Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - Premium to Upper LGW-LV

Hi all,

Just found this forum. Unable to book upper class flights to Vegas from LGW, I've settled for 2 premium economy round trips via air miles.

On the outward bound leg, Virgin still have Upper class seats avaialble to buy, but wont sell us ( 2 people) the upgrade - guess they want to still try and sell them for full fare..

When's the best time to try and upgrade? a couple of days before hand> or 2 hours before hand at the check in desk?

TIA

Wayno

LGW-LAS has just 14 Upper Class seats. That's your problem. You may get lucky but you will have to be very vigilant....& quick.

LGW-LAS has just 14 Upper Class seats. That's your problem. You may get lucky but you will have to be very vigilant....& quick.

Called Virgin this morning. The Upper class seats aren't (yet) available for upgrading to....

You said it yourself - why let you upgrade for miles into UC if there is a chance they could sell the seats for hard cash.

Depends when you are travelling as well.

As NoY says - 14 suites is the key here.

Upper Class miles seats on the Vegas service are very rare, flights with two miles seats available are even rarer. You have done well to get 2 x PE redemptions IMHO.

It is a lot easier to redeem UC to LAX or SFO then get a LCC to Sin City, you also have the advantage of the LHR Clubhouse and Revivals doing it this way. :cool:


Nick

I was lucky enough to get 2 UC redemption seats from Vegas last August. They were released a couple of weeks before the flight. In my experience Virgin tend to release more seats nearer to the departure date, so just keep checking! I would agree tho that flying out from LHR is best with the Clubhouse and a cheap LAX flight to Vegas, or in the summer a nice 5 hour drive (not done it, but want to!). Have a great time in Vegas!!

I was lucky enough to get 2 UC redemption seats from Vegas last August. They were released a couple of weeks before the flight. In my experience Virgin tend to release more seats nearer to the departure date, so just keep checking! I would agree tho that flying out from LHR is best with the Clubhouse and a cheap LAX flight to Vegas, or in the summer a nice 5 hour drive (not done it, but want to!). Have a great time in Vegas!!

I agree, the benefits of that great LHR clubhouse are lost in LGW..but the thought of adding any extra 3 or 4 hours of travelling via LAX just for 5 nights is a bit much for me. Thanks- will have a great time I'm sure. Inpsite of of the flight!

I agree, the benefits of that great LHR clubhouse are lost in LGW..but the thought of adding any extra 3 or 4 hours of travelling via LAX just for 5 nights is a bit much for me. Thanks- will have a great time I'm sure. Inpsite of of the flight!

Just try and secure yourself seats in the "bubble". VS premium economy is a very good product, and even better on the upper deck. I understand though that with the refit of the AC it is a bit of a problem pre booking seats.

Just try and secure yourself seats in the "bubble". VS premium economy is a very good product, and even better on the upper deck. I understand though that with the refit of the AC it is a bit of a problem pre booking seats.

Stoneman, do you think upstairs is better for Premium Economy? Prebooking seats is a problem- they aren't allowing access to online seat booking until 22 hours before the flight leaves..

Wayno

Stoneman, do you think upstairs is better for Premium Economy? Prebooking seats is a problem- they aren't allowing access to online seat booking until 22 hours before the flight leaves..

Wayno


it's 24 hours not 22. though it might be worth checking a couple of hours before OLCI opens.

The reason they have restricted seat requests in PE is due to the refits and VS not knowning which plane will operate a particular flight until a day or two before departure and hence if it will be a refitted plane or not.

The seat configs in PE are going to be different on the refitted planes.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/latest-news.html

it's 24 hours not 22. though it might be worth checking a couple of hours before OLCI opens.

The reason they have restricted seat requests in PE is due to the refits and VS not knowning which plane will operate a particular flight until a day or two before departure and hence if it will be a refitted plane or not.

The seat configs in PE are going to be different on the refitted planes.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/latest-news.html

UKtravelbear:

it says on my ticket confo page- seat assignment is available 24-2 before departure .. I read this as a weird way of saying 22 hours before departure..?

Wayno

UKtravelbear:

it says on my ticket confo page- seat assignment is available 24-2 before departure .. I read this as a weird way of saying 22 hours before departure..?

Wayno

Even VS aren't daft enough to use 24-2 to mean 22 hrs (though they do do some pretty daft things)

They mean 24 TO 2 hours before departure.

The best way to get the best selection is to do OLCI at the 24 hr mark as the longer you delay the less seats will be avalable to select from and as the bubble is popular there will be competition for that. (and there is a rumour that instead of being 100% PE in the bubble it will be split 50-50 with Y seats (with a larger PE cabin on the main deck)) so there will be even frew bubble PE seats to choose from)

Even VS aren't daft enough to use 24-2 to mean 22 hrs (though they do do some pretty daft things)

They mean 24 TO 2 hours before departure.

The best way to get the best selection is to do OLCI at the 24 hr mark as the longer you delay the less seats will be avalable to select from and as the bubble is popular there will be competition for that. (and there is a rumour that instead of being 100% PE in the bubble it will be split 50-50 with Y seats (with a larger PE cabin on the main deck)) so there will be even frew bubble PE seats to choose from)

Hahah! that's so funny. I feel pretty foolish now. Thanks for your patience, will be on line 24 hours before departure.

wayno

Stoneman, do you think upstairs is better for Premium Economy? Prebooking seats is a problem- they aren't allowing access to online seat booking until 22 hours before the flight leaves..

Wayno

I've flown that route a few times, Premium Economy, and think that if you can get the bulkhead seats downstairs adjacent to first class they are better than upstairs. There is more leg room and they seem to recline further. Also because upstairs seems to be so popular there are often quite a few empty seats in the downstairs PE.

I guess the flights are busy in summer, I usually fly in December and upgraded a week before flying to Upper Class last December. Upper Class was half empty even though there are only a few seats.

However as they are planning to upgrade this flight sometime before Christmas, it could be that this will all change

Welcome to Flyertalk, LinB. ^

All immaterial now, as managed to do an air mile upgrade to upper class..

I assume the LGW Upper class lounge isnt a patch on LHR?

I'm flying to LAS on Thursday and managed to get PE miles+money upgrade. I was hoping for UC but alas nothing. Makes sense now that people have mentioned the 14 seats only in UC thing...