Using Flying Club miles to upgrade at the airport

Good Evening,

Newbie here to the V-flyer forum. Planning a forthcoming trip in a couple of months to the Caribbean to celebrate OH 40th B'day.

We both have enough miles to upgrade from Economy to PE, but upon calling the FC they have advised the dates I'm looking at does not have availablility to redeem miles for an upgrade.

I asked if there was space could I do it at the airport & they said yes, however after hanging up I forgot to ask about the booking class.

So normal conditions are that you book a ticket in L class or above to redeem miles. There are cheaper fares available in O class and I forgot to ask if there is an exception at the airport as to whether you can redeem miles even if booked in a lower booking class or if it is a strict No.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Clade

When I have bought a non upgradeable economy ticket in the past they have charged to change it to a flexible one and then I have added the miles required to upgrade to PE or UC.

i think you will find at the airport the 'rules' can be flexible. I have upgraded both revenue and miles tickets once EC to UC and Once EC to PE but mainly PE to UC. it just depends on availability

[Neil]

As other have said, it really depends on the situation on the day at the airport.

The rules clearly state that you need to be in an upgradable fare code to use miles, and this applies to upgrades at the airport also. But, if your flight is full is economy and they are going to need to move people then an offer of miles might just be accepted, or if you are at an outsourced location and the staff member isn't fully aware of the rules, there have been reports of people uprading with just miles on a low fare code.

You also need to remember that just because there might be seats in the higher cabin on the day still, it doesn't neccessarily mean you will be ale to upgrade with miles, irrespective of what fare code you are in.

Thanks to all for the advice, much appreciated