V-Flyer

I always get booked in PE with work and the cheapest ticket that's available.

This has mean't recently a lot of K tickets and no chance of upgrading. ?|

What I can't understand though is why the Virgin website doesn't include the K ticket yet they're definitely available? Booked via a travel agent.

The other slightly strange thing is the restrictions on the K ticket include '3 day minimum stop over plus proof of accommodation to be shown at check in'. I've had many tickets booked this way and never been asked for proof of accommodation. Nothing to do with ESTA or security as the other ticket classes on the same quote from TA don't include the same clause.

VS website usally give you a 'K' unless there are none available you use the fare code search, or ask for the fully flexible fare.

What a Travel Agent has access to though can be different to the main VS site.

For the last three trips the VS website has shown little availability in K, mainly weekends only. The travel agent though has always found K's. Saves the company money, but it would be nice to use the miles to upgrade.

I'm puzzled by your post because I have just done a couple of dummy bookings to various destinations on the VS website selecting the Premium Economy (lowest) option and that has given me K fares on each occasion ?| Nor is there any indication about the length of stay or proof of accommodation to be provided at check-in

With regard to the lack of availability, a K fare is an advanced purchase fare and within a time frame before the flight it is no longer available. I believe travel agents have discounted tickets which are only available through them and possibly have a K code which may be why you can book it through a travel agent but not on the website. Hopefully a travel agent will be along to clarify this

I'm puzzled by your post because I have just done a couple of dummy bookings to various destinations on the VS website selecting the Premium Economy (lowest) option and that has given me K fares on each occasion ?| Nor is there any indication about the length of stay or proof of accommodation to be provided at check-in

With regard to the lack of availability, a K fare is an advanced purchase fare and within a time frame before the flight it is no longer available. I believe travel agents have discounted tickets which are only available through them and possibly have a K code which may be why you can book it through a travel agent but not on the website. Hopefully a travel agent will be along to clarify this

SteveA wrote:For the last three trips the VS website has shown little availability in K, mainly weekends only. The travel agent though has always found K's. Saves the company money, but it would be nice to use the miles to upgrade.

To upgrade to UC you would need to be in the W or S buckets so maybe ask your TA how much these would cost - and maybe offer to pay the difference to the K your employer is prepared to pay for.

But again TAs have access to different fare codes with different retrictions than mere ordinary pax do.

SteveA wrote:For the last three trips the VS website has shown little availability in K, mainly weekends only. The travel agent though has always found K's. Saves the company money, but it would be nice to use the miles to upgrade.

Availability of Ks and using miles to upgrade are two different issues. K fares are very restricted fares and are not upgradeable for that reason. A K fare often costs less than a full Y fare or other upgradeable economy fares.

Similar restrictions apply in UC whereby Z fares do not have certain benefits such as the CDC for similar reasons that a W fare is often more than a Z.

Also just to chip in with my usual refrain K is upgradable with flying company miles...

seanpep wrote:Also just to chip in with my usual refrain K is upgradable with flying company miles...

Ah yes, we leisure travellers tend to forget about Flying Co. Thanks for the reminder y)

honey lamb wrote:

seanpep wrote:Also just to chip in with my usual refrain K is upgradable with flying company miles...

Ah yes, we leisure travellers tend to forget about Flying Co. Thanks for the reminder y)

Ah yes but one of our brethren reported that they were still unable to upgrade despite apparent availability (plus the OPs company would need to be a member of FC too)

seanpep wrote:Also just to chip in with my usual refrain K is upgradable with flying company miles...

Sean - I have not heard of this before, can you clarify. If I am flying on a K, I can use my company miles (we do have a company FC account), but I can't use my personal miles. Is that correct?

Thanks

Martin

Martin wrote:

seanpep wrote:Also just to chip in with my usual refrain K is upgradable with flying company miles...

Sean - I have not heard of this before, can you clarify. If I am flying on a K, I can use my company miles (we do have a company FC account), but I can't use my personal miles. Is that correct?

Thanks

Martin

Yes it is, ring your FCo helpline and they should be able to do it for you!

Thanks Slinky

And is it the same number of miles i.e. 20,000 to go from K to UC?

Thanks for all the comments.

I appreciate the K restrictions (flown Virgin for many years). The extra restrictions for accomadation were passed on through the travel agent and nothing to do with the standard VS website bookings.

Seems like the TA may have some type of discounted ticket availability that should be linked to a holiday or room booking? As per the original post though never been asked for proof and even if they did not sure what it would show other than I intend to sleep somewhere!

As for paying the difference to get an S, none have been available recently or they have been a lot more than the K.

honey lamb wrote:I'm puzzled by your post because I have just done a couple of dummy bookings to various destinations on the VS website selecting the Premium Economy (lowest) option and that has given me K fares on each occasion ?| Nor is there any indication about the length of stay or proof of accommodation to be provided at check-in

With regard to the lack of availability, a K fare is an advanced purchase fare and within a time frame before the flight it is no longer available. I believe travel agents have discounted tickets which are only available through them and possibly have a K code which may be why you can book it through a travel agent but not on the website. Hopefully a travel agent will be along to clarify this

When you made your dummy bookings did they cover a Saturday? When using the VA website I can only produce a K fare if a Saturday is included.

I think the problem the OP has, is he is getting a K fare when not stopping over a Saturday, which begs the question why should you be able to get a K ticket from a TA when you cannot obtain one direct from VA. If this is the case why use the VA website if price is important when a TA can get you a better price.

Looking on Expert Flyer K’s seem to be freely available all the time not just for advanced sales, why is this?

gnjb.

Hi Martin,

Yup it's 20,000. It's one of the real advantages of the Flying CO in my opinion...

S