Additional Taxes When You Upgrade

For all I know, there might be someone on the planet who believes the extra cash cost for an upgrade to Upper is solely tax.

However, everyone else knows that any APT increase (outbound only) is but a small part of the additional cost.

It's primarily a YQ surcharge (partly to cover the Lounge cost, your over-indulgence in salad at the Buffet and countless Flaming Sambuca's at the bar...plus I guess, whatever else they think they can get away with).

Yet whenever you speak to anyone at VS about an upgrade they mention additional taxes.

What's the problem with simply saying "there's an upgrade surcharge"?

It's not like anyone will change their decision (of whether to pay it or not) if you mention the word surcharge instead of taxes.

[Nottingham Nick]

Welcome to V-Flyer

This has been a MUCH discussed topic over the years, and I don’t think many people will disagree with your sentiments

I believe VS (and BA - who do the same thing) have been more careful in not referring to the YQ as a tax.

Unfortunately it is how they do business- you will see if you delve into the archives of V-Flyer, they have done many, many things over the years that are sold as ‘enhancements’ but actually screw the customer .

It is quite clear that ‘things ain’t what they used to be’ - but is there any airline that offers such easy points accrual, from so many sources, that is any better ?

Nick

Hi Nick,

It's a fair comment about Virgin points accrual, but with the advent of dynamic pricing it's less beneficial.

It used to be straightforward, you knew the points required to upgrade to Upper (plus say £300 cash) and simply kept an eye out for a reward seat to become available.

Now you need to book a long time in advance to be able to get a reward seat upgrade at a reasonable points cost.

Close to the flight it can be 350,000 points for a one-way upgrade, which means nobody in their right mind will do it...and could explain why Upper occupancy is often only about 70% a few days before the flight.

They were quoting £550 at the gate for an Upper seat when I flew back from LAS in June, which seemed a good price (missing the 'Club at LAS' lounge is actually a good thing - it's grim), but nobody took up the offer and Upper seats were empty.

With fixed pricing I suspect that somebody would have done a points upgrade...and paid the 'additional taxes' (YQ)...so VS loses money?

With fixed pricing you'd have paid about £300 in cash (plus perhaps 45,000 points), it makes more sense to now wait until you get to the gate and see what they quote?

There's of course no guarantee on seat availability, but the last four flights I've flown had empty seats in Upper during the flight.

It does mean that you're paying more money, but in the LAS example above you're only paying £250 more than you would have paid with fixed pricing...and you can't buy 350,000 points for £250.

The Virgin Points will be based on your previous cabin (if you do an upgrade for cash on the day), but the tier points will be based on the Upper cabin.

(Yes, sorry, I expect the above topic has also 'been discussed a lot' before... )

"The Virgin Points will be based on your previous cabin (if you do an upgrade for cash on the day), but the tier points will be based on the Upper cabin."

I could have sworn the bit about tier points was correct in the past, but when I flew LHR-LAS a couple of weeks back I only got 25 tier points for the original cabin booked (Economy).

It looks like you only get the Upper tier points (100) if you book a full points purchase for the Upper reward seat.

I'd booked a revenue (cash) Economy seat and then used points to upgrade to Upper, so just the Economy tier points for me.

Perhaps that's another 'improvement' that was recently implemented, or perhaps I'd always booked an Upper fully with points in the past...not sure.

[mitchja]

It's always been the case with upgrades with VS even before the current new system. It's ever since VS started offering tier points on reward bookings.

Upgrade a reward fare with more points or a reward voucher - you will earn the upgraded cabin tier points.
Upgrade a cash fare with points or a reward voucher - you will only earn the original booked cabin tier points.