Hope in hell of miles upgrade?

Evening V-Flyers

I'm booked in LHR-SFO-LHR next week, 'B' economy going out, 'L' Return. I had hoped to use miles to upgrade to Upper, however I'd long ago missed the reward seats online. Spoke to FC today, they reckon none will become available and there won't be a chance of doing so at the airport on the day. The main issue seems to be the outgoing flights, as all that's left is a few UC seats -

VS19 27/07 - J7 D7 Z7 W0 S0 K0 Y0 B0 L0 M0 Q0 X0 N0
VS20 01/08 - J7 D7 Z7 W6 S6 K5 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q7 X7 N7

Based on this, would I have any chance of upping with miles on the day, or shall I just get in the mindset that I will be flying economy? Just curious from any of you that have upped on the day with miles before.

Many thanks
Andy

In theory, revenue will look at the flight about one week beforehand, and decide how many additional G seats, if any, they will release.

Therefore the 27th should be released tomorrow or Friday, but it does look likely that both W and Y are busy and possibly oversold, so it may affect how many upgrades are released. Fortunately, J seems okay, so you could be in luck with upgrading.

The return will probably be released next Monday/Tuesday, and looks pretty open in all classes, given the number of fare buckets showing a "7". Only Premium seems to be selling through.

Cheers,
Mike

[preiffer]

The way I'd read it is that there's a HIGHER than normal chance of them allowing a mileage upgrade.

If Y (and W) are sold out, they're going to HAVE to move people up front, regardless (if their overselling calculations are a little out, that is). As a result, if someone's offering them either cash or miles (a recognised form of revenue) for the seat they'd otherwise have to give away, they'll *normally* gladly accept...

Particularly if andy wants to upgrade all the way to UC. Upgrading into PE would presumably require someone in PE wanting to go up to UC, or an assumption that they need PE to UC op-ups

Thanks for the input guys. Spoke to FC today, they've said there won't be any G availablility released before the flights and insist that I'll just have to try at the airpot. Fingers crossed!

[RichardMannion]

Hi Andy,

As per what Paul says - they'd rather take miles/cash than have to do an op-up. All I would say is try and get there early and ask for a mileage upgrade - they may be able to do it then, or they may wait until the flight has closed (60 mins before departure).

Thanks,
Richard

[mcmbenjamin]

Hope you get UCS on the return. You'll need the rest.

Good point Ben!

OK well availability now shows as
J7 D7 Z0 W0 S0 K0 Y0 B0 L0 M0 Q0 X0 N0

It was Z6 literally 2 hours ago. So does this mean there are still 7 seats left in UC? If that is the case does it look I have a reaonable chance of upgrading with miles on the day?

Cheers

[Pete]

Not necessarily, it means there's seven or more seats available for sale in the J & D buckets. It may be seven, it may be more. Also, seats for sale and physical seats available are two different numbers. They may have already run out of seats and banking on seasonaly no-shows (although current thinking says they don't oversell Upper).

Cheers Pix..so let's say theoretically there are, I don't know, 5 UC seats left when it comes to the day of the flight. If I get there for checkin open and ask to upgrade with miles from EC, would I stand a reasonable chance?
Thanks
Andy

*Bump*. Still showing as J7 D7. Is that looking promising for miles upgrade tomorrow, I will be there for checkin open?
Thanks

[preiffer]

Excluding airport-released ones, there are:

14 unallocated seats in Upper
0 unallocated seats in PE
5 unallocated seats in Economy

J7 D7 Z0 W0 S0 K0 Y0 B0 L0 M0 Q0 X0 N0

I'd check you're not about to get a FREE one before spending the miles so readily... [:w]

If not, then yes - I'd say there's a chance of being able to upgrade with miles.

Nice one, cheers Preiffer!

Sweet. Upgraded fine, got seat 1k. Really friendly and helpful checkin agent. Availability for the return came up today so rang and booked that.
Pitying my OH who is joining me in SFO but has had to go via JFK on the VS003 as the 19 was booked, then onward with United to SFO.
Clubhouse is as excellent as always!

Result!