Max number of revenue upgrades per cabin?

Hi all,

I'm travelling to PVG tomorrow with 3 others - all in PE. A couple of my group have asked about paid upgrades to UC at the airport. I told them it all depends on loads etc, but I wondered what, if any, were the limits for any paid upgrades.l? If say, 5 seats were available in UC at close of Check In, would all 5 seats be available for cash or is it limited?

More curious from a theoretical POV rather than practical, as I know the chances are slim for all 4 of us to nab a seat..!

VS will only offer upgrades when they want to. Just because there are seats available does not mean there will be upgrades. It's to do with preserving the premium and exclusive nature of UC.

If people want UC then the VS argument is they should (in the main) pay the asking price and not rely on there being cheap (relative!) deals being available at the airport.

But if say Y and PE were oversold VS would rather try and get some £££ out of people paying for an upgrade than in handing them out for free (op-ups) in which case the limit will be the number of spare seats!

Sometimes they may offer them in Manage Bookings.

No harm in asking though at LHR though it won't be cheap.

[Nottingham Nick]

The other thing to bear in mind with multiple upgrades is catering. The airline will only load sufficient meals for their expected load, presumably with a little bit of wiggle room.

It wouldn't be fair on you if Virgin took money off you for an upgrade, but then couldn't supply you with the food you had paid extra for.

From a commercial perspective, it wouldn't make sense to refuse to take money from people who are offering it, but they have to balance that out with not annoying their premium cabin passengers.

Nick

as above, they won't sell upgrades simply because there're empty seats, in addition...

the fare code of the ticket(s) you want to upgrade is also a factor (as is how it was booked)

FC status might also be a factor, i've no evidence for that, but i'm AU and when i've had an upgradable fare code and there's been an empty seat i've always been lucky

it's a long flight so i'd imagine there'll be others looking as well

if you want to try it on the day, arrive early, go straight to the ticket desk and hope for the best, remember that even if you don't get an upgrade PE is still pretty good!

I think there may be some confusion here between paid (cash) upgrades and miles upgrades.

If there are still unsold seats at check-in, VS will happily sell upgrades for cash. At LHR there is a dedicated upgrade sales desk, and at US airports there are often price lists prominently displayed on the check-in desks.

Don't expect a bargain though - from experience the prices tend to be comparable to or more than what you'd have paid if you'd booked the higher cabin in the first place. VS know full well there's easy money to be made out of impulse buyers. I believe you can even pay to upgrade on board for a set price (£1000 rings a bell) though it's not widely known about and hardly ever offered by the crew.

Miles upgrades at the airport are a completely different matter - availability, even if there are empty seats, is never guaranteed and IIRC the local airport staff don't have the authority to sell them without checking with Crawley first.

I think there may be some confusion here between paid (cash) upgrades and miles upgrades

Yes this would be a cash upgrade - or at least entertaining the idea of such although £1000 is too much for me personally...!

if you want to try it on the day, arrive early, go straight to the ticket desk and hope for the best, remember that even if you don't get an upgrade PE is still pretty good!

Oh yes - I'm very happy with PE (especially as someone else is picking up the tab) - It was more that I had the information to give my fellow flyers in case they want to try their luck!

About four years ago we were returning from MCO in premium and I asked about upgrades.
There was one seat available and I could have it for £950.

Dick D

Which, given that UC to MCO can currently be had for about £1700 return, is shockingly poor value.

But when you're standing at check-in facing the prospect of a 9 hour red-eye flight I guess it might be quite tempting.