Exorbitant Cost of Upgrade to PE

I booked 2 Economy seat on VS63 LGW to Havana Cuda on the 31/015/2012 then a couple of days later decided to upgrade. Cost £400.00 which I did not consider cheap. A friend on the same flight decided to do the same a Virgin want £1209 each.

This is £809 more how is this justified? Is this normal practice to put the price up this much?

Just out of interest could I ask anyone who has the ability to do a load check please.

Regards

J6 C6 D6 I6 Z6 W9 S9 K9 Y9 B9 R9 L9 U9 M9 E9 Q9 X9 N9 O9

Yours was probably a very restricted ticket, theirs was probably a more flexable ticket as the cheaper ones had all sold out.

David

It will depend on availability of the seats - not just the seat - but the seats at each price.
There are typically 3 prices for PE seats. A set number are cheaper but when they have gone you move up to the next price.
As well as this it also depends how far in advance you buy the ticket. If you buy today for travel this afternoon you pay a higher price than if you bought it 6 months ago.

So from what you say it sounds like all the cheap deals have gone so you have to pay a higher fare. It is the same with any special offer - when it is gone thats it !

Thanks David,
J Fare code is Full Fare Upper Class which you indicate there is a least 6 seats left. But if you try to check the fare there is no availabilty I am doing something wrong?

Thanks David,
J Fare code is Full Fare Upper Class which you indicate there is a least 6 seats left. But if you try to check the fare there is no availabilty I am doing something wrong?

I think there are maybe some gremlins in the system, when I first searched, it showed no flights.

The date you are flying is 31/5/12 ?

thanks

David

Thanks for your replies. But £1800.00 for PE seems expensive to me, do people really pay this amount for PE, I think it is more like a UC price.

Sorry, date of travel is 31/05/2012

Agree it's expensive, but I'm afraid it's the classic "if you want it, then you'll need to pay it" alternative is to gable on a price reduction.

Thanks David,
J Fare code is Full Fare Upper Class which you indicate there is a least 6 seats left. But if you try to check the fare there is no availabilty I am doing something wrong?

You don't tell us your return date, but if you try and book a one way outbound on the 31st, it does show seats (albeit at around £3500)


David

The return date is 14/06/2012

VS063 J6 C6 D6 I6 Z6 W9 S9 K9 Y9 B9 R9 L9 U9 M9 E9 Q9 X9 N9 O9

VS064 J1 C1 D1 I1 Z1 W9 S9 K9 Y9 B9 R9 L9 U9 M9 E9 Q9 X9 N9 O9

David

This is £809 more how is this justified? Is this normal practice to put the price up this much?

Not sure that VS - or any commercial company - will feel the need to "justify" anything to the customer as it's up to the customer to decide whether to take an offering, but I guess if anything it would be "because experience shows that we can and someone will pay it."

Thanks for your replies. But £1800.00 for PE seems expensive to me, do people really pay this amount for PE, I think it is more like a UC price.

Welcome to 2012 and the world of not so cheap airline fares.

The price is what VS want the price to be. If they can get people to pay the price then thats to their benefit.

And yes if people need to be on a particular flight then they will pay the price being asked. This is exactly the same pricing model that Eeasyjet etc operate - book far in advance and it's dirt cheap for the small number of cheap seats they offer then the price will go up the closer to to the day of travel.

But quite simply if they don't make any money on a route then they can always withdraw it (like they did this week with NBO)

Thanks for your replies. But £1800.00 for PE seems expensive to me, do people really pay this amount for PE, I think it is more like a UC price.

We have been going to Florida every year at Easter for many many years, which has always been an expensive time to travel anyway.

PE for Easter 2013 for our dates is currently priced at £1429.20 which would mean £8575.20 for our family party - so Florida in April is currently off the table v(

But like has been said, for as long as people will pay this kind of price for a ticket then VS and all of 'them' will keep the price high. Its all about demand too, and during school holidays they can & do charge whatever they want.

Yeap prices are unbelievably high and as a person who loved to travel with the grandkids just once a year, I hope they (and not just VS) choke on those fares.

You just need to look at the fare breakdowns these days.
A majority of a low cost fare is APD, TAX and the dreaded Full Supplement (is fuel still as expensive as it was???) the actual ticket cost is still good value.

I personally don't agree that VS and VH add an extra supplement to fares during school holidays, Easter etc but I'm afraid that is supply and demand.
I assume that they still fill the aircraft even with these supplements so will continue to do so.

Air travel is a business not a public service. The airline must make a profit or they will go out of business as so many have.
Maybe if BMI had charged more they might still be in business (or maybe they would have closed sooner).
It is a cut throat business with huge fixed costs and very hard to make any money.

