Best upgrade options with VH

Flying LGW-CUN in PE on 24th September courtesy of VH. I've been quoted £550/each to change to UC on the outbound only because availability isn't good on the return. We have a ton of miles available but as I understand it, I can't use miles to upgrade the H fare but I'm wondering if it is worth changing the H to S and then using miles, if that is even possible; perhaps someone can confirm the feasibility of that?

Tried phoning many times today but the staff in the overseas call-centre really don't understand what I'm asking when I asked for a price to change my H to an S... !

As an aside, the annoying thing is we are both only 10TPs away from Gold, which would be nice!

Any advice on what to do??

[Neil]

You cannot upgrade with miles as you have booked via VH. Regardless of your fare code, only fares booked direct with VS can be upgraded with miles.

Neil

Can't you convert some of your miles to VH vouchers and use them to pay for the upgrade?

As an aside, the annoying thing is we are both only 10TPs away from Gold, which would be nice!

If you used miles to upgrade you would still only get the TPs from your original cabin.

Regardless of your fare code, only fares booked direct with VS can be upgraded with miles.

Neil

They have to be published fares, but don't necessarily have to be booked direct. I regularly upgrade S to G with S fares booked through an agent. The only risk is whether the agent books a published S or not.

[Neil]

Regardless of your fare code, only fares booked direct with VS can be upgraded with miles.

Neil

They have to be published fares, but don't necessarily have to be booked direct. I regularly upgrade S to G with S fares booked through an agent. The only risk is whether the agent books a published S or not.

Yes, that is true, but getting an agent like VH to sell you a full published fare is very difficult, maybe impossible due to their systems and lack of understanding of how the fares work.

Then there is the cost factor, agents sell their holidays because their fares are heavily discounted, so the cost to make their heavily discounted fare a published fare can push the cost of changing sky high.

Hi there! LGW-CUN-LGW is my 'regular' route and I was delighted when VS opened up the route. Firstly LGW-CUN is a day flight so PE is probably the best value option although Y on a half full flight will give you tonnes of spare seats / space. Unless you want to be able to stretch out flat to nap, UC would just be an indulgence for the fringe benefits - the VH offer will only give you a Z class entitlement so no chauffeur car transfers, just the prioroty check-in, CH access, big seat and UC service on the flight. If you do treat yourself to UC outbound be careful about your baggage allowance and carry on bag for the return flight as if you drop to PE or Y - CUN is quite strict about the limits - UC outbound will give you a huge allowance and you may be tempted to pack more than you can bring home. Have a great trip!