told there were 6 seats still available but no G released, cost to upgrade the wife was £3k (one way, she already had a D for the return).

I checked everyday and they didn't release anything, we had to do it at the airport instead, the girls on the ticket desk remarked how stupid a situation it was.

When we pushed back there were 3 empty seats in UC, the other two that had been taken were also miles upgrades at the airport.

I often have to upgrade with miles at the airport having been unable to do it in advance on the phone - usually because the kids decide to travel with us at the last minute. It does seem crazy to take off with empty seats when customers are willing to purchase them, albeit with miles.

I didn't know whether to start a new topic or not, figured I'd just add on to this one.

I have a gripe. Does PE 'S' Class exist anymore?????

I had a moment of boredom at work, and went through my flights over the past 12 months. I've had 4 legs booked on S class, 3 of which I upgraded at the airport to UC. Sometimes I book online, sometimes over the phone, I don't know if that makes a difference, but I've never paid full fare PE. Never ever. They've always been discounted prices. My Christmas trip home was booked in K class, and I wasn't allowed to upgrade at the airport (unless I paid SR's salary for the next 3 years).

Anyway, I have a few trips that I know about in the next 4 months, so I've been playing around online, and there seems to be no way of booking S class tickets. I actually tried EVERY month in 2009 from JFK/EWR to LHR and even the other way round, and the PE (lowest) option only ever brings up K class seats. It seems the only way of getting a PE seat that you can upgrade with miles to UC is by selecting the PE (flexible) option....but alllll those flights are in the $3300 region, and an UC ticket is only $2500.

I mentioned this in another post, but again, is it no longer possible to buy reasonably priced PE tickets that you can upgrade to UC with using miles??

ISTBC, but on the VS website, you can only buy the 'lowest' [not upgradable with miles] or 'flexible' [full fare] tickets. If you want any of the fare buckets inbetween the two, you have to phone up Flying Club / VS Reservations to book the specific fare that you want.

Slight edit: Once the Z/R [UC] or K [PE] fares have gone, then the VS website will sell you a D or S fare that is upgradable with miles, as these fares will then qualify for what the website can see as the 'lowest' available.

James