[buns]

Let us not forget that the 31st is just before the long Bank Holiday weekend and Half Term.

Demand to get awy from the UK at this time is bound to be high so hence the ability of all airlines to up the ante v(

buns

I personally don't agree that VS and VH add an extra supplement to fares during school holidays, Easter etc but I'm afraid that is supply and demand.
I assume that they still fill the aircraft even with these supplements so will continue to do so.

I disagree with you. If you go onto the VS website and ask for a fare LGW to MCO for March 2013 on any day before the schools breakup, you will get an average fare in PE for £900. That is £500 more than the peak Easter fares of £1429. All the taxes, supplements etc will be the same whenever we travel, its just they do charge more when they know demand is there ie during school holidays. Always been that way.

I guarantee the Easter weeks price of £1429 will also be signifigantly less by the middle of April (once the schools go back). Also if you check a VH brochure the exact same happens, the higher holiday prices are when the schools are out.
Is it fair - No.
Is it anything to do with business profit - No.
It is - Simply making more money out of a few during the busy times but if we dont like it then we don't pay

I do think personally that the airlines will notice a drop in demand if they hike fares to these kinda prices just at certain times of the year.

[honey lamb]

Let us not forget that the 31st is just before the long Bank Holiday weekend and Half Term.

Demand to get awy from the UK at this time is bound to be high so hence the ability of all airlines to up the ante v(

buns

And it's the Irish Bank Holiday as well as the end of term for all second level students apart from those doing exams. Given that many people on my side of the pond may not have realised and booked holidays that same weekend including those served by VS.

We got caught in 2002 and the Golden Jubilee that way, not by price but by volumes of travellers. It took us an hour and a half to get through the PE line in LHR. When the flight VS1 was due to take off at 4pm there were still 120 pax to be checked in and half an hour later 50 so the flight took off an hour late. If that was anything to go by then I could well understand how the price has gone up

You just need to look at the fare breakdowns these days.
A majority of a low cost fare is APD, TAX and the dreaded Full Supplement (is fuel still as expensive as it was???) the actual ticket cost is still good value.

I personally don't agree that VS and VH add an extra supplement to fares during school holidays, Easter etc but I'm afraid that is supply and demand.
I assume that they still fill the aircraft even with these supplements so will continue to do so.

all travel is based on supply and demand and that seems to control the price of the tickets,but looking on another site people are willing and indeed do pay these inflated prices,as far as the Fuel prices are concerned Im sure there not as high as the have been,and I would assume that all the airlines hedge and forward buy anyway

I personally think 2012 is going to be an expensive year to travel what with the Olympics and Jubilee celebrations, even though these events have a short window the entire travel industry will stretch what they can, so yes supply and demand in all travel and hospitality sectors. Role on 2013 bah-humbug :#

Is it fair - No.
Is it anything to do with business profit - No.
It is - Simply making more money out of a few during the busy times but if we dont like it then we don't pay

Not sure fairness comes into the market economy B) Does it p*ss me off yes - particularly given that even once the sprogs were gone we're still stuck to school holidays

Surely the answer to your second question is "Yes, absolutely" Increased demand, fixed supply = price rise. Increased price, same costs = more profit.

[honey lamb]

Not sure fairness comes into the market economy B) Does it p*ss me off yes - particularly given that even once the sprogs were gone we're still stuck to school holidays

Two solutions:

1) Your good lady wife retires and you are no longer dependent on school holidays.

2) You divorce her and marry me and we'll travel the world in off peak times

Ooops, just thought. Option #2 will involve alimony so scrap that. Press for #1 )

Thanks for your replies. But £1800.00 for PE seems expensive to me, do people really pay this amount for PE, I think it is more like a UC price.

Not if you need the ticket. If you're flying on short-notice and it's a busy route you could easily pay double that for PE. In fact, one time (and I have no idea what bizarre revenue rule let this happen) it was cheaper for me to fly out in UC and back in PE than fly PE both ways!!

Hi Guys,

I'm sure most of the business travellers who book fairly last minute will be aware Premium and Upper Class have advance purchase on them so now your friends are looking to upgrade within 21 Days of departure even though K class is selling as per the load check you will only get a W/S class fare now which is why your seeing £1800+. Your only options really to get them an upgrade would be to do a miles and money on it (assuming you have miles) or see what their on the day rate is when you check-in. The fact K class is still in the 9's is a good sign its not horrendously busy but it is HAV so that can change. I say your companions should be able to grab a decent on the day rate though.

Krgds.