Befused and confuddled

Just called VS to check on upgrading from PE to UC on return journey from SFO in January, they said no availability, but doing a load check on on expert flyer gives the following results:

J9 C9 D9 I9 Z9 W9 S9 H9 K9 Y9 B9 R9 L9 U9 M9 E9 Q9 X9 N9 O9

Looks there are plenty of UC seats left or am I misunderstanding these load checks completely?

No, you're reading them correctly. There are seats available for purchase but the bean counters haven't designated any of them as reward seats so you can't upgrade to them at present. But that can change so it's worth checking again on a regular basis.

Just because seats are available to buy for cash does not mean upgrades and reward seats are available. Upgrades and reward seats come out of a completely separate bucket - G for UC - which doesn't appear in load checks.

Your best bet is to keep checking the VS website for reward seats as they can appear at any time, seemingly at random. SFO is a very popular route though, and Gs on the return leg are notoriously scarce so it really is pot luck I'm afraid.

Hmm... I did mention to the customer service rep that I was after Z - happy to pay for upgrades, not planning to use miles this time around - I was trying to give them money! :-)

I'll check back with VS again in a couple of weeks and see if anything has changed!

In that case I'd give them another call soon as talking to someone else might get what you're trying to achieve.

If they're turning down offers from pax wanting to pay there's summat wrong!

[Darren Wheeler]

Or they could just mean that you cannot upgrade to Upper on your ticket. Unless it's a PE that is upgradable, you wouldn't normally be able to make it a Z fare.

The only way you normally can is to upgrade the PE ticket to one that allows upgrades (subject to paying the difference in fare, fees, surcharges etc.) then paying to upgrade to an Upper seat

Surely that wouldn't matter though Darren if the OP is looking to upgrade a ticket with cash, AFAIK any fare bucket can be upgraded with cash subject to the relevant fees, and fare buckets are relevant when looking to make reward upgrades.