V-Flyer

We plan on flying LHR -IAD in the first week of June, and I will be 21 weeks pregnant. I have close to 50K in VA miles, and was thinking of using them to upgrade.

As the first flight is during the day, I was trying to decide between getting a seat in Economy with extra leg room so I can get up and move around a lot or upgrading to PE. For the return flight, upgrading to UC so I can lie down seems a no brainer.

I have not bothered to upgrade before as I am not a big person and Economy has always been doable. I do get really bad swelling in my ankles though, and can only imagine how much worse it may be being pregnant. Is the difference between economy and PE worth it?

Would appreciate any thoughts and insights.

Welcome to v-flyer and congratulations on your forthcoming arrival .Given that upgradeable flights are only available by using one of the higher fare coes in Y or PE you may find an outright cash PE fare is cheaper. The other thing to consider might be a Y outbound (paid for with cash) and UC inbound (with miles) combi fare.
DL

Or even combi (paid) PE outbound and UC (miles) inbound ): . Please remember that there has to be availability in a G class fare to use an UC reward (you can do a dummy booking using the use miles function to establish if there are seats available).
DL

StillOptimistic

My wife and I flew to Dulles when she was almost at the 28wk limit.

My advice would be to phone the VS Special Assistance line. They allocated us bulkhead seats in economy (both ways) which had miles more room than PE, and we were allowed to board before anyone else. We were looked after very well by the crew.

A further piece of advice. Make sure you can prove you intend to return to the UK and don't be surprised if you are carefully questioned about your intentions. This took us by surprise! In the end the immigration agent was very friendly, but only after he had convinced himself that we really were only visiting for a vacation.

(We had a doctor's note with us saying the pregnancy was normal etc, which we thought was overkill (and we thought that only the airline might need it), but the immigration guy asked to see it and we were pleased we had it with us.)

Hope this helps. Have a good trip.

I know from having seen it that an UC suite can fit two in bed mode....oh thats not what you wanted to know was it )

DragonLady~ Thanks for the tips. I'm a novice at upgrades so I will look into it.

at240~ I am a dual citizen so shouldn't be an issue but I will carry a letter just in case. Thanks for your help

15isto2~

StillOptimistic wrote:at240~ I am a dual citizen so shouldn't be an issue but I will carry a letter just in case. Thanks for your help

Ah -- my apologies! I'm sure you won't have any problems! I still recommend contacting VS if you end up in economy, though -- they were very understanding, and I was pleased I didn't bother forking out for premium economy in the end.

Have a good flight.

at240 wrote:

StillOptimistic wrote:at240~ I am a dual citizen so shouldn't be an issue but I will carry a letter just in case. Thanks for your help

Ah -- my apologies! I'm sure you won't have any problems! I still recommend contacting VS if you end up in economy, though -- they were very understanding, and I was pleased I didn't bother forking out for premium economy in the end.

Have a good flight.

No worries! No way of you knowing that. Rather cheeky of the US immigration official to assume you'd be on anything other than holiday. ii)

Still looking at my options but the dates are not looking good for a reward seat so we may have to go this route. Frustrating but reading the other posts on this forum, obviously not an isolated issue. n(

StillOptimistic wrote:Still looking at my options but the dates are not looking good for a reward seat so we may have to go this route. Frustrating but reading the other posts on this forum, obviously not an isolated issue. n(

I'm seeing reasonable availability for Gs going out thr first week of June (bar the 3rd and 5th) - when are you looking to return?
DL

Ideally we'd like to fly out 7/6 (Thursday)and return 16/6 (Saturday), but we have to wait for a family member to sort something out first. Hopefully I will be in a position to book in the next week.