Virgin Holidays - Upgrades

Hi

I booked my holiday to Antigua and was offered an upgrade to upper class for £225 each way, which seemed really good and I've taken it, but does anyone know whether this is actually a good deal?

What's it like in upper class, I've never done anything like this before?

... and I see you can get bonus miles (20,000) at the moment if you are flying in something called j or d class but I've no idea what my tickets are - I thought upper class was just one thing? Does anyone know what class these tickets might be?

Thanks
Simon

[mitchja]

Hi Simon and welcome

Yes that is a really good deal and yes it is worth it. As you are flying from LGW you wont get UCS or a J2000 UC seat, no onboard bar or beauty theropist, however dont panic, you will still get the great UC service all the way, use of the LGW Clubhouse, priority luggage and boarding. The seats are nice and big and comfy with loads of leg room. You will not regret it!!!!!

The 20,000 mile offer only applies if you have booked a J or D class fare (J is the fully flexable top-price fare and D is the next fare down). VH book Upper Class paxs on a Z fare (the lowest available). If you are a Flying Club member you will still earn full Upper Class miles and tier points for UC Z fares to all destinations.

See this section for an explanation of fares and fare codes for each class on VS. Basically all airlines offer different fares for each cabin, the more expensive fares tend to offer full refunds if you need to cancel for any reason, the cheaper fares give you the same flight and service but dont normally allow any refunds if the ticket is cancelled.

The only thing you dont get with a Z Upper Class fare are the limo transfers to/from the airport.

Most holidays 'packages' are booked in the lowest possible fare class.

Regards

Hi Simon

When are you travelling. Need to book another trip for travel in the next 6 months and ANU is always high on the list as we love it there.

Thanx

Jilly

Hi Simon,

I don't want to disappoint you but, I would double check with Virgin Holidays what you have booked, I suspect that you are actually booked in Premium Economy for that price. have a look at this link and you will see the upgrade price to Premium Economy is £225 to ANU with Virgin Holidays.

http://www.virginholidays.co.uk/caribbe ... mium.shtml

Regards

Jason

quote:VH book Upper Class paxs on a Z fare (the lowest available).

Last year to SFO and HKG we were booked in D by VH and got the vouchers on offer at the time for UC travel (I think £800 for the 2 flights between us)At that time the D didnt get the limo.

Thanks for all the info.

Hopefully it's actually upper class, as at the time the premium economy upgrades were offered at £195, which seemed an oddly small difference. I booked a while ago so prices have presumably changed a bit now. We're going at the start of August.

Not sure I'd have known where to start with the beauty treatment so that's fine! but shame there's no bar - presumably we can still get drinks though?

We are a family of 4 (girl aged 12, boy 14), and looking at some of the other forums it seems they may not be so welcome by other travellers. I'll go out and buy some extra batteries for their game boys to keep them quiet.

quote:Originally posted by Simon
We are a family of 4 (girl aged 12, boy 14), and looking at some of the other forums it seems they may not be so welcome by other travellers. I'll go out and buy some extra batteries for their game boys to keep them quiet.

Trust me, no one will have a problem with quiet, well behaved kids of that age. Screaming babies on the other hand... [}:)]

BC

Unfortunately the flight to Antigua wont have the IFE system that has games!

I would recommend getting to gatwick early as that way you'll have get a haircut pamper yourself in the clubhouse
They do really good hot food in there too so dont waste money buying food at the airport!

There is only one major problem with UC that I should point out..
You will seriously NEVER want to fly economy again;)

You wont get the 20K bonus but you'll get 200% of the miles flown anyway as you'll be in UC

All four of you will be able to join FC as the minimum age is 12

quote:Originally posted by BlackCat
Trust me, no one will have a problem with quiet, well behaved kids of that age. Screaming babies on the other hand... [}:)]

Agree completely with Blackcat - well behaved children are lovely and very welcome. Noisy, badly-behaved, screaming kids are really annoying... (of course, the same can be said of adults too! ).

But, personally, I think that kids should be well-behaved where-ever (and not just Business Class cabins...). Am sure that your two have been brought up properly and know how to behave in public and have respect for others.

Take games (preferably quiet ones), magazines and books for them, hopefully there will be a movie (or two, or tv) onboard that they will want to watch...

The other thing - what my parents used to do with me - is perhaps emphasise how "special" this trip is. How lucky they are, what a treat it is, how this sort of thing is normally only for adults, and how they must be on their best behaviour and act like adults (or next time, you will book them into economy instead ).

Have only been stuck right behind one badly behaved child in Business Class (that was UC to LAX one Boxing Day...). She was about 3 or 4 and enjoyed screaming. Decided to have a screaming session whilst I was asleep - I almost jumped through the ceiling!!!

All the other kids (all within the ages of 5 and 11) I have seen in Business/First Class cabins have been beautifully behaved. On a flight (United First) to LA, last Boxing Day, two of the twelve seats were taken by young boys (about 9 or 10 years old) - both from different families. These boys were fantastically behaved - you wouldn't have known that they were there unless you saw them...

Don't worry, your kids are very welcome.

Boo

[mitchja]

I would say the price is correct for the Upper Clas upgrade. VH do often have special offers for Upper Class upgrades to the Caribbean - there was 1 on their web site a weeks weeks ago.

Regards

Go for it and enjoy, we as a family fly with two kids aged 12 and 9. beware the UC experience, we were upgraded to PE from New York and vowed never to fly economy again. Then we were upgraded outbound and inbound ANU UC (six of us!!!!!!). Now the family will only go on holiday if we fly UC, Club World(sorry swearing) etc. Thankyou so much Virgin!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A very poor father of two.