Paying for upgrades at airport - questions

Hi
Myself and my friend are travelling LHR-LAX on the 28th April. As we're cheapskates we have X class tickets in economy.

We're interested in paying for an upgrade to PE for the outgoing journey.
I have heard that VS staff have some discretion over how much they charge for paid upgrades.

Does us checking in early have any bearing on this?

Any ideas how much we might be looking at?

Not sure if this has any effect but I am FC Red and my friend is non-FC.

Can we do anything to make the upgrade cheaper, or are there set pricing structures that VS will use?

If we decide to go down the route of paying for an uprgade, can we go straight to PE checkin or must we do this via the Y line?

Thanks for your help

Andy

Hi AndyK,
I did once upgrade at check-in from an L ticket to PE at LHR for an LHR to EWR flight and it cost me around £256. Trying the same trick at check-in for the return and they wanted over $1200.

I think there is a lot of discretion and some variability but I don't know what the rules are.

Hope this helps,

Keith

[Pete]

Probably worth reading through the Upgrades Guide on this site, which covers the various forms of upgrades (cash, miles & operational).

Pix