Fare Code Change Question: Need Help

Hi,
I'm having a rather troublesome issue with VS at the moment. I'm wondering if some of the more experienced VS customers can help
1) I Purchased discounted PE ticket last september.
2) Some changes had to be made due to work, which I made, and the change cost around 1600USD as there were no discounted fares left for the dates that I wanted. I was told that the fare change put me in a Fully Flexible Fare Class
3) I'm now trying to make a change and am being told that, despite being "upgraded" (their words) to a fully flexible ticket, the fare rules on the ticket are still those of the original fare. The net of this is
a) changing the ticket, the value of the ticket is essentially that of the original fare, not the increased fare
b) Cancellation policies are those of the orig ticket, not a flexible ticket.

I've been on the phone with several service people and cannot get a good response of why increasing my fare to Fully Flexible Fare, does not get me the rights of a fully flexible fare.
Can anyone please advise?

I am not an expert on all the ins and outs but it is to stop people buying a cheap ticket then changing their mind (so they pay to have it turned into a flexible fare) then cashing the whole lot in to basically get a refund (or make further changes) they are not entitled too on the original ticket.

Am not saying this is what you are trying to do but there are similarities.

And yes the 'new' ticket retains the conditions of the 'old' again to stop people making several changes .

[Darren Wheeler]

Was the flight changed on one or both legs?

If only one was changed, the most restrictive conditions still apply to the whole ticket.

Thanks for the response.
I guess I fail to see how there is a difference between purchasing a fully flexible ticket and paying and increase, which brings the amount paid in parity with a fully flexible ticket plus change fees. If I'm paying a given amount for a given fare class, it's not clear why I wouldn't get the full rights and privileges of the full fare.
In either case, Virgin gets the full cost plus the risk of a refund or change.

@Darren, it was changed on both legs

It seems to me that, in effect, a "fare" change is just an addition change fee as it comes with none of the privileges of the new fare class. This strikes me as quite duplicitous

And what of the value of the extant ticket. If the original fare was ca. $1500 and the new fare was ca $1600 more, surely the amount to net against the new fare should be 3100, not 1500. Am I missing something?
tnks

Wow, well not to fill up a thread with too much crap...
I was able to get through to an agent in the UK (vs India where all the other agents were) and was given an answer MUCH closer to what I was expecting. That the value of my ticket was over 3k and that the change would be minimal.

Yes, this is what I would have expected. You should be able to see the fare code change online when you pay to make changes up from a lower fare code. If it changes, then you have the rights of that fare code. This has happened to me once. I paid £600 odd quid to date change a cheap PE ticket. I didn't realise at the time but this bumped it up to a W fare (fully flex) and I could change it again for free, which was lucky cos I needed to change 2x more in the end! Good luck!

p.

[Neil]

Thanks for the response.
I guess I fail to see how there is a difference between purchasing a fully flexible ticket and paying and increase, which brings the amount paid in parity with a fully flexible ticket plus change fees. If I'm paying a given amount for a given fare class, it's not clear why I wouldn't get the full rights and privileges of the full fare.
In either case, Virgin gets the full cost plus the risk of a refund or change.

Just to respond a bit to this. The difference is, if they allowed what you are suggesting, a discounted fare to be upgraded with cash to a fully flexible fare, and then you get all the benefits of a fully flexible fare, it would make the whole point of restricted fares pointless.

People would end up buying the current cheapest fare, but then if a month later the cheapest fare went down by £100, all they would have to do is pay to upgrade to a flexible fare and then get a full refund for the whole ticket and buy a new ticket at the cheaper fare. The whole point of a restricted ticket is that it is restricted to avoid people cancelling willy nilly.

Airline fare rules are complicated things and quite often don't make sense at times (how silly is it that 2 people sat next to in Y end up with one paying £300 and one £1000 ?|, of course there is a hell of a lot more to it than that), but they are pretty much industry wide and just something you have to try and work to your advantage.

Thanks for the response.
I guess I fail to see how there is a difference between purchasing a fully flexible ticket and paying and increase, which brings the amount paid in parity with a fully flexible ticket plus change fees. If I'm paying a given amount for a given fare class, it's not clear why I wouldn't get the full rights and privileges of the full fare.
In either case, Virgin gets the full cost plus the risk of a refund or change.

