V-Flyer

Hey All,

I've emailed Virgin regarding this, but you guys are usually way quicker and just as knowledgeable

I'm booking flights for work stuff which I then claim back. The problem arises in that the paid upgrades virgin offers are very tempting but I can only claim back economy tickets. I'll be paying for the upgrade myself but then will need a receipt showing the economy fare for claim purposes. If I go through the site will I get a receipt with a breakdown of the fare or will I have to purchase the economy then hopefully get a similar price to upgrade after the fact.

Thanks in advance.

Check-in staff and ticket agent staff at airports can issue e-ticket receipts. I've asked for these before now. Just ask for one of these at the airport before you upgrade.

BA & BMI self service machines do also offer this function, not sure if VS ones do as well though?

lazerblaze wrote:Hey All,

I've emailed Virgin regarding this, but you guys are usually way quicker and just as knowledgeable

I'm booking flights for work stuff which I then claim back. The problem arises in that the paid upgrades virgin offers are very tempting but I can only claim back economy tickets. I'll be paying for the upgrade myself but then will need a receipt showing the economy fare for claim purposes. If I go through the site will I get a receipt with a breakdown of the fare or will I have to purchase the economy then hopefully get a similar price to upgrade after the fact.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Lazerblaze,

I sometimes have the same issue, not with flights but other high expense items.
The way I get around this is to submit the higher value receipt but only claim the amount of the approved,lower, amount,stating on the recipt the lower amount claimed.
(Something like only £xx claimed, £xx for personal use/indulgence).
I have had no problem doing this for over 25 years of expenses claims, maybe this might work for you?
At least this way you are being open and up front about what you have done and cannot be accused of abusing your company's expenses criteria.

Cheers
Paul

lazerblaze wrote: I'll be paying for the upgrade myself but then will need a receipt showing the economy fare for claim purposes. If I go through the site will I get a receipt with a breakdown of the fare or will I have to purchase the economy then hopefully get a similar price to upgrade after the fact.

Thanks in advance.

If you buy the upgrade at the as part of the initial process by clicking on the "Upgrade to PE for £nnn" link you will get one non-itemiesd receipt. You could print that page to show your expense approver that the economy fare was, say £350 and the total was £600 so you only claim the former.

If you buy the ecomony ticket now and the upgrade at a later date online or at the airport, you will get a second receipt like this (one I have subsequently deleted). You should be able to make out the words "Additional Collection". (Although I've just discovered that if you click a V-Flyer image you get a nice clear bigger version!)

Cheers

Martin

Edited to remove personal data

Martin, be careful of posting information like that out in the public; I'd be able to log in to your booking and access information such as passport details, home address, phone numbers etc (Obviously I'm not going to... ).

MrSquare wrote:Martin, be careful of posting information like that out in the public; I'd be able to log in to your booking and access information such as passport details, home address, phone numbers etc (Obviously I'm not going to... ).

Thanks Mr Square

I thought I had checked it to cut out my credit card details (which I did) but I did not spot that it had my PNR in the email title. all gone now.

Cheers

Martin

Thanks everyone for your help, I've just gone with economy and will hopefully upgrade in a bit (can I do this online? or is it easier to call FC?). Unfortunately I can't just go down the honesty route as specific receipts are almost always required, especially if we're audited by our funding body.

EDIT: Coming back from the states I'm L, bit confused as to whether or not this is an upgradeable class. The way it reads on one page on the VS site, L is excluded if the flight originates from the USA, but the wording on another page suggests that it's only excluded if the outbound flight starts in the US (This is the return).

Take a look under the toolbox for fare code information, or here - you'll see that L code is upgradeable.

Excellent link, thanks slinky. What made me doubt was this snippet from VS website:

You can upgrade when purchasing a full adult fare (W, S, Y, B, L*, M**)
L*: Excludes US originating flights only
M**: Originating flights from Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, India only

Guess I'll give them a call and see. Thanks again everyone (VS should hire you guys to answer customer enquiries!)

Ahh, I'd forgotten that tweak about US originating flights and Ms too. Originating for VS means where your first leg starts from, so if you're travelling from the UK and returning from the US, you're OK.