Page 1 of 1

Theortical cheap sale vs partially upgraded tickets question

PostPosted: 23 Sep 2014, 18:24
by Smid
Ok, the quandry is that there are a couple of outwards upgrades available on the day I fly to Vegas at beginning of December. I got the PE ones at a good price of 900 quid, I thought I saw about 1200 quid for the upgradable class, 75 quid fees (at a guess one way), would mean I'd have paid about 1300 quid for the 1 way UC/PE return (plus miles), which isn't bad.

However, knowing my luck the late November, almost mythical sale would come out offering UC returns for 1K (yes, I know it was over three years ago it happened, but it did happen).

In this case, sitting on a 1.3K tickets half UC return, what would they do for selling me a full one at 1K? No extra cost (assuming availability in both cabins)? Difference in the one way? (ie: (1K - 900) / 2, ie: 50 quid). Worrying about something which aint bloody going to happen???

Re: Theortical cheap sale vs partially upgraded tickets question

PostPosted: 24 Sep 2014, 06:55
by Trevski220
Vegas for 1k UC return?? I've never ever seen a fare like that, I remember Miami for £970 UC RTN UC but not vegas!

Re: Theortical cheap sale vs partially upgraded tickets question

PostPosted: 24 Sep 2014, 10:59
by Smid
Trevski220 wrote:Vegas for 1k UC return?? I've never ever seen a fare like that, I remember Miami for £970 UC RTN UC but not vegas!


New Year 2010/2011, from Manchester (when it used to do winter LAS) and Gatwick.

It was a special BA match for some reason, possibly the olympics.

We were booked to go on an 850 PE fare already, I had been visiting the booking page daily for months. One day the upgrade price for return appeared for a price of 1150 quid (making in around 1995 total). I hummed and hawed for a day, and missed it.

Then on around November 30th, completely by surprise, they brought in the 1K (actually it would have been 950), to LAS, MIA, LAX, SFO, all over christmas/new year. I had to change the day and pay the change fee, but I got there...

You never know, it happened once, the last time I flew to Vegas...

Re: Theortical cheap sale vs partially upgraded tickets question

PostPosted: 24 Sep 2014, 13:45
by gumshoe
I'm pretty sure that won't happen again.

Four years ago the economy was on the rocks and airlines were desperate to fill their premium cabins. Not any more.

I think these days if you can find an UC cash return fare to the west coast for under £2k you'd be pretty lucky. And that's in a sale.

Of course the savvy V-Flyer can always do it for less using miles upgrades or the AMS/BRU/DUB trick.

Re: Theortical cheap sale vs partially upgraded tickets question

PostPosted: 24 Sep 2014, 14:50
by Smid
Increasingly I think I'll be doing it via Brussels or Dublin next time, at such great fares. I'm not really considering it an upgradable route, really, despite there being two outward UC's, there's really none on return. But it is kind of a waste to get to upgradable PE and then only get the outward part in UC.