Question re upper deck PE seats to Vegas

Hoping someone can advise on a very small niggle.....

3 of us are travelling to vegas in PE (K) on June 24th. Two of us booked a few months back and chose our seats online. Although there were no seats together, we were happy to secure seats in the bubble.

My other friend only booked their ticket last week, and there were no seats to choose from via Manage booking.

Although sitting together would be nice, I really want to ensure my mate is upstairs. It is the 1st time he has travelled in anything other than economy, and I had kept on telling him how wonderful the bubble is!.

I know the exit row and bulk heads are not normally released until actual check in, but are any others normally held back?

What is the chance of bagging him a seat upstairs when OLCI opens 24h before?

If this fails, would there be any advantage of doing the twilight checking night before to try and beat others to these seats?

What are the qualifying criteria for an exit row seat in the bubble? What would we have to do to get the 3 of us together in one?

Thanks for any answers.

Col




Edit to title of thread by mod for clarity......Nick

[Neil]

AFAIK the PE seats that are held back (apart from the Exit rows and bulkheads) are in the downstairs PE section, so I imagine the chance of anything becoming available at OLCI stage upstairs to be pretty slim.

The only real criteria for exit row seats are that you are fit and able to help open the doors in case of an emergency. The problem is making sure you get to the airport early enough to bag them, I don't know if they are available at twilight check in.

[ChuckC]

This is a nearly full flight. At the moment the EF seating chart shows all PE seats are assigned, with about 10 open in Y and Upper.

Today is seven days from your departure which means that award and upgrade seats may open in Upper. Your friend may want to check seating availability by logging in to his reservation as someone may have upgraded, leaving a PE seat available. He should certainly try again when doing OLCI.

Failing that another possibility is that someone in PE will be op-upped or want to upgrade at the airport, which could open a seat or two in PE, making it easier to reseat your friend. At least you can hope!

If all else fails, you should ask the check-in or gate agent about an available seat 'in the bubble'. Or perhaps once onboard, ask a member of crew if another pax is willing to move.

Have a great flight and enjoy Las Vegas.

Chuck-

you could also keep your fingers crossed that a couple of people who have requested upstairs seats are found to be unsuitable for actually sitting upstairs (not that we wish harm to anyone of course)

Thanks for the answers. Any idea how much it might cost to change my ticket from K to S or W? I have a shed load of miles, so could upgrade. I didnt consider buying an upgradeable ticket, as I have never seen UC reward seats on this route.

[Neil]

I would suggest you check to see if there are any G's available before upgrading to a S fare (W will be very expensive). For cost, best to ring FC again, as they will be able to give an accurate figure.

[preiffer]

Because of purchase rules, I'm not 100% sure you'll be able to upgrade to an S at this point (within 7 days?).

You CAN go to an S at the airport - which of course, would also allow you to see live availability of the seats you DO end up with on the day, as well as what is there in Upper. To upgrade to W at this point would be an 'ouch'...

You could ring VS and explain that there is three of you travelling (and that your in seperate bookings) and ask for them to put a request in your booking for seats together, preferably upstairs! I did it once and they were able to do it for me - they did say though it was a request and couldn't be guaranteed!

quote:Originally posted by preiffer
Because of purchase rules, I'm not 100% sure you'll be able to upgrade to an S at this point (within 7 days?).

You CAN go to an S at the airport - which of course, would also allow you to see live availability of the seats you DO end up with on the day, as well as what is there in Upper. To upgrade to W at this point would be an 'ouch'...


If I wanted to change to S at the airport (obv if only reward UC availability) do I do this at the ticket desk or check in? Any ideas on the cost of a one way change from K to S?

[preiffer]

At a guess, it'll be between 2-300 per person, per sector, but that all depends on how much you paid for your K in the first place.

You can do it at check-in, but they'll essentially be running between you and the ticket desk on your behalf, so my suggestion would be to go straight to ticketing.

Last year when I was flying to ORD in a K fare in PE and wanted to see about an upgrade to UC I was pointed to the ticket desk by one of the greeters when I asked which desk was best.

It's not the same journey and a different time of year but it cost aprox 550 to get out of the K bucket plus 40,000 for the return PE - UC upgrade. The ticket agent quoted 300 + 20,000 miles for a one way upgrade.

The whole process took about 15 mmins at least (inclusing a computer reset) so it was best done at the ticketing rather than at a check-in desk as the queue was so much quieter. She also checked me in and took my bags.

If you get to the airport early with a situation with PE full and UC with a couple of empties, they might actually let you upgrade to UC without changing to an S. Seen it happen a few times, last time flying out of SFO flight was totally full in Y and W, so the staff came around to the early check-in folks in the PE queue right next to me and advised them that they were looking to upgrade PE folks, my friend on a K got upgraded without paying cash - just the 20k miles. Might be tighter on a LGW fleet config, of course, given the much smaller number of UC seats.

Last time I flew to MCO in PE I was on a K ticket. Asked about upgrading with miles and they wanted 1000 plus the miles. I couldn't justify it so declined only to get that magic beep on boarding with a free upgrade [:D]

Thanks for real helpful answers. Just got thru to someone helpful at Flying Club, who told me that when OLCI comes available, it will be rows 71-74 which will become available. Not sure if this is usual policy or not?

Does anyone know that if I have already preselected my seat, can I change it at OLCI?

Also, if anyone knows whether someone could potentially allocate exit row seats to us at Twilight checkin, would be really useful.

[honey lamb]

Yes you can change your seat at OLCI even if pre-selected. ISTBC but the seat map is available after you have checked in

Just to confirm the advice the agent gave me was 100% accurate. Rows 71 to 75 did indeed become available at OLCI and we are all confirmed upstairs in the bubble

quote:Originally posted by kingcole1974
Just to confirm the advice the agent gave me was 100% accurate. Rows 71 to 75 did indeed become available at OLCI and we are all confirmed upstairs in the bubble


[y]

Thanks for confirming that this is the case. Gives me hope that I'll be able to move us forward for our upcoming BGI trip.

Paul