FC misinformation

I think I've tried everything but you experts never cease to amaze!

I wanted to book 2 UC reward seats rtn LHR-HKG departing 28/12. When booking there were no reward seats available. The FC agent advised me to book in K and if the rewards seats became available I could upgrade the booking class to S (paying circa £500 each) then use miles to upgrade the cabin.

I phoned FC last Monday to check on rewards seats and still nothing. However, the agent advised to keep checking as if they became available I could upgrade just the outbound portion of my ticket. This time the cost went up to circa £400 per sector per person.

Rewards seats finally became available on Saturday. I phoned FC straight away to be told that to upgrade the booking class would be £1,200 each. This is because the return leg on 28/1 needs to be upgraded to W.

The things I have tried:
- Sweet-talking the FC agents
- Upgrading the booking class to W then cancelling the whole booking (unfortunately only the 'extra' is refunded, the original booking isn't ). I could then book one-way G to HKG & a one-way ANZ business back.
- Asked for 'would like to upgrade' to be added to my booking so I get a fighting chance at check-in

Any help would be appreciated...

[Neil]

I'm not sure why this is misinformation by FC? All that will have happened is that your return leg will have sold out in K & S classes and only W class will be available now.

You can upgrade the outbound to S and the inbound to W (not sure if that is what you have already been quoted). You could just upgrade the outbound leg to S and stay in PE on the way back. Your only other option apart from paying is to hope that on at the airport on the day they are looking to move people around and an offer of miles alone is accepted, but the fare rules don't actually allow this, but it can happen from time to time.

Neil

I agree with Neil on this one.

I imagine when you initially asked about the upgrade cost, both S and W were available - hence the agent offering you a reduced upgrade cost. It's more likely that only W is now available on the return, therefore increasing the cost to go up to an upgradable class. I don't really think this could be classed as misinformation.

As for your options, Neil is bang on, and is exactly what I would advise any pax who rang.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I should have said that initially I talked through my plans with the agent who advised that I book K and upgrade closer to the time for circa £500. I guess this isn't misinformation but I wasn't aware there would be such a change in fees closer to the time. I'm not blaming the agent for not telling me as it is my responsibility to research. However, it would of been helpful at the time

The agent I spoke to last week advised that I would be able to split the booking class upgrade i.e. outbound - upgrade to S then upgrade cabin using miles; inbound - stay in PE. This doesn't seem to be the case.

Thanks,

[Neil]

Thanks for explaining, the problem is that the agent would only have been able to quote the price on that specific day, they wouldn't know how prices would change or if certain fare codes would sell out.

You can 100% upgrade just one leg from a K to an S and leave the remaining return leg in a K fare code.

Neil

Thanks Neil - having spoken to 4 FC agents with the same response I gave up trying to upgrade just one leg. I think I saw a post from iGuyHD somewhere that said to ask for a senior manager. I'll try again.

Thanks again.

[Neil]

If you are trying to upgrade to UC ultimately then give the UC reservation number a call, they seem to be best at understanding and being able to help.

Looks like because we've passed the advance purchase date the system isn't offering S fares anymore which means they can't upgrade just the outbound fare class. Apparently they could of a few days ago, but then again, there were no G's available then! And the roundabout continues!

[Neil]

Yes sorry, an S fare requires purchase least 21 days before departure, I was totally forgetting you fly at the end of this month.

Thanks anyway for trying Neil. Really appreciate your help.

I know it's galling to book an S in advance and NOT be able to upgrade, but in years of flying VS I failed to upgrade twice from PE. IMO, the quoted strategy, while technically (almost) feasible - unless you are too close to day of departure - is risky if you really care about the upgrade. G space often opens up one to two weeks out, as at that point inventory management has a good feel for what the likely final load in each cabin ends up looking like. Based on that, the strategy you were advised to follow was not likely to be successful, and you would have to upgrade to a W.

My best ever upgrade from an S, on Friday August 11th, came through with availability the preceding Sunday. I was totally and completely thrilled to be able to be in UC that day

A lesson learned for next time.

Thanks all...

Just to close the loop...

Very happy to be sitting in the CH with a Virgin Redhead in hand. £168 + 20k miles for 1D to HKG. Thanks all for your help.

Result! Have a good flight.