V-Flyer

Morning all!

I am flying to India with work, who book the tickets and will only pay for economy, company policy.

Is it possible to pay for an upgreade AFTER the comany has bought said ticket, or not? Could I call them as soon as I have my ref number?

Reason is, I am allowed to claim back on expenses and when looking at flights, upgrade to PE in minimal at £84 for the return leg.

Thanks for any help

Phil

Hi Phil,
It all depends on the class of Economy ticket you have, normally if it is a flexible fare you should be good.
If you look at the ticket you have, then look at the "Fare Codes" in the "The Toolbox" menu you can see if you ticket is upgradable.
If you are unlucky enough to have non-upgradeable one you may be able to, at the airport, pay to have the ticket changed, and pay for the upgrade.
One word of warning, it may be more than you think to turn the Econ ticket in to an upgradeable one.

Phil

I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. However, the route around company policy made me smile as it's exactly what we used to do when a company I worked for instituted an 'economy only' policy for flights in Europe. They were of course fully flexible and expensive economy and so on the day upgrades were usually quite cheap.

Thanks for the help-I am getting them to book either today or tomorrow, so i guess I will find out the class of ticket then!

philip1972 wrote:Thanks for the help-I am getting them to book either today or tomorrow, so i guess I will find out the class of ticket then!

The class/fare code of your ticket is pretty irrelevant if you are looking to upgrade with cash, all fare codes allow upgrades with cash.

It will more come down to what type of ticket your company has purchased and how. You might have to do any changes to your ticket through your company as Virgin may not be able to do any changes direct with you, especially if your company uses a travel agent for their bookings, also if your company has bought a special fare, the cost to upgrade might be higher than what you are seeing on the website.

Neil

Neil wrote:The class/fare code of your ticket is pretty irrelevant if you are looking to upgrade with cash, all fare codes allow upgrades with cash.

It will more come down to what type of ticket your company has purchased and how. You might have to do any changes to your ticket through your company as Virgin may not be able to do any changes direct with you, especially if your company uses a travel agent for their bookings, also if your company has bought a special fare, the cost to upgrade might be higher than what you are seeing on the website.

Neil

Ha ha ha!!
Of course you are right Neil. I should start to read all the OP's first post

On a slightly connected note and this has more than likely been answered many times before, but just for quickness..

Can someone please tell me if I buy an upgradable economy ticket and want to use miles to upgrade to upper, does there have to be a reward seat available in upper?

747Rich wrote:On a slightly connected note and this has more than likely been answered many times before, but just for quickness..

Can someone please tell me if I buy an upgradable economy ticket and want to use miles to upgrade to upper, does there have to be a reward seat available in upper?

Absolutely.

philip1972 wrote:Reason is, I am allowed to claim back on expenses and when looking at flights, upgrade to PE in minimal at £84 for the return leg.

Thanks for any help

Phil

Just curious about this line in your post. Do you mean claim back from your company? Or as a tax deduction?

Thanks Neil

Top point at240, its a b*gger to find if one is allowed to ofset upgrade costs against your tax return. I might have been inclined to do so recently, but not at all clear if this is a just claim. Do you know?

at240 wrote:

philip1972 wrote:Reason is, I am allowed to claim back on expenses and when looking at flights, upgrade to PE in minimal at £84 for the return leg.

Thanks for any help

Phil

Just curious about this line in your post. Do you mean claim back from your company? Or as a tax deduction?

I just mean I can claim the money back from the company.

philip1972 wrote:I just mean I can claim the money back from the company.

Thanks -- so you have to book in economy but can claim the cost of an upgrade? Why don't they just let you book the higher class to start with?

MrDoob wrote:Top point at240, its a b*gger to find if one is allowed to ofset upgrade costs against your tax return. I might have been inclined to do so recently, but not at all clear if this is a just claim. Do you know?

I don't know (but would like to!). It is a question on which I have considered seeking some specialist advice, but never got around to it.

at240 wrote:

philip1972 wrote:I just mean I can claim the money back from the company.

