Upgrading prior to flight....

Flying PE to Mco - I'm seriously thinking of trying to upgrade, and I know there are various ways to try - but which is the most likely to yield results - I still have trouble finding how full flights are on expert flyer (what am I doing wrong?!) - and I know I've seen something about calling - er, someone, ahead of time to check if inventory has been released. I somehow think that's not likely on such a popular route. Mr cat isn't too bothered about upgrading on the way out - but hey, it'll be a special birthday for me (I'll be 110), so I'd quite like to at least look into it. Bullet points please, for the blonde dummy here.... who only knows about embroidery and kittens.... [:X]

[Scrooge]

The quickest and easiest way of doing it is to call FC,try the miles route (if you have them) if not it's going to be cash.

Originally posted by jetwet1
The quickest and easiest way of doing it is to call VF,try the miles route (if you have them) if not it's going to be cash.

Is any one way more miles/cash efficient than any other though? Also - am sure I had a link via this site to xpert flyer - I think I had so many 'discount' openings - but can't find it....

Originally posted by catsilversword

Originally posted by jetwet1
The quickest and easiest way of doing it is to call VF,try the miles route (if you have them) if not it's going to be cash.

Is any one way more miles/cash efficient than any other though? Also - am sure I had a link via this site to xpert flyer - I think I had so many 'discount' openings - but can't find it....

Ignore the above - it's further down the forums....d'oh..... I need a weekend.....

Claire, do you know which PE bucket you are currently in as this will make the difference on how and which method you choose to upgrade.

Paul

Originally posted by p17blo
Claire, do you know which PE bucket you are currently in as this will make the difference on how and which method you choose to upgrade.

Paul

It's a miles plus money thing... hang on, I'll check my eticket....

it's K class.

Officially a K is not upgradble with miles, although this rule is sometimes overlooked at the airport. However I thought MPM's were never miles upgradable (although ISTBC).

Have a look at the fare codes here Claire.

[Scrooge]

Well the offical word is that you cannot use miles to upgrade that fare,however it has been known for them to allow you to at the airport,however thats not something to take to the bank,best bet is to call FC and see what they can do for you.

75 Seconds - makes all the difference Jetwet

Claire in January I had a K class ticket to MCO. At the ticket desk in LGW I paid £99 (no other charges) to upgrade it to an S Fare and then used 20K miles for an UC ticket.

It certainly is worth asking at the ticket desk before you check in but with it being a MPM fare different charges and rules may apply.

Jilly

[RichardMannion]

MpM fares can now be changed for the price of £50, so you can move them up fare classes etc if need be.

Remember there are no Advance Purchase requirements either.

Thanks,
Richard

If you change them richard from a K to say an S, do you earn the S miles?

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by sailor99
75 Seconds - makes all the difference Jetwet

Oh so many ways to answer that.[}:)]

[preiffer]

Originally posted by sailor99
If you change them richard from a K to say an S, do you earn the S miles?

K and S earn identical mileage amounts... [:w]

Yes, but MpM don't earn miles or TP's - It was a MpM K we were discussing (I think you will find if you read back through the tread, he said with a superior smirk)

[RichardMannion]

I am sure you would Sailor, as you are then upgrading to a true revenue S sector.

Thanks,
Richard

[preiffer]

Hmm... There was me thinking you were replying in light of jilly's (more recent) post, above. [:?]

Thanks everyone - I had to go and have another look at fare classes (thanks Jeremy) - I can never remember what the letters refer to - apart from J, unsurprisingly.

Nope, I was replying to Richard's 14:10:34 post (which was in fact the one immediately before mine) rather than Jilly's 14:02:55 post (Smart ass smirk to camara right)

So £50 for 14k Miles (for say JFK). Doesn't look like a bad deal to me. Or put another way:
S fare (JFK April) 1373.80 and you earn 14k miles
MpM fare +upgrade to S = £648 + £50 = £698 and you earn 14k-7.5k miles

So you save £676 for spending 7500 miles. Certainly worth thinking about.

[preiffer]

Grrr.... [ii]

Can't you carry on fighting boys I was enjoying separating you!

Jilly

Originally posted by jilly
Can't you carry on fighting boys I was enjoying separating you!

Jilly

But isn't it much more fun to watch them having a punch-up???:D

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by sailor99
So £50 for 14k Miles (for say JFK). Doesn't look like a bad deal to me. Or put another way:
S fare (JFK April) 1373.80 and you earn 14k miles
MpM fare +upgrade to S = £648 + £50 = £698 and you earn 14k-7.5k miles

So you save £676 for spending 7500 miles. Certainly worth thinking about.

Sorry Jeremy, you've lost me now on that calculation. It is a £50 change fee to MpM fares, so you can change the dates, or use it as credit towards fare class. Before you could not make any changes to a MpM fare, but now you can for a fee. You cna use it in the previously described instance too, to avoid the Adv Purch reqs. So say you needed to go to somewhere tomorrow, you will be looking at full J fare, but you can now book a MpM fare (providing Z is showing) and pay a fraction of the fare. Obviously you won't earn any miles or TP's in that instance, but will save a bucket load of cash.

Thanks,
Richard

I am very confused by all of this class/fare thing. How can I tell what class my seat is? I have booked with Virgin Holidays for 2/1/07 to MCO. We really can not afford to go PE only economy - even though it is our 25th wedding anniversary trip[:(] I was wondering if it might be cheaper to upgrade at check in than it is now? I do not have any miles yet, as this is only my 2nd trip to Disneyworld - I missed out on my first flight miles, as I did not realise it was not done automatically by Virgin until it was too late - silly me![:I]

[preiffer]

buffer - if you've booked an economy ticket with VH, it'll be in either V or N class. Unfortunately, neither are technically upgradeable prior to check-in.