H class now cheapest upgradeable PE fare?
Posted:
23 May 2016, 15:26by narikin
According to the VS representative on the phone today, H class fares are now the cheapest upgradeable PE fares, besides W and S.
However, the toolbox here says they are not upgradeable using miles.
So... who's right?!
Re: H class now cheapest upgradeable PE fare?
Posted:
23 May 2016, 15:54by mitchja
VS are correct. The H fare was originally only ever used my VHols, but then VS started using it themselves and a few months ago the H fare also became upgradeable using miles, details on the VS can be found
here:
You can upgrade when purchasing a full adult fare in the following booking classes: W, S, H, Y, B, R, L, U, M, E, Q and X. Group bookings cannot be upgraded.
Re: H class now cheapest upgradeable PE fare?
Posted:
23 May 2016, 16:00by narikin
Thanks. that clarifies it! Good to know.
I see they bumped the PE to UC miles requirement a *lot* too. 20,000 per sector for NYC to LHR. Used to be 10,000!
Re: H class now cheapest upgradeable PE fare?
Posted:
23 May 2016, 16:22by Nottingham Nick
narikin wrote:Thanks. that clarifies it! Good to know.
I see they bumped the PE to UC miles requirement a *lot* too. 20,000 per sector for NYC to LHR. Used to be 10,000!
Yes, there is a long thread about it further down the page -
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=292322Nick
Re: H class now cheapest upgradeable PE fare?
Posted:
24 May 2016, 14:43by narikin
Thanks - those posts are very useful. You stop paying attention for a couple of months, and everything changes!
The Head for Points post, goes through the numbers usefully, but misses something quite important - that you still earn miles on the original class booked, when upgrading. So, for example, a PE to UC is now 20,000 each way on the LON to NYC route, rather than the 10,000 it was before (that was sweet!) - a doubling of miles cost, BUT... you still earn the PE miles and Tier Points for that original booking , and those miles are doubled with bonus miles if you are AU. So the net cost of miles is not 40,000 but maybe as little as 20,000 if you are AU, plus the bonus of TP to keep your status. this means it's still worth it, yes at higher miles cost than before, but you can get H PE tickets a bit cheaper than S/W so it's not all bad.
The tough bit is finding UC miles availability on the flight/dates you want, when you're not super flexible, or... rolling the dice and hoping that they open up in the future. I've won and lost in that lottery before now!