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#935286 by Marmite1981
17 May 2017, 13:07
Don't know if anyone can help me or advise ..heading to BGI in July and have spoken to our travel agents about upgrading to UC on the outbound flight and was quoted £5238 for the 2 of us from PE. Now I really think this is rather steep, I have looked at the UC seat map and it shows as only 2 seats booked. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts as to a rough cost might be at the airport on the day ? Our tickets are K if this is any help. Thanks in advance. Marmite
#935294 by CommanderB
17 May 2017, 16:49
K and H can only be upgraded at the airport. I'd say £800-£1k is ballpark per seat. Any less than that is a bargain.
#935301 by pjh
17 May 2017, 19:29
Also the seat map shows the number of seats allocated, not the number of seats sold. A better metric might be to try a dummy booking in Z class and see what price it comes back with.

That is an eye watering upgrade price though.
#935305 by Kraken
17 May 2017, 22:16
Thought you could upgrade a K fare in advance - especially if you have booked direct with VS? You have to stick to the exact same flights & dates as originally booked and they can charge you £50 change fee on top of the additional fare / taxes. That is certainly how it used to be on the "old" VS IT system before the move to the DL IT platform - I know people who did it with a single call to the VS call centre.

I do, however, note that the OP has booked via a travel agent - tickets booked by travel agents are normally more restrictive and only the TA can instigate the upgrade prior to departure date. At the airport, the rules can go out of the window - especially if Economy / Premium Economy is oversold and Virgin need to move people forward. They'll happily accept your offer of cash for the move, rather than op-upping someone for free. Agree that the upgrade price the OP has been quoted is eye-wateringly steep - would be interested to see what fare code any upgraded ticket at that price is ticketed in.
#935347 by sungod
19 May 2017, 11:20
it depends on the fare code, but travel agent tickets on anything but the most flexible codes used to be treated as zero value for upgrade purposes

when talking to FC they used to tell me it's an "IT fare" and their system shows no value to use for calculating price difference ( IT meaning itinerary i think), seems as if all they then do is quote a price for a one-way ticket, usually extortionate and probably not even the best fare available at the time

if the code is a sensibly upgradable one, then points/cash can be used to upgrade at the airport (assuming availability), i've done this a few times

since the VS site 'upgrade' i've not been able to find the list of which fare codes are practical for upgrading when it's a TA ticket (it is not the same list of codes that apply for tickets purchased direct from VS)

try contacting the TA direct to get them to quote for an upgrade
#935352 by CommanderB
19 May 2017, 11:54
I've always understood K & H fares to have next to no value when booked through a TA too. Mine always are, so this may be the case for my upgrades.

I am travelling tomorrow on a K and return on a W. I want to try and upgrade both legs, so I will try at the airport and report back.

Upgrading TA tickets is always doable AFTER travel begins as its then back under VS control.
#935394 by CommanderB
20 May 2017, 21:21
So, wanted to report back and correct myself.

K booked via a TA - NOT upgradable at the Airport or at any other time. Highly restricted by the TA.

Any tickets booked into BT or IT fares by TA's are not upgradeable as VS cannot see the underlying fare rules. This doesn't change even AFTER travel has begun (apparently).

I managed to upgrade with cash from K to Z for £850.

K, H, S and W are all upgradeable if booked directly with VS. K is upgradeable using miles if you pay a change fee and fare difference. H is also upgradeable, but probably subject to similar fees as K.

Good evening from the LHR clubhouse too by the way :cool:
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