S class PE becomes H when moving through booking process?

Trying to book an S class PE fare NYC>LHR return, for upgradeable option. and despite knowing my way around the system, I thought, and using the specific page for upgradeable fares:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/fr ... sp?ad=AFF1

I find my S flights/price combo, and proceed to try and book it, moving onto the 'flight Itinerary' page it looks the same, but if you click the outward/return tabs, (and many might not bother) it has changed into an H! Which is not upgradeable, of course.

Is this a system anomaly, is the first booking page, where I selected selecting S, right? or the later one's outbound/inbound tabs - where it switches to saying its an H?

It's been like that for well over a year now. You'll need to either call Flying Club or use a third party site like ITA to price up specific fare codes.

Have you confirmed the S class exists at the price you think it does...

Previous times I've tried VS website, it just ignored requests for the fare code, so it looked cheaper but it was K.

I'd use ITA Matrix for upgradable fares. Not done it for a while, there used to be info on flyertalk which might be worth sticking.

Ah, here is is: http://v-flyer.com/forum/index.php?t=277800&rb_v=viewtopic

So - when you specifically choose one class of ticket, and as you got hrough the booking process, the website switches it to a different class (and on a hidden underneath tab at that) that is ok? your fault for not checking ITA Matrix or calling VS?!

Had I not double checked the tabs beneath the main 'Flight Itinerary' page, I would have gone all the way through the booking thinking it was an S, bought the ticket, and found it was an H (or an S, not sure what I'd end up with!!)

It's been like that for well over a year now. You'll need to either call Flying Club or use a third party site like ITA to price up specific fare codes.

Thanks. Will do.

Someone taking page grabs as they go through the booking process could have a damn good fight with the airline over this though!

(still not sure which one I would have ended up with - S or H - at the end of the process! I feel I've booked this way online in last year, and gotten an S)

ITA Matrix is a travel geek's dream. I've just spent ages tinkering with it - whilst simultaneously verifying that the fares it produces exactly match with the fares you find on Virgin's own website (they do, obviously). Then simply add / f bc=* to the advanced routing code box where * is the fare code you want.

@narikin did you get to that page via the VS home page? If not, and you're using an old bookmarked link for example, they'd say it's not their fault if you book the wrong ticket using a link that's now out of date and you should have read the T&Cs before completing.

In any case you've a 24 hour cooling off period if you realise, having booked, you've got the wrong fare. If you don't realise the law says it's your fault for not reading the T&Cs.

Done on phone thanks.

Pretty annoying to have to go that route, but the ITA link is a great one to confirm price/availability, especially when you code it specifically for your desired VS fare classes.

Thanks @Smidt and @abraxias for that