Premium Economy fare class recommendations

I'm going to be booking 2 PE return VS flights from LHR to SFO for November, but am wondering which fare class to opt for - either H class or S class. I'm looking for some recommendations from other members please

The H class is currently priced at £1,175, and S class £1,375, so basically £200 extra per person. The main benefit of the S class fare would be the potential to upgrade to Upper Class using air miles at the airport on the day, providing there is availability of course. Plus the extra tier points earned for an S class fare. I've managed to upgrade once before at the airport with an S class ticket, and just pay the £60-£70 taxes.

What would be your preference if you were in my shoes - would you go for the H or S class fares? For those who are more frequent VS flyers than me - are upgrades to Upper Class using miles on an S class ticket very commonly available at the airport on day of departure, or do you think I was extremely lucky to be able to upgrade that one time?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

There's a pretty good chance a G (UC reward seat) will become available - either in advance or at the airport, so I'd go for the S if UC is what you'd really like.

If you go for it, try and check the website every day for a G - you can do that by doing a dummy booking, selecting "spend miles" instead of "cash". If one becomes available for your flight, and they can appear at random at any time, get straight on the phone and grab it - it won't last long.

Thanks for the tips. I'll go for the "S" then, and will keep checking for award seats online!

Hi Daniel,

Personally I would go for the S fares as you can upgrade at any time a G fare becomes available not just at the Airport.

I have done the same myself for a trip to SYD in September and have so far managed to secure and UC upgrade on one of the sectors already, I have also booked an S fare for my trip to SFO in February and am actively looking for a G fare whenever possible.

The extra miles and TP's also come in handy.

Dominic

Thanks Dominic - from the replies so far I'm definitely going for the S fares!

In my view the extra TPs and miles will be worth the extra 200 quid alone depending on your circumstances.

Reward fares in UC do crop up in batches over to SFO - coincidently I have been keeping an eye out for some for the latter part of the year, no joy as of yet. Flightstats still showing good availability though so perhaps will just have to be looking at the right time

In your shoes I would say go for the S as they are currently available for only a small bump (relatively speaking) on the H fare price. Upgrading will be easier and as said the extra miles and TPs will come in handy.

Good luck Daniel 8D

[Neil]

I would personally go for the H. I don't see the point in buying the S until you know there are G's available. If/when they become available just upgrade to the S then, you can do it at any point so it's not like you are missing out.

I would personally go for the H. I don't see the point in buying the S until you know there are G's available. If/when they become available just upgrade to the S then, you can do it at any point so it's not like you are missing out.

Unless the 'S' fares sell out Neil - at that kind of price they will not hang around forever. Looking at them for myself right now

At the very least we will be getting about 3000 extra miles and 2 extra TPs (and hopefully that upgrade - come on 'G' fares.....) :w

So can you buy an H class fare & then upgrage to an S when a G becomes available? Does the price difference between an H & S fare change over time?

[Neil]

So can you buy an H class fare & then upgrage to an S when a G becomes available? Does the price difference between an H & S fare change over time?

Yes you can upgrade a H to an S if some G's become available, there is no fee for doing this.

Yes, the prices of all fare code can and do change over time. They go up, they go down, you just pay the difference.

But remember - the cheaper the fare code, the more likely it is to sell out.

As Neil says, you can buy an H now and change up to an S if a G becomes available - but if a G DOES become available in, say, 2 months you run the risk of S being sold out in which case you'd have to change up to a considerably more expensive W if you still wanted UC.

Depends how much you want to be in UC really. If you're in the "it would be nice if it happened but I'd be very happy sticking with PE" camp, get the H. But if you're in the "I want the best chance of being in UC without paying full whack" camp, get the S.

But remember - the cheaper the fare code, the more likely it is to sell out.

As Neil says, you can buy an H now and change up to an S if a G becomes available - but if a G DOES become available in, say, 2 months you run the risk of S being sold out in which case you'd have to change up to a considerably more expensive W if you still wanted UC.

I had this exact problem.
My original booking was LHR-SYD-LHR all in H fare, i found a G had become available for the HKG-SYD leg of my trip so I called FC and asked what options were available, I was able to upgrade the outbound leg from H to S but the inbound had no S available I was offered a W which was very expensive indeed (intact it would have covered the cost of upgrading to UC) the change from H to S was £203 which I took and upgraded HKG-SYD using 12500 miles.

