$25 fee for booking upgradeable flights by phone?

on phone right now being told that as of jan 1 all will be charged $25 per ticket to book a ticket I can't book online [upgradeable y and miles upgrade to j]. no mention of this on virgin site, no e-mail notice...

this policy is for all non uk originating bookings? anyone have any insight into this?

so to reply to myself—apparently I must book the tickets online THEN call to book upgrades hoping that between the time it shows availability and the time I get to call centre these are still open. Grrr... so in order to use my miles I have to pay not only the extraordinary taxes, fees and surcharge, now this!

If true, has a bad odur about it...

You say, $25 - are you calling from the US? Is it something to do with US departues......no, that doesn't make sense.

Surprised there isn't more posted about this...

[mitchja]

On the VS UK homepage, it does clearly states the following:

'Prefer to talk? Call Reservations 24/7 on 0844 209 7310 with no booking fee'

Yes—calling from US. I was told that it is a new policy put in place for ALL non UK originating bookings in order for Virgin to be "In line" with the charges made by US airlines. Never mind the additional fees and surcharges made by Virgin that are NOT made by US airlines!
So not pleased, plus the call centre agent was difficult to hear due to the enormous noise in the room he was in, nor was he able to advise me on how to use the "Upgrade Yourself" page on the website which includes only R,B and Y fares (no L—cheapest) and then... what in terms of actually booking J seats with miles upgrade?
Result? Have not yet booked.

On the VS UK homepage, it does clearly states the following:

'Prefer to talk? Call Reservations 24/7 on 0844 209 7310 with no booking fee'

And on the US one

Prefer to talk? Call us 1-800-862-8621
Open 24/7

Mind it dosen't say 'no booking fee' but at least it is a free number.

As for not advertising the fee are VS already in breach of the new rules in the US re transparent pricing?

Telephone reservations

For US telephone reservations, there will be an additional charge of $25 per ticket.

http://virginatlantic.custhelp.com/app/ ... l/a_id/615

There seems to be two separate issues here. One is the fee. The other is this:

apparently I must book the tickets online THEN call to book upgrades hoping that between the time it shows availability and the time I get to call centre these are still open.

I struggle to believe that's the case. Surely you can book and upgrade over the phone. You certainly can for ex-UK bookings.

Apparently I can only book an L ticket by phone. Once booked (and paid $25) I can book an upgrade. If I book the tickets available on upgrade myself it offers only R,B,Y and I do not believe they are competitive prices.

Looks like that's another case of the Vs website not being updated as it should be. You're able to book L fares on the UK site fine, possibly not on the US site as until recently (IIRC) you couldn't upgrade from an L fare that originated in the US, so since that change looks like they've just not added that fare code to the fare search! Maybe with the new site..?

Hi All,

The booking fee has now been removed with immediate effect.

Alex

Update has been that I finally reached (US call lines were down at that site for quite a while) helpful soul at the call centre who was able to book me an L ticket and apply it to upgrades. Why I couldn't book the L directly on site is a curiosity as duggy83 points out that same flight was bookable on the UK site and showed L fares.
So —note to VS: The new site is not very user friendly. One doesn't actually think to open a box saying "What does VS charge for" and scroll down to say, "Aha! They charge to book by phone!") nor is here any explanation for using the Upgrade Yourself fare booking online tool and how that connects with adding in miles and reaping an upgrade.
And finally, given all the time I had to spend sorting this out, I am again incensed that in order to use my miles as an upgrade I have to not only book a more expensive seat to upgrade from, but I also have to pay the increasingly hefty upgrade fees on top of that. And then to add in that $25!

Alexsfak - I note your profiel states you work for VS.

Please can you provide links to updated VS webpages stating that the policy has been updated, and also the new booking conditions for US residents?

Thank you

—Re removal of the $25 booking fee:
Alex (!) that is great news—very responsive on the part of VS—and is it your hand that has also been part of removing the "Upgrade Yourself" tool (at least on the US site)?

I thought L fares were not available for upgrade apart from ex-UK?

Are you saying that you can phone and book an L and then upgrade, but that you have to pay a $25 non-online fee?

Alexsfak - I note your profiel states you work for VS.

Please can you provide links to updated VS webpages stating that the policy has been updated, and also the new booking conditions for US residents?

Thank you

Hi Concorde RIP,

there arent any specific links for the booking fee being removed, however if you have a look at this link http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us/index.jsp?y=13&x=28 then you can now see in the top right corner it says there is no booking fee.

I can assure you there is no US originating booking fee being charged as i have booked several pax today originating in the US, obviously with no fee being charged.

Upgrading from the US from Economy must be booked in the following fare code Y/B/R/L. This should be booked over the phone so that we can ensure that the availability is there and we can quote the surcharge/tax diff if necessary etc.

I hope that helps

Alex

Alex

but what have the staff been told? There seems to be a disconnect between what staff say and what the website says.

I note that the 'no booking fee' has only been added to the US version of the website in the last 24 hours because it wasn't there whe I posted my previous comment !

[Darren Wheeler]

Alex. Can I ask that you make yourself aware of the VS policy on staff posting on external sites, as much for your sake as anyone elses.

I know other staffers post, but their usernames are anonymous. Just don't want to see you get hung as you're trying to be helpful...

Alex

but what have the staff been told? There seems to be a disconnect between what staff say and what the website says.

I note that the 'no booking fee' has only been added to the US version of the website in the last 24 hours because it wasn't there whe I posted my previous comment !

Thanks Darren, will do. To finalise on this, the US booking fee has been updated to all CC staff.

Alex