upgrade advice please

Hi People,
Can anyone give me some advice? I Plan to fly to NY and come back from LA in P/E, when I check in at LAX what are the chances of me being able to upgrade to Upper Class using miles? I currently have just over 115000 miles in my account, say if a bed was available and they let me upgrade, about how many miles would be used for this single leg journey?

Thanks

[mitchja]

Hello and Welcome to V-Flyer

It depends on what fare you are on on your PE flight back from LAX. You need to have either an 'S' or a 'W' fare. These are the only 2 fares that allow you to upgrade with miles. If you are on a 'K' PE fare, you will first need to upgrade this to an 'S' fare with cash (will cost you at least £200 maybe more, there will also be a £50 ticket change fee). A one-way upgrade from either an S or W PE fare to Upper Class is 20,000 miles.

There will also need to be availability of a reward Upper Class fare (a 'G' fare in Upper) - the only way to check this, is be using the VS web site and start a booking with miles for an Upper Class reward flight from LAX to LHR on the date you travel. If the flight you are on comes up as been available, then you can upgrade with miles. If there's no reward availability, dont panic, as sometimes a few days before your flight VS will release more reward fares...just keep checking using the VS web site.

You can then book this by calling Flying Club, who will if needed, upgrade your PE fare to the correct fare with more of your cash and book you your reward upgrade to Upper at the same time. You can do this at the airport but availability could be limited by that late stage)

Regards

Hi tubelad

If you're not sucessfuly with getthing the upgrade prior to the flight and you want to try to get the miles upgrade at the airport, its best to get there as early as possible, preferably when check-in opens I guess, so if there are any free seats in upper you stand the best chance of getting them yourself.

I was is a similiar situation in december from EWR, booked in a S fare, tried for weeks with flying club to get an confirmed upgrade, but eventually managed it at the airport.

Robert

Thanks James, thats brilliant.

However, i dont see the reason why if im using my hard earned miles why i should be charged a fare change of £200 from K (PE) to S Fare, surely its irrelevent and should be if im upgrading using miles, i can could understand a fare charge obviously if i wasnt using miles.

seems abit silly to me

[Nottingham Nick]

Unfortunately it is simple economics. VS sell the N class fares in Y, and the K class fares in W, as cheap bottom of the range - non-changeable, non-upgradable fares.

If you want the convenience of flexible dates or the ability to upgrade with miles, then you have to pay. Or, as robandgill says - chance your arm at the airport on the day of your flight, as the rule book is sometimes rewritten.

Nick

[ChuckC]

Originally posted by tubelad
Thanks James, thats brilliant.

However, i dont see the reason why if im using my hard earned miles why i should be charged a fare change of £200 from K (PE) to S Fare, surely its irrelevent and should be if im upgrading using miles, i can could understand a fare charge obviously if i wasnt using miles.

seems abit silly to me

Tubelad,
The short answer, as mitchja notes, is that only certain fare "classes" are upgradeable. If you are holding a non-upgradeable fare class, you must first pay to be in an upgradeable fare class, and then try for the upgrade.

As we often advise here, if one can plan a bit ahead by purchasing an upgradeable fare in the beginning, the challenge to get into either PE or UC is a matter of miles and availability and, of course, timing!

Chuck-