UC upgrades and taxes

Hi All,

Good news, I'm flying VS again with work after many years away . Unfortunately Econ to/from IAD but I've taken the opportunity to upgrade on the way back to Upper. Speaking to reservations, the additional taxes were £125 (on top of £303 total for the Econ RTN) which seemed a bit high. She also said it would have been the same to upgrade on the way out. Do VS just average out the differences in taxes when doing a one-way upgrade leg in advance? Last time I upgraded with VS was back to the UK at the airport and was ~$30 taxes (albeit from PE to Upper). Just wanted to check that the upgrade situation sounds correct.

Also, I'm provisionally booked in seat 1A. Hopefully this is a good seat on the A330.

Many thanks!

Gliderpilot

I should add that it was a miles upgrade (35,000) and the fare was originally booked through my company travel agent. It's interesting as having looked at some other posts it sounds like I shouldn't have been able to upgrade until T-24 from departure?!

The difference on the return taxes from economy to upper should be £74.50

(The difference in the outbound taxes economy to upper is £147.50) so I'm not sure where the other £125 figure came from? Might be worth following up with them tomorrow?

Also, I would recommend anything from 3A-7A if available (1A is a little close to the toilet for my liking!)

Have a great flight!

Can we just clarify that you are actually talking about the VS fuels/ carrier surcharge which is not a tax and is 100% set and retained by VS

If you have booked economy then £71 is APD (the UK departure tax applied to most flights leaving the UK) if you upgrade the ex UK leg then there is another £71 to pay for that but anything else is VS

Many thanks to both of you!

It was a flat charge of £125 + 35,000 miles so I was a bit confused. Maybe the charge is because it was an upgrade from a TA booking? (I noticed another thread where someone else on a TA booking got charged the exact same amount for a one-way upgrade but from the UK).

Really looking forward to flying VS again after a long time flying with the dark side. Shame it's the dream suite rather than the traditional config but sure will be good.

Spoke to VS again today.

Interesting. They said that the overall surcharges/tax with upgrading a TA-booked fare in advance are the same for out/return. He didn't really say as to why though and admitted that at the airport it would be different. He also quoted the cost of the PE upgrade (see below) and confirmed that it is not able to upgrade with cash only (except at airport) - presumably because they don't know the original fare cost?

Upgrade from Econ-Prem Econ £73 + 15,000 miles
Upgrade from Econ- Upper £125 + 35,000 miles
(IAD-LHR)

Be interested to hear whether anyone else has experience of upgrading TA-booked fares and how 'standard' these prices are - at least one other thread mentions an TA upgrade to Upper for £125 also.

I upgraded a TA fare from Y to UC and it was also £125 plus miles, so seems standard

Thanks spacedog. Wonder if they have changed their policy on TA-fares as it looks like before you could only do it at the airport.