V-Flyer

Just upgraded an X fare economy outbound to JFK to upper for only 111GBP and 20K miles. Have to say very pleasantly surprised y) The difference in quoted tax alone I make 118GBP. I wonder if I just bagged a deal on the back of a mistake.

I gather you only need to be on an M now to upgrade and that this is a recent change.. no doubt others here are better informed than I. Still seems somewhat of a bargain.

Perhaps this is related to the outcome of at240's experiments with availability, suggesting some overcapacity at the moment?

The crazy thing is to book the economy fare now is 1,074.99 while I paid 660 for it some months back, and as I said the tax difference alone is 118 one way LHR to JFK. Makes no sense to me to move up a number of fare buckets and a tax band and have the difference so low at 111.

I assume Virgin have to honour the quoted cost now I've booked it?

On the face of it sounds like a good deal to me.... y) y)

MrDoob wrote:I gather you only need to be on an M now to upgrade and that this is a recent change..

News to me.... anyone verify? If so I will be changing those L's I have in the works.. :w

To my recollection the tax diff is something in the region of £70 for eco - UC from LHR-JFK (not sure on your £118, counting both ways perhaps?), the additional amount must have been the cost to change your X fare into an L.... If you initially paid 660, (L fares usually set us back between 700 and 740 for the NYC run.. seasonal variances of course..) the extra £40 odd fare diff seems to make sense. Is it just the one way that has been upped to the L or both ways? That may account for the difference you are seeing if it is only a one way reward. When you do the same at JFK - LHR you will see the diff in fare and taxes pop in as well as another 20K miles please... ha ha.

Off the bat though £111 +20K miles for eco-UC is amazing... can never get that with BA

MrDoob wrote:I assume Virgin have to honour the quoted cost now I've booked it?

Bought and paid for then yes... might be worth confirming with FC though, you don't want any of those you still owe us 'X' amount of money at check-in Have read some horror stories about that before... :0

Hope you enjoy 8D

only £65 of that 111 is tax ie the difference between Y and the PE/UC rates of APD (only paid on ex UK legs) and the rest of it the VS fuel surcharge and fare difference between the buckets.

MrDoob

You are right. £118 is what you would expect to pay in extra APD (£65) and surcharge (£53) outbound to JFK. Both of which can be worked out from the website if you are persistent.

Funnily enough, I was charged £118 too for exactly this in September.

MrDoob wrote:I gather you only need to be on an M now to upgrade and that this is a recent change..

You are right about that too!

It seems moot, though, because no fare difference appears to have been collected!

I got the 118 by looking at one way LHR-JFK reward flights in economy and upper. So I reasonably expected this to be the minimum upgrade cost to move cabins if I was already in the right bucket.. which I was not.

Wow sounds like I have been lucky when I snag my upgrades at check-in Shall keep quiet on that one..

at240 wrote: Both of which can be worked out from the website if you are persistent.

Sorry was being lazy and in no mood to wander the halls of forgotten toys that is the VS website..

at240 wrote:

MrDoob wrote:I gather you only need to be on an M now to upgrade and that this is a recent change..

You are right about that too!

Ahh excellent, will there be a fare reduction for me is the question... probably not, but optimism and all that

MrDoob wrote:I got the 118 by looking at one way LHR-JFK reward flights in economy and upper. So I reasonably expected this to be the minimum upgrade cost to move cabins if I was already in the right bucket.. which I was not.

Ahh cool, in that case top result y) y)

MrDoob wrote:I got the 118 by looking at one way LHR-JFK reward flights in economy and upper. So I reasonably expected this to be the minimum upgrade cost to move cabins if I was already in the right bucket.. which I was not.

Yes, your logic is right (in my view!). How you were charged less than that, I don't know!

I think you have done well, but that is not to say that VS has made a mistake -- the upgrade process is quite unpredictable because you never quite know what the one-way fare difference is, and you do not know either if they are applying discounts to the higher bucket price for upgrades. In the past I have certainly booked a round-trip L for £100 less fare than was being advertised on the website. I just couldn't figure it out.

Once you are ticketed, I think you will be OK -- just make sure you get your eticket reissued in 48hrs, and if not, chase it. Otherwise there could be a surprise at check-in.

joeyc wrote:Sorry was being lazy and in no mood to wander the halls of forgotten toys that is the VS website..

My apologies, my remark wasn't aimed at anyone here, I actually was referring to the level of digging you have to do in order to work it out -- it is buried in the list of taxes surcharges which you can access when you price up a flight. I wish the booking engine could do all of this for you...

MrDoob wrote:The crazy thing is to book the economy fare now is 1,074.99 while I paid 660 for it some months back

Sorry, forgot to comment on this bit. The hike is because your return flight is busy and only Y tickets are available. It looks like Xs are still available on your outbound.

Thanks for all the feedback. I will only relax once I have the new eticket and I see the charge hit my Amex bill. Something about the "...I'm going to have to calculate that manually...." comment of the FC agent that makes me suspect something may have been overlooked. Fingers crossed will keep you posted...

Well my eTicket confirms upgrade cost of 111.80 GBP (plus 20K miles).

Makes absolutely no sense to me, but I am not complaining ii)

I wonder if having already paid to upgrade my return leg to PE had a bearing on this in somehow reducing the amount of surcharges payable outbound. If anyone knows the workings of the calculations please feel free to share ?|

MrDoob wrote:Well my eTicket confirms upgrade cost of 111.80 GBP (plus 20K miles).

Result then y)

MrDoob wrote:Makes absolutely no sense to me, but I am not complaining ii)

Tennyson got this one right: "Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die.."

Enjoy it 8D

Just an update to this thread.

I have just upgraded a cheap O sale fare to UC (one-way to NYC) with miles, and it cost £118 -- which is the amount of the extra tax & fuel surcharge -- + 20k miles. Very pleased with this. y)

at240 wrote:Just an update to this thread.

I have just upgraded a cheap O sale fare to UC (one-way to NYC) with miles, and it cost £118 -- which is the amount of the extra tax & fuel surcharge -- + 20k miles. Very pleased with this. y)

Result y) y) y)

A bit of xmas shopping or does work beacon again? I won't be doing the rounds, so to speak, until the new year now... n(

Enjoy 8D

A further update. I enquired about availability to upgrade the return O-class with miles, just into PE, and was quoted £98. This is actually the correct answer (the fare difference between an O and an M return from JFK -- no extra YQ or tax to pay) but it just goes to show how good a deal was the £118 to UC -- incredible value and I do wonder whether it is the result of a glitch somewhere.

Maybe there is a push currently to max out the premium cabins while negotiations regarding the future of VS hang in the balance? Would be delighted if I (and others) can secure such good value mileage upgrades everytime... we shall have to wait and see.