Upgrade Fee

Hi Guys

I'm new here, been reading for a while but have now got a question so thought I'd ask.

I'm looking to upgrade to Premium for our return trip from Orlando next year. Spoke to flying club and was quoted some crazy figure of £700 plus a £150 upgrade fee per person. The current ticket price for this seat on the web site is £542! So that's over £300 more then the current price just to upgrade, not to mention what I've already paid. That's more than I paid for UC

Does this seem current? I was originally told at the time of booking an upgrade is normally the difference between the current ticket price and what we paid, was expecting to pay around £220 not £850!

Also I've never heard of a seat upgrade fee, especially one as high as £150 a seat, seems like they just don't want my money

Anyway is this normal?

Thanks

It all depends on what ticket you bought in the first place.
If you have bought the cheapest then it is not upgradeable and you are probably being quoted for a new ticket and upgrade.
When I've flow PE in the past it was cheaper to buy the lowest PE fare than an upgradeable economy ticket.

Dick D

It's not so much the cost to upgrade, it's the £150 per ticket they now charge on top of the upgrade cost. This will now surely deter people from upgrading

chance your luck on the day at the airport?
Prices are based on availability. So they will try to get as much as someone is prepared to pay!

It's not so much the cost to upgrade, it's the £150 per ticket they now charge on top of the upgrade cost. This will now surely deter people from upgrading

Is this an addition fee or is this the extra taxes and surcharges?

-Steve

Fare conditions say:

Penalties

Changes any time charge GBP 150.00.Waived for illness or death of passenger or family member.

My sister flew to JFK this week and asked at the airport how much it would be to upgrade and they quoted £250 pp. She had bought the cheapest economy fare to start with.

There are two ways to upgrade; one is to do it "in advance", where the fare rules and change fees come into play, but once you pay them your upgrade is sorted.

The other way is to wait until you get to the airport; if there is availability then you can usually upgrade any ticket for a fixed amount - regardless of the orginal fare rules and change fees. But there is no guarantee that this will be available, and the price may change day to day. So if you take the "on the day" option, you might save some money, but you are taking your chances!

Also worth remembering - at least it has been mentioned here before, that Cabin Crew have also discretionally offered upgrades once aboard. So if you see some empty seats on board....

That seems quite reasonable for a PE flight.

I remember the days where you could get a PE ticket for £750 but now they are more over the £1140 region for a PE far so the prices quoted aren't bad at all.

MCO is a popular route and upgrades are rare although not non existent on the day but you can also at disney springs check for upgrades on the morning of depature and upgrade there. I have upgraded at Disney Springs before and it hasn't been too bad an upgrade on the day £150 per adult for PE so worth it.

All down to personal choice as explained above but I would definitely go for it every time.

I was charged the same £150 change fee back in August. I was flying from LHR to JFK (on a K fare) and inquired about an upgrade in the clubhouse. I knew I would be paying to change the fare from a K to an S and that there would be additional taxes, but didn't know about the change fee. I asked the agent if the fee was related to me changing my fare (thinking it was akin to rebooking a new ticket) and she said no, it was related to changing cabins. She said all upgrades....done ahead of time or at the airport, will be charged this fee. She also highly recommended that I write to VS FC about this. She thought is was excessive and that it isn't readily known to flyers. She also thought that as gold, they should be able to waive it for me. If only that was the case with the upcoming "enhancements".......

Clearly, this depends.

I often use miles to upgrade on HKG - LHR return, at the airport. Just recently in fact, Never been charged an upgrade fee (S to G), just the miles. And, if you do it in HK, no taxes either - just the miles.

Even before hand, upgrading S to G on LHR to HKG its the miles and taxes. Never the extra £150

Is it really recent? Or does it apply only to cash upgrades, not reward flights~?

Just to chime in on this - I recently took a cash upgrade, PE (K) -> UC (Z) on a LGW-MCO flight. The price I was quoted was the difference between the current fare and the fare paid, plus a £150 change fee.
I came to expect it after reading about it on this forum and made a point to the rep that I was quite disappointed that this was now being applied. That being said, I did let her know that I would be happy to pay the price quoted less the change fee. She went away to her supervisor and agreed that as I had booked the ticket prior to the new policy they would waive the fee, which they did and I upgraded.

I keep planning to write to Flying Club to have a moan about this.

As has been said earlier, you are paying for a more flexible ticket first; then the charge for PE.

As has been said earlier, you are paying for a more flexible ticket first; then the charge for PE.

Is this in response to my post?