Thanks -- so you have to book in economy but can claim the cost of an upgrade? Why don't they just let you book the higher class to start with?

Our lot are the same, book into economy and we don't mind if you use personal mileage to upgrade... 'other costs' (any diffs in surcharges/taxes - i.e small amounts) can all be snuck into the expense reclaim for at airport travel and subsistence costs

at240 wrote:I don't know (but would like to!). It is a question on which I have considered seeking some specialist advice, but never got around to it.

On a tax return, as long as it is business travel you are permitted to offset it against the income derived from said business.... a word of warning, be careful with this one. HMRC are not too happy with people these days and love to make examples of people who take liberties. If in prior years' filings there has been no international travel and then all of a sudden there is a lot of it, expect a red flag.

As an update.

Travel office booked me PE on the return (no idea why, maybe the only seat left) but not on outbound.

Have called Virgin, but they can't upgrade as we have booked via a travel agent..even though it would be a pay upgrade. Booooo.

philip1972 wrote:As an update.

Travel office booked me PE on the return (no idea why, maybe the only seat left) but not on outbound.

Have called Virgin, but they can't upgrade as we have booked via a travel agent..even though it would be a pay upgrade. Booooo.

Yes, that is standard unfortunately, Virgin will only take control of the booking from T-24, otherwise you have to speak to your agent.

So can I discuss it T-24 with them, or will they say the same?

I am not sure, but I thought I have seen the offer when checking in online

Or am I best just going to the Virgin ticket office at the airport when I arrive, and asking them?

philip1972 wrote:So can I discuss it T-24 with them, or will they say the same?

I am not sure, but I thought I have seen the offer when checking in online

Or am I best just going to the Virgin ticket office at the airport when I arrive, and asking them?

No, because at T-24 the airport team take control of your booking, so it will be the same. You will be able to do an on the day upgrade at the airport, they usually have a set price for a Y to PE upgrade which is around £250/300pp one way.

Neil

Thanks

at240 wrote

MrDoob wrote:Top point at240, its a b*gger to find if one is allowed to ofset upgrade costs against your tax return. I might have been inclined to do so recently, but not at all clear if this is a just claim. Do you know?

I don't know (but would like to!). It is a question on which I have considered seeking some specialist advice, but never got around to it.

Have discussed this with my accountant and 100% claimable,HMRC allow you to travel on business in any class and any rating of hotel etc. Rather than paying a full upper fare [J,D,etc] its makes sense to look for less expensive ways to achieve this, upgrading from economy or P/E is one of the more obvious methods, claim without fear!

International Hitman wrote:Have discussed this with my accountant and 100% claimable,HMRC allow you to travel on business in any class and any rating of hotel etc. Rather than paying a full upper fare [J,D,etc] its makes sense to look for less expensive ways to achieve this, upgrading from economy or P/E is one of the more obvious methods, claim without fear!

Thanks for this, very interesting.

Can I just clarify something -- the situation I think we were originally referring to was one in which your employer pays for a flight and you use your own money to upgrade. Is that what you are talking about -- i.e. claiming the upgrade costs as claimable on your personal return in the employment (not self-employed) pages?

And when we says 'costs' is it acceptable to understand that to mean taxes/surcharges/fare differences associated with mileage upgrades, as opposed to straightforward fare differences or cash offers?

(asking out of curiosity, I will be sure to take advice!)

Hi at240,

I am a director of a company, therefore not self employed, whilst you should of course get your own advice I have specifically discussed this with our accountants, my company pays for my flights however I instruct them to, I then upgrade in any way possible [all with a view to saving overall cost] I then claim back everything [including taxes/surcharges etc] via company expenses, however using you own money to upgrade is also acceptable, upgrades are not just because of luxury etc, you can state it allows you to work on the plane [possible in U/C but not easy in economy], you also arrive more refreshed so in theory can go direct to work [in my case I fly to Shanghai every six weeks --- land early morning and go direct to meetings with clients] --- take advice but I think you will have nothing to worry about, it is a legitimate claim