My booking is now
LHR-HKG S fingers crossed for the G to become available.
HKG-SYD G
SYD-LHR H

hmm yes it does appear to be a bit of a gamble in a sense. Like HULLs experience.
I guess as others have mentioned it comes down to what you are prepared to accept for the long haul flight, ie. buy an H and wait and see. Ofcourse if nothing comes up then you will be spending the flight in PE.
On my recent booking I didnt know about this system so took a Z out and G in but thinking about it would I take the risk in the future? not too sure. Gona have to think about the pros and cons.

I probably overthink these things, but if you buy the S now you are making two bets -- one is that you think a G is going to become available, and the second is that you reckon that if a G appears, your S fare will not be available. If either one of those bets is wrong, you are paying money now unnecessarily (well, not entirely, because you'll get extra some miles/TPs -- but you know what I mean).

So how do you decide? Well, I'd look at it like this. Gs are getting more difficult to find to/from SFO (especially from). However, November is fairly quiet so you may be lucky.

However, you may only be lucky at short notice, when S fares will no longer be available...

So, all things considered, I'd look at the differential between H and S, which at £200 seems quite unusually small, and I'd think to myself, "£200 for 2 TPs is not bad value, plus I have a shot at an upgrade".

But as with all gambles, the first question is: can I afford to lose my stake?

Hope this helps.

But remember - the cheaper the fare code, the more likely it is to sell out.

As Neil says, you can buy an H now and change up to an S if a G becomes available - but if a G DOES become available in, say, 2 months you run the risk of S being sold out in which case you'd have to change up to a considerably more expensive W if you still wanted UC.

I had this exact problem.
My original booking was LHR-SYD-LHR all in H fare, i found a G had become available for the HKG-SYD leg of my trip so I called FC and asked what options were available, I was able to upgrade the outbound leg from H to S but the inbound had no S available I was offered a W which was very expensive indeed (intact it would have covered the cost of upgrading to UC) the change from H to S was £203 which I took and upgraded HKG-SYD using 12500 miles.

My booking is now
LHR-HKG S fingers crossed for the G to become available.
HKG-SYD G
SYD-LHR H

Further to my earlier post a G has become available today for the SYD-HKG leg of my trip which I am unable to upgrade to
v(

Further to my earlier post a G has become available today for the SYD-HKG leg of my trip which I am unable to upgrade to
v(

Ha, typical isn't it Dominic.. Just done a load check for your flight coming back, looking busy. My advice would be never give up and they tend to find a way around the fare class availability at check-in, who knows

That's true - it often seems anything is possible at the airport, provided there are still empty seats.

Further to my earlier post a G has become available today for the SYD-HKG leg of my trip which I am unable to upgrade to
v(

Ha, typical isn't it Dominic.. Just done a load check for your flight coming back, looking busy. My advice would be never give up and they tend to find a way around the fare class availability at check-in, who knows

Haha, very typical indeed Joey.

Thanks, I had a look on flight stats this morning SYD-HKG showing atleast 9 including Z fares but HKG-LHR showing only 4 x J.

Kicking myself for not booking S fares in the first place.

Fingers still crossed for that G LHR-HKG y)

Thought I'd give an update on my booking - I went for the S class seats in the end, and have been checking the VS site several times daily for the past few months searching for reward seats in Upper Class, when finally 2 reward seats became available this morning for the LHR-SFO leg!
Phoned up VS straight away and got upgraded for 12,500 miles each plus about £115 total in taxes.
Now, I just need to keep searching for reward seats for the return flight!!

Well done!

Unfortunately UC reward seats are a lot harder to find on US to UK flights than the other way so don't be surprised if nothing becomes available.

They might though - and if there are still unsold seats in UC at T-24 there's a decent chance you may get lucky at the airport.

Well done!

Unfortunately UC reward seats are a lot harder to find on US to UK flights than the other way so don't be surprised if nothing becomes available.

They might though - and if there are still unsold seats in UC at T-24 there's a decent chance you may get lucky at the airport.

Thanks, I have heard they're more difficult to get on flights from the US... Will keep searching, and if nothing comes up we'll just try getting to the airport a bit earlier in the hope there are some seats!