V-Flyer

Hi guys,
I wondering if it was possible to buy a return flight to Orlando with one way premium and one way economy, and then use 20k miles to upgrade the premium flight to upper straight away? Are there any restrictions with this set-up apart from the obligitary £100 upgrade fee?

P.S. For anyone who might remember I was going to Tokyo with Virgin, the flight was exceptional!

Hi, yes what you are asking about is possible. You can check that there is Upper Class upgrade availability on the day you want to travel by going to book a one way reward flight in UC online and see if it gives you the choice of a flight. If it say 'sorry there are no flights available' then there are no UC seats left on that flight for use with miles, try some other dates.

Remember you need to book Premium in S or W class to be able to upgrade to UC though. I dont think the upgrade fee applies in this case though, I stand to be corrected but I think that is only if you book Premium and want to change your ticket to a proper UC ticket and pay the fare difference, you would need to be reticketed in this case.

Food for thought: Are you sure you want to fly out in the UCS and then go cold turkey back down to 56E on the way home???

Not sure what this "obligitary £100 upgrade fee" refers to, as there's no cash cost to upgrade with miles from PE to Upper (even the taxes are the same).

If you're referring to the actual cost of paying to upgrade from PE to Upper, I can guarantee it's a bit more than £100 .

As anteo says, it's perfectly possible to do what you're suggesting, but I'd consider upgrading the Y leg to Premium first (for 10k miles). Is 20k miles your absolute limit, or could you stretch to 30k and do W out, J in?

Hi, I was thinking about the £100(ish) I was told I have to pay to go from PE lowest to PE flexible if went that route, but I could be wrong of course. [:I]

The mad thing is, I looked at how much it would be to get PE flexible and then use the miles to upgrade to UC, and then out of curiosity looked at how much I would save compared to paying for UC outright...

Paying for UC outright is cheaper!!! Plus of course I would earn the miles! This is crazy, but obviously this is what I'm going to do now. This just shows that using miles is not always the best option: the last reward flight I tried to book with BMI was going to cost me an additional **£150** in taxes and fees alone, so I ended up flying KLM for £16.95!! The website also still states that you can spend miles on parking express - even though they no longer do this.

I'm sure I'll find a good use for some miles eventually lol

Originally posted by sythe20
The mad thing is, I looked at how much it would be to get PE flexible and then use the miles to upgrade to UC, and then out of curiosity looked at how much I would save compared to paying for UC outright...

Hmm - remember that by selecting "Premium Flexible", it will select a W fare, which is a) very expensive, b) overkill for an upgrade.

You only need an S fare for an upgrade - that will be a lot less than the lowest UC fare equivalent. What dates are you looking for? - I'll look it up and give you the breakdowns...

It would be useful if the VS site was simular to the SQ one by allowing you too see all other available fares for a flight that way you could book a S etc without phoning FC

It would seem an easy thing to do that would save hassle

Of course you can use the availability tool on here but you'd still need to call FC to book!

Originally posted by Jonathan
It would be useful if the VS site was simular to the SQ one by allowing you too see all other available fares for a flight that way you could book a S etc without phoning FC

We've been asking for this for ages - I think LRoM mentioned something some time ago regarding it.

I guess it would confuse "regular" flyers, but something like the United site would be good - You can switch to "expert mode" when booking, and select the actual fare code. If VS could offer that, it would be great.

(actually, I remember a "blip" on the website about 2 years ago, where it was displaying "Y,B,L" or "S,K" against each description for a few weeks, but they removed this for some reason)

Thanks preiffer - I never knew that about the flexible tickets - that means I've been wasting money in the past then [:I]

I was looking to fly around june 1st and back around the 14th or later- although long time off yet. If you could let me know how to get the best possible price for flying out in upper, and back in economy that would be fantastic!

OK, out on June 1st, return on 14th.

Based on S class outbound, Q class inbound (NOTE - the inbound would be absolutely non-upgradeable). For more detailed fare info, use the fare code guide here.

Fare details:

Fare (A1): VS LONORL SJXAP fare NUC 823.87
Fare (A2): VS ORLLON QJXGB fare NUC 458.52
Tax: US International Arrival Tax $14.10
Tax: United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge £7.40
Tax: United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty £20.00
Tax: US Customs Fee $5.00
Tax: US Immigration Fee $7.00
Tax: USDA APHIS Fee $4.95
Tax: US September 11th Security Fee $2.50
Tax: US Passenger Facility Charge $3.00
Tax: US International Departure Tax $14.10
Tax: Virgin Atlantic Airways YQ Surcharge £37.00

Total for 1 adult passenger: £795.40


To switch to an L-class inbound (which would be upgradeable to PE for 10k miles, also), would make the total £845.40 inclusive of taxes. Inbound fare basis would be LJXGB @ NUC 549.86 for that segment. S class both ways is £995.40 inclusive.

Wow! And that would enable me to upgrade the S to UC with 20k miles well before I fly, or would it be a gamble as to whether they have UC seats available when I get to the airport?

Another thing that I have just learned is that the Orlando route does not have the new suites [:(] I've never been in the old UC before;is it worth the money? Apparently the Miami route DOES on 'selected flights', so a nice drive up from Miami might be worth considering...

Originally posted by sythe20
Wow! And that would enable me to upgrade the S to UC with 20k miles well before I fly, or would it be a gamble as to whether they have UC seats available when I get to the airport?

An S can be upgraded well before you fly (even at the time of booking) - no problem.

Originally posted by sythe20
Another thing that I have just learned is that the Orlando route does not have the new suites [:(]

Not sure where you got this from, as all 744's have now been upgraded (look at the seat map section for the LGW plane layouts). The only difference is that there are only 14 suites, so upgrades need to be booked soon

Yes that's what I thought to be honest, until I read this:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/wh ... /index.jsp

I last flew to Orlando (PE) in december and it was one of the older planes - I don't know if they combine the new UC suite with the old PE and ECON or not, and I didn't get to see UC on that flight.

Well thankyou so much for filling me in on all that! Everyone should be aware of this... well actually they shouldn't; or there will be no UC seats left!

Originally posted by sythe20
Yes that's what I thought to be honest, until I read this:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/wh ... /index.jsp

Ah, yes - it looks like they need to delete that section!

It was superceeded by this press release in February. Manchester was completed a couple months ago, too.

Just one thing not to put a downer on things but it may be hard trying to ge a UC reward seat now the LGW/MAN aircraft have 14 UC seats.

Phil

As Phil says 14 UC seats does limit the number of upgradable seats -
However you could always book for flight around upgrade availability as there are 3 flights a day to/from LGW to MCO

And if you can really be flexable you could also look at Miami availability (although flying into/outof LHR can be a pain for some)

That gives you four flights a day to find a seat in!

As I'm booking almost a year ahead aswell, would that improve my chances somewhat? I don't have to pay for accomo this time, so I'm splashing out on the outbound flight instead

Originally posted by sythe20
As I'm booking almost a year ahead aswell, would that improve my chances somewhat?

Yes, it definitely will - just get in their quickly.