Upgrade "taxes and YQ"

I regularly upgrade into G from whichever Y fare work was willing/able to buy when we booked.

I've just upgraded the return segment (only) of an SFO->LHR trip. For this, VS has just charged me $330. Last month, the same upgrade for the same single segment was £130.

What changed? I've been doing these upgrades for years and I don't recall ever paying near that much for a single segment.

To clarify you are upgrading from Econony to upper an ex-UK flight?

In which case approx £70 of the extra cost will be the additional APD due for a premium cabin.

If its the ex-SFO leg then no additional UK tax will be payable and it will all be down to VS what the fees are as I think the U.S. taxes and airport fees are the same no matter the cabin class flown.

Yes, it's the ex-LHR leg.

You're saying that APD changed? I'm seeing changes on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty starting from April 1.

If I read that page right, for this flight, it would seem that APD should have decreased.

Also, my last £130 upgrade flight was after April 1.

Sadly the VS customer service phone people can't provide a break down or any kind of clue on this.

APD to the US is Band B and has always been Band B. It was APD on Band C & D that was reduced (and the bands abolished)

Bands are / were based on the distance from London to the national capital. So for the US it's the distance to DC that matters not SFO.

You originally paid approx £70 APD as part of your original economy booking.

When you upgraded you needed to pay another £70 to bring it up to premium cabin rate.

Anything else in the extra charge will be VS fees etc

OK, so that's consistent with earlier flights. Thanks for clarifying that we're talking about APD band B.

I have in front of me an upgrade receipt with a breakdown:

GBP £0.00
GB £69.00
YQ £61.00

GBP £130.00

From this I infer that the "GB" row is the APD. So after April 1, it should have increased to £71 for this upgrade. However, I flew in April and performed this very upgrade and paid £130.

What I'm still struggling with is why what was £130 is now $330 here in May. The delta from £69 to £71 doesn't explain it.

did you book & pay the upgrade before the new prices?

OK, so that's consistent with earlier flights. Thanks for clarifying that we're talking about APD band B.

I have in front of me an upgrade receipt with a breakdown:

GBP £0.00
GB £69.00
YQ £61.00

GBP £130.00

From this I infer that the "GB" row is the APD. So after April 1, it should have increased to £71 for this upgrade. However, I flew in April and performed this very upgrade and paid £130.

What I'm still struggling with is why what was £130 is now $330 here in May. The delta from £69 to £71 doesn't explain it.

Yes the 'GB' is the APD and the 'YQ' is the VS fuel surcharge.


You really need to get a proper fare breakdown from VS to explain the difference. Part of it will be the changing exchange rate.

Perhap VS applied a change fee this time but not before?

As to being charged only £69 instead of £71 for the APD I can only think that somehow VS haven't updated the bit of software that works out fare differences etc


Eggtastico - the changes in the APD bands and rates (unlike the elimination of APD for under 12's) were announced well over a year ago so should have already been included in fares.

I've just upgraded the SFO->LHR segment at $92.91, which is merely an exchange rate delta from the $93 I've paid last month.

That means the delta here is either APD or a change fee as suggested.

I'll get to the bottom of this soon enough. :-)

Hi alexr, which fare bucket were you originally booked into? If a non upgradeable one, then the increase you are seeing may be due to a fare correction to get you into an upgradeable fare bucket.

Just a thought

Part of it will be the changing exchange rate.

Perhap VS applied a change fee this time but not before?

You are charged in local currency tonty so there shouldn't be a currency change fee. There also hasn't been that dramatic a shift in the £-$ exchange rate.

It has got to either be an error made by the checkin staff or a fare correction as I have said above.