Upgrading from Econ to PE with miles at airport

I am flying on VS45 (LHR-JFK), on a 747-400. Could anyone tell me what the likelihood is of my 'buying' an upgrade to PE at the airport. The upgrades guide deals with PE-Upper, but is it easier to obtain just to PE? I am booked in Q Class

[Pete]

Waving hard cash under the nose of the ticket desk is likely to be very welcome, although PE is normally the first cabin to sell-out, which might scupper your plans. If you want to tell me your flight date, I can check the current load (although, obviously, it's likely to change all the way up to departure - so if it's a long way off, it's probably not worth checking )

Pix

quote:Originally posted by pixuk
Waving hard cash under the nose of the ticket desk is likely to be very welcome, although PE is normally the first cabin to sell-out, which might scupper your plans. If you want to tell me your flight date, I can check the current load (although, obviously, it's likely to change all the way up to departure - so if it's a long way off, it's probably not worth checking )

Pix

My flight date is 14th December. I would only really want to use miles to upgrade, not cash. Cheers.

[Decker]

Currently the entire flight is wide open so the chances are good. Have you tried doing it now?

The only caveat is that Q is not normally an upgradeable fare class...

Well, when getting my seats pre-assigned I casually asked and the assistant said that they don't normally do Q upgrades on the phone. Do you think I should maybe try another operator?

quote:Originally posted by Decker
Currently the entire flight is wide open so the chances are good. Have you tried doing it now?

The only caveat is that Q is not normally an upgradeable fare class...

[Decker]

I'm loathe to dissuade you from anything as it will do no harm. However as Q is not normally an upgradeable fare this may have been "code" for "we won't do it but try at the airport where if we're really wanting to take miles we will". I got caught on this a few weeks back on a Delta fare. Plenty of upgrade availability but they wouldn't take my cash because my fare code was too low - see my report here. You may be SOL but there's no harm in asking.