V-Flyer

Having monitored prices for a few months, I booked Christmas flights in June DXB-LHR-DXB, 8 - 23rd December. At the time I considered myself luckly to get K and S class tickets as only W's had been available.

I also thought that with an S we might get an opportunity to upgrade on the night flight home. However 2 months on I have been regularly checking the website and no joy. I checked expert flyer today and the flight is filling up. I also checked VS and to my shock, K class are now available.

So we have S class tickets for the DXB return, with little chance of upgrade. Is is possible to downgrade this leg to K class? It would save us around £480.

I can cancel the whole trip and rebook, but this would cost around £200 each - losing most of the money I could have saved.

Gratefuly for any advice

No, you can't downgrade the fare code on one leg. When you book, there is always the risk the price will go down or a cheaper fare code will become available, i guess you wouldn't be happy for Virgin to charge you more if the prices go up after you book.

I am surprised you give a figure of £200 to cancel, as any ticket with a K fare leg should be non refundable (the lowest fare code rules on a round trip apply for the whole ticket) so I would be very surprised if you can cancel. Again, if this was allowed, then all airlines would constantly have pax cancelling and re-booking every time the price went down.

Neil

I thought S and K were unrefundable.

Just a question - my ticket for JNB says cancellation charges are waived "due to illness". This seems unusually generous as I thought they would expect travel insurance to cover this.

Insurance policies have an upper limit on the amount you can claim.

Mine is up to £7,500, but many are lower. A lot lower. A non-sale Z fare can soon a lot soak that up.

Thanks Guy - good point you make Neil.

The lesson is not to get scared into buying, hold out.

jpcox1 wrote:The lesson is not to get scared into buying, hold out.

Or... once you have booked - stop looking! 8D

Nick

Nottingham Nick wrote:

jpcox1 wrote:The lesson is not to get scared into buying, hold out.

Or... once you have booked - stop looking! 8D

Nick

I've been looking now and again since we booked miles + money MAN-MCO in January and haven't seen cheaper prices at all
26 days to go!!!! ^) ^) ^)

Graham

An update for you

I phoned Flying Club this morning on another matter (still no E tickets for a flight booked in early June) and also asked about the above.

* The Rep stated that VS had issued all upgrades for the December/January holiday period. He did not think any others would now be issued.

* A W class ticket can be downgraded for a cash refund at any time if say an S or K become available.

Thanks

Yes, a full round trip W can, but if it is a mix ticket with a lower fare code, then the most restrictive fare code appliesfpr the full ticket.