Additional charges on reward seat upgrades

Hi folks, am a bit confused and hoped some knowledgeable person on here could answer this for me.

Last Saturday I nabbed 2 upper class reward seats to Barbados upgrading from PE, the additional charges were £30 each. Two days later I grabbed 1 further upper class reward seat on the same Barbados flight upgrading as before from PE, but this cost me £45.40. I'm puzzled why the big difference ?| ?| ?|

Thanks Apple

Hi Apple

My first thought would be that in between last Saturday and today the fuel surcharge has gone up. APD and everything else are the same for Upper as they are for PE, fuel surcharge (YQ) rises with the cabin. I've never been charged a change fee for doing what you've done so can't think its that either.

But that's just a guess as to what it might be, the fuel surcharges are not that transparent (i.e. you won't find a list)

Worth it though, IMHO

Regards
R3dV

You can find the fuel surcharges and all the rest of the taxes by doing a dummy booking and clicnking on the 'fare breakdown' link on the 'select flight page' (its down the bottom just after the price is given.

Then click on the 'taxes fees and curcharge' link in the small window that opens and they are all listed there.

Do some dummy PE and UC bookings and compare the two.

Very true Tonty. You can find out the current charge by that method. But what you can't get easily is a list of historical YQ charges, by cabin and by destination. That makes it difficult to track over time. (and I know you're not defending YQ, BTW)

Regards
R3dV

Does it not itemise the amount of YQ on the e-ticket?

[mcmbenjamin]

Does it not itemise the amount of YQ on the e-ticket?

It does. Look in the section of the e-ticket labeled "FARE DETAILS". You will see some numbers to the right. You will see YQ followed by some numbers. That is the fuel surcharge. You are paying that outside of your fare. If you originally booked a Y award then upgrade to a J/Upper Class, you will pay the difference in the YQ/fuel surcharge (also APD but APD is a government tax. Fuel surcharge is revenue to VS NOT the government). Seems funny to me to pay a fuel surcharge on a 'free' ticket, especially since the fuel surcharge is far from de minimis.

Yup the VS 'fuel & insurance' surcharge is daylight robbery IMHO. Those flying economy have the worst deal as it takes up around 65% of the overall taxes/surcharges pot. In PE it's around 55%.

Hi all and thanks for all your comments.

I have had a look at the tickets re the YQ charges. This is very confusing. Originally all 3 were on the same booking and all had a YQ charge of £195. Then the booking was split into 2 bookings, 2 tickets on the first booking took a reward upgrade from a S ticket in PE to a G in upper class, on that new ticket the YQPD was £225 for one and £195 for the other and the additional charge was £30 each. The second booking that was upgraded from an S ticket in PE to a G in upper class had a YQPD charge of £225 and the additional charge was £45.40. As I previously said there was only 2 days in upgrading the first 2 tickets to upgrading the 3rd ticket. Gosh I'm just so confused and can't seem to get any sense out of Virgin. Hope this makes sense to someone as I am at a total loss. ?|

[mcmbenjamin]

That does not make sense. I do not see a recent change in YQ on the few YQ records I have. PM'ed you.

I've just tried a dummy booking LGW>BGI>LGW and YQ is stated to be £195 on a PE booking - the same as your original tickets. However, YQ on an upper fare is showing as £255. So if you've only been charged £30 each on the first change, it looks like you've got a bargain as it should have been £60 each (unless you only upgraded one way?). On the second you appear to have paid £45 instead of £60, again it appears you are better off.

Edit - just reread your original post and it could be you've only upgraded one way TO BGI. In which case it should have been £30 each

Regards
R3dV