Originally Posted by bgriff

I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure what is meant by luxury tax here but I assume the poster is referring to the higher Air Passenger Duty? I have used GUCs on Delta metal from London before and did not pay any extra APD, though in the case in question the upgrade was waitlisted and only cleared just before departure, not sure if it would have been different if it had cleared in advance. Since you can't waitlist VS upgrades it might be different. I'd be curious to hear any experiences.

I also don't know how APD is enforced and if DL might have ended up having to pay extra tax for my late upgrade. If they do, perhaps they will charge it on VS upgrades, especially because VS would naturally pay more attention to that issue than DL would, being London based. I don't know if VS charges the higher APD for mileage upgrades for members of their own FFP? That might be indicative. I don't think I've ever heard about them charging more.