Upgrade using FC miles?
 

I have 42,000 miles and would like to upgrade my flight from london gatwick (30th june) to antigua and return (14th july) to upper class.

Please excuse my ignorance but I am very new to this!

I have been booked in the wrong class tickets to upgrade using my miles however to change class for me and hubby I have been told that this would be 750gbp each.

can anyone check if there are any seats in uc avaliable? also would I get a better deal if I wait until twilight check in the night before?

Thanks in advance

I recently upgraded a ticket at checking at the airport and worked out a bargain 12.5k and £61 tax to go from PE to UC. (lhr to lax)

The ticket was a economy miles ticket upgraded using an Amex voucher to premium. I was offer the upgrade for cash for ~£1400.

The upgrade was not possible for the same rate prior to 24 hours before the flight as there was no miles tickets availability. At checking the does now need to be award redemptions avalibility, just avalibility in the class.

iDo

To be able to upgrade with miles you need to be in the right fare bucket. That is why they have quoted you £750 each - to get you into an upgradeable bucket.

Are you currently in Economy or Premium economy?

If economy you would need 100,000 miles to upgrade both of you on both legs.

If Premium you would need 50,000 as per this table

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb...table_2012.jsp

So you don't have enough miles to upgrade both of you for both legs with 42,000 miles but you could do a one-way upgrade for 12,500 miles each. (25,000 in total). You could buy the 8,000 miles you need but that will be approx £120. I am also assuming that all your miles are on one account.

You would also have to pay any additional fuel surcharge (and possibly taxes too)

The problem with many of the flights to the carribean is that there are only 14 seats in Upper Class and they are very popular.

Of course you can wait until you get to the airport but VS don't tend to do special deals - the price is what the price is - and there may not be any seats available at that point.

I have just done a dummy booking and it looks like there are no reward seats available on your dates. It is possible that may change though.

My advice is to call them asl them if there are any reward seats in UC then upgrade. Don't ask to change your fare bucket until they have checled as if there are no UC reward seats then there is no point.

You can check if there is availability yourself on the VS web site - in the booking engine select your travel dates, upper class, and then spend miles as the option. If you see availability then you can upgrade, subject to having enough miles and the right fare code as mentioned.