Upgrading from Premium to Upper with miles

Hi,

Been lurking here for a while and used Virgin for years. Flown BA & Virgin Upper but like the more relaxed attitude of Virgin. I am looking to find a return flight late september from LHR to SFO or LAX. I am told no avaliablity but looking on the website the plane has lots of avaliablity for a full paying fare.
Do you think the i should :-

i.Wait until nearer the date waiting for seats to be released?
ii.Try a well worded letter to customers services asking for assistance?(long standing customer/ great service etc)
iii.I have got no chance and bite the bullet and go with BA

Thanks for your opinions or anyone who has had a similar experience.

AL

Welcome

Writing to customer services will do you absolutely no good at all. They are not responsinle for the release of reward tickets and cannot simply release some for you no matter how long you have been a member of FC for.

Just because there are £ seats available does not mean they will be converted to rewward ones either. They may release some more but equally they may not.

All you can do is keep checking and book them as soon as you see them as other people will be wanting them too.

Reading you post it seems you haven't even bought your PE tickets yet!

tontybear is quite right -- writing a letter is a waste of time.

Availability is admittedly poor for the end of September.

It is impossible, really, to say whether to go with VS or BA if you are waiting for mileage seats to open up. BA has more flights so you might think you have a better chance with them -- but somehow I don't think it's quite that simple... If you are going to book PE and wait for the redemption seats to become available, then you have to compare which PE you would rather be in if you cannot upgrade -- for me it would be VS every time.

I did this in April for a trip to SFO. I wanted a full mileage G UC fare for my wife and an upgradeable PE fare for myself.

For a long time there was only one G fare available, then none. I checked daily for 2 G fares. Eventually 2 became available and I rang straight away and bagged them.

Took about 3 weeks of daily checks on the website.
You are travelling alone(?), out of school hols on a route with LHR 747. I think its unlikely you won't be successful if persevere.

Keep trying end of September is some time away.

Thanks for all your advice, I have now secured the seats by checking the website and ringing every day. 50,000 miles & £2950 in total for 2 upper flights from LHR to SFO.

Buy one get on free based on the full fare !!

For you information, the girls on the phone said the upgrade flights are released at random times so just keep ringing and checking the website.
The only thing she did say was at the end of the month is when they release blocks of avaliablity.

California here I come !

It is annoying that revenue management release reward flights at random intervals, but end of the day they are trying to get as much of a return on their seats as possible, so I definitly understand.

Cheers for the info about the block releases at the end of months - shall keep that in mind next time I am hunting 'G' fares.

Sounds like a good result though. Enjoy your trip. y)