Upgrading flights using miles - VH

A quick question about upgrading using miles.
We've done this several times in the past but this time, we have booked a cruise with Virgin Holiday Cruises. The flights are VS5 and VS6 LHR - MIA and return.

We have S Class PE tickets which are upgradeable.

If a reward seat appears, is it still a matter of contacting the Flying Club direct to arrange?
Mrs QH is worried that there may be some kind of extra hurdle to navigate because the booking was made via Virgin Holidays.

Thanks.

Hi there

No I don't think you are able to upgrade from an S unfortunately. If you look here:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en/fl ... miles.html

at 4.4.12 it says that only published Virgin Atlantic fares are eligible. You have to have a W class ticket to upgrade with travel agent based tickets (which VH is).

I've been bitten with this one myself this week, expecting to be able to upgrade to G but being told that because I have an 'IT' ticket I'd need to upgrade to a W

Bit of a pain really

Yes...on reading again you are absolutely right. Thanks for the pointer.

I often book with VH for my holidays - mainly because you get the additional points for pounds (so for a trip to NYC you can expect another 3,000 miles). However the miles upgrades really suck - I was offered a 100 discount for every 10,000 miles.

I know they are two 'separate' organisations - however the customer views them under the same 'brand' and SRB still owns them both. They really should address this...

|I agree aboiut the sepoarate bit. |I have just been caught out. I got tired of hanging on the phone for Virgin Atlantic and ended up with Virgin Holidays. Although it was quite cleat that I thought that they and Virgin Atlantic were the same I ended up booking return flights for two to New york coming back from Boston and two nights in a hotel in NY. Not a package in my book and I thought they were just making a booking on my behalf. Had to change the Boston return to an earlier date and was told I could not do that and would have to cancel and book again, losing all the money. Any thoughts of what |I can do to get the money back. At no time was I told they were selling me K class tickets . I have been told that if I had booked with Virgin Atlantic there would have been no problem making the change but maybe an admin fee.

Umm - didn't the name "Virgin Holidays" give a clue that you might be buying a package holiday? Even if you had bought from VA, it depends on the booking class, but as a general rule, the cheaper the ticket the less flexible it is, and many of the VA flights don't allow changes at all, or only at a large (to huge) cost. There is usually an sdmin fee, and then the actual flight change fee.
Unfortunately I doubt if VH will be flexible; you may find that travel insurance can help if there is a medical reason for the change, but otherwise I think you may need to stick to your original plan. If you have only paid the deposit you will probably have to write it off to experience...

you may be able to get an upgrade at the airport VA ticket desk

if there are still UC seats available on departure day then get to the airport early (as you probably won't be the only ones trying this)

this is the only way i've ever been able to upgrade a ticket that was purchased via travel agent

you may be able to get an upgrade at the airport VA ticket desk

if there are still UC seats available on departure day then get to the airport early (as you probably won't be the only ones trying this)

this is the only way i've ever been able to upgrade a ticket that was purchased via travel agent

Was that paying for an upgrade - or using miles..?

on an upgradeable fare code it's miles plus whatever fees/taxes/surcharges they add

on a non-upgradeable fare code they'll do it for money only, but cost varies from ok to extortionate

"Virgin Holidays" give a clue that you might be buying a package holiday? " Not helpful;. Isn't ABTA the Association of British Travel Agents. The honest thing would have been for VH for to say 'you really are better suited to VA , even if you have to hang on, because you are obviously not in the market for a package. It is called putting the customer first . Branson says the first rule for a Virgin company is not to rip the customer off. Caveat emptor is just another way of putting it, but that does not make it right.

Hi there

No I don't think you are able to upgrade from an S unfortunately. If you look here:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en/fl ... miles.html

at 4.4.12 it says that only published Virgin Atlantic fares are eligible. You have to have a W class ticket to upgrade with travel agent based tickets (which VH is).

It isn't always simple - sometimes what travel agents are selling are still published fares. I have regularly been able to upgrade S class tickets purchased from an agent with miles. It's always worth asking!

"Virgin Holidays" give a clue that you might be buying a package holiday? " Not helpful;. Isn't ABTA the Association of British Travel Agents. The honest thing would have been for VH for to say 'you really are better suited to VA , even if you have to hang on, because you are obviously not in the market for a package. It is called putting the customer first . Branson says the first rule for a Virgin company is not to rip the customer off. Caveat emptor is just another way of putting it, but that does not make it right.

Did you tell them that you would want a fare that allowed change?

That presupposes I knew that the ticket did not allow for change eight weeks in advance of due date.How would I know if I am not told during the telephone call that the ticket is not changeable. And nothing in the T&C is relevant. The T&C effectively says that some things cannot be changed but we will not tell you what they are before the event. That is what is meant by caveat emptor.

I did manage to change a VH return flight for no charge (in PE in K class). We needed to change our dates and they offered me the option of either carrying over the deposit paid to the new booking but having to pay another deposit on top, or just extending our current booking at just the additional cost of the hotel plus an extra flight cost because a sale had ended since we made the booking (i did check all this on the VA website so I know we weren't ripped off). I went for the latter as it was easier and to move our whole trip by a week wasn't possible due to hotel availability.