Just to respond a bit to this. The difference is, if they allowed what you are suggesting, a discounted fare to be upgraded with cash to a fully flexible fare, and then you get all the benefits of a fully flexible fare, it would make the whole point of restricted fares pointless.

People would end up buying the current cheapest fare, but then if a month later the cheapest fare went down by £100, all they would have to do is pay to upgrade to a flexible fare and then get a full refund for the whole ticket and buy a new ticket at the cheaper fare. The whole point of a restricted ticket is that it is restricted to avoid people cancelling willy nilly.

Airline fare rules are complicated things and quite often don't make sense at times (how silly is it that 2 people sat next to in Y end up with one paying £300 and one £1000 ?|, of course there is a hell of a lot more to it than that), but they are pretty much industry wide and just something you have to try and work to your advantage.

Fair enough. I'm sure how many people really game the system that way and if there is really an appreciable add on risk to VS. Moreover, there are ways of preventing such behavior without presenting a misleading picture to a consumer when they need to make a change and that change results in a higher fare class (not discussing change fees here).
What is worse, however, is how horribly misinformed the original 4 phone agents were, by essentially telling me that the value of the ticket was only worth the ca$1500 of the original purchase in a change; casting aside the additional $1600 that I had paid to make an earlier change. I argued for literally hours, in sum, with these agents and their supervisors to no good end. It was only fortunate that the next time I called, I was routed to the UK call center where I got a response that made sense: the value was indeed worth upwards of $3100, making a further change negligible. Not the most ideal outcome, but certainly LOADS better and a bit more logical.
I can't help but think how many consumers genuinely have been screwed by mis informed agents; consumers who just gave up fighting after a while

This happened to me as well. I bought S fare then needed to change dates and had to pay for W fare BUT then I also had to pay for a date change (even though W gives free date changes) and tkt was non ref etc (just as the original).

It does seem greatly unfair that if I am paying for a full fare that I do not get the flex of a full fare. I am not getting what I am paying for. Worst - even though I did not want to change my return date I had to pay up for that fare as well because there were no S seats available (but I was already holding one). They told me the cabin was sold out even in W so I would have to waitlist (for the seat I was already holding in a lower class).

This is one of the annoying quirks I am finding with VS. I did insist on talking to a supervisor in the end and it was resolved but only because I pushed. Sometimes they seem more interested in the rules than their purpose of being in business.

[Nottingham Nick]

......Sometimes they seem more interested in the rules than their purpose of being in business.

Surely the main purpose of the business is to make a profit, and thereby remain in business?

Whilst on the face of it the system may seem unfair. If it was possible to buy a cheap non-flexible, non-refundable ticket then, by adding a bit more money (which you would immediately get back by cancelling the ticket) turn it into a refundable one - who would ever buy a flexible ticket?

If you want true flexibility on your ticket, you have to pay for it upfront.


Nick

yes ok I fully accept that point. I could simply pay up to the full fare and then ask for a refund on a retricted ticket just because I changed my mind.
I will make less fuss next time !!

If you want true flexibility on your ticket, you have to pay for it upfront.

Nick

Well Nick, if I read correctly both respondents wanted to change their dates not get a refund ... fair rules should say that if you upgrade an inflex ticket to a flex then cancel, you should only get the difference (which is what, I believe, VS does in any case), fair rules should also say that once you've paid flex, you get to change your dates.

If VS says not, then I too find reason to fault them.

[Nottingham Nick]

By true flexibility, I meant the ability to cancel for a refund.

My point was that, if you were allowed to pay extra in order to make the ticket eligible for a full refund, then there would be little point in anyone buying s full fsre ticket.

Nick

Just to clarify my own issue: I wanted to switch dates, a privilege that I assumed with a fully flexible fare, even if I paid an increase. I only raised a refund with the first several people I spoke to at their call center, because I was just fed up with the responses I was getting and wanted to take my $ to BA.
Having reached a service team member who knew what he was talking about, I'm mostly fine with the outcome.
My biggest concern now, is how poorly informed VS's Indian Call center is. I have to wonder how many people have lost money as a result of bad information and not being persistent in pressing the issue until they get the correct response