V-Flyer

Hi

Is the clubhouse just for upper class passengers? I've read some trip reports where people have been in Premium Economy but used the Clubhouse so a bit confused! Will this be because they're a memeber of the flying club? We'll be going on our first Virgin flights for our honeymoon in Jan - very excited!

We fly new years day from Manchester to Las Vegas and then home from JFK to Heathrow. We're currently in Economy both ways but thinking about upgrading for the way home if we would get access to the club house. Does anyone know how busy flights tend to be on New years day? I thought it might be quite quiet so we may get room to spread out in economy so might not ne worth upgrading on the way there?

Thanks

Welcome to V-Flyer.

Those of us who get Clubhouse access when flying in PE and economy are Flying Club gold card holders.

Virgin holiday customers used to be able to pay to get into the Clubhouse, but that was at LHR. There isn't a Clubhouse at MAN, and there s no paid access to the JFK clubhouse.

By the time you travel, there will be a VRoom at MAN, but that is also for VH customers only.

Nick

If it's your honeymoon i'd definitely suggest upgrading to PE or UC if you can.

The MAN-Las vegas route is new so there is some uncertainty to how busy the flight will be, closer to time you could ask for a load check here on Vflyer where we can check approximate availability (you also get a number of free searches with expertflyer for load checks for joining vflyer).

Either way, you'll have an amazing trip!

Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately upper class will be way out of our price range so unless some kind soul decides they can give us an upgrade that won't be a possibility!!! We'll perhaps have a look at Premium Economy a bit nearer the time dependent on finances - do you know if the prices go down the closer it gets or is it best to book early?

hels_1984 wrote:do you know if the prices go down the closer it gets or is it best to book early?

The $64000 question..for which there's no clear answer. The airlines (I think..) play the game and try to insert uncertainty into the process; otherwise every consumer would know to wait / not to wait and buy at the predictable lowest point; good for the consumer, not so for the business. It really is down to deciding the prioe you're willing to pay, keeping an eye out, booking at that price if it comes up and then never looking at the price again.

Hi Hels - welcome to V-Flyer

There is no hard and fast rule about the best time to buy an upgrade. It depends on so many things outside our control, but particularly other peoples bookings. The best advice is to keep looking at the manage my bookings section on the Virgin Atlantic site and if you see an offer to upgrade at a price you are happy with - go for it. You will never know if it may go up or down in the future.

The other thing you can do is gamble and buy an upgrade at the airport - but this is only if they have space available. The price is usually between £150 and £249 per person. If you choose to do that, do be aware that you can get there and find PE is full. In that case, don't fret - enjoy economy and spend the extra on some great meals or whatever takes your fancy!

Good luck.

Martin

Last year I booked economy seats LGW - LAS in June for Aug 30 - 7 Sept. Paid £1397 but got a refund of £66 due to Price Promise.
All the way up to the day before the flight I was keeping an eye on the upgrade prices for PE, and they fluctuated almost daily. I think the highest went to £5k around the time of the potential strikes (LGW would have been unaffected). The day before the flight I called CS and asked about an upgrade using miles and was told I could upgrade the outward journey for £73 each + 10K miles. Due to some confusion between myself and my travelling companion, we didn't take it. However, the next morning we went straight to the counter and asked to upgrade. We were charged £60 + tax + 10K miles per seat for the outgoing journey.
We were given exit row seats.
Our return leg was M class (ineligible for miles upgrade), but the day before our return we popped along to McCarran and my partner went to have a word with the staff. He managed to get the M class seats upgraded to PE for £140 + 10k miles each.
We were given exit row seats.

The reason for this slightly long post is really to agree with the previous poster that no-one can tell when is the best time to purchase an upgrade. My experience shows that it is possible to get very lucky and end up with fantastic seats for a minimal outlay.
However, I would not rely on this - in fact I am resigned to the fact that this year we will have to pay full rate for the PE seats upfront rather than take the risk - every test booking I have made has been ineligible for miles upgrade on both legs, and there appear to be no PE Rewards seats on that route until November.

As to whether it's worth upgrading - personally I'll never fly economy long haul again if I can remotely help it. While the PE seats on the LGW - LAS route are supposedly inferior to other routes, being up in the bubble away from the hurly burly of economy is easily worth twice as much as an economy fare. Not to mention priority embarkation/disembarkation - we were off the plane, through customs and on the shuttle to the car rental depot in 20 minutes.

This probably wont help you but when I flew out 2 weeks ago from LGW, they were charging £350 o/w at check in to upgrade to PE.

On the way back, they wanted $488 (about £310 I worked out at the present exchange rate).

Thanks everyone for your replies, I'll keep checking my online booking to see if there are any offers and see what they say at the airport. I've not seen any offers yet to upgrade yet - is that usual? Our tickets are X ones.

Thanks

Some interesting posts here.Something that's always asking about is the cost of upgrading your ticket to L and then using miles to upgrade. If your do it that way you may as well go to UC!