SkippyFluff

Hi,

My company bought me a split ticket (Premium Economy in one direction, Upper Class the other) for an upcoming SFO to LHR round trip. I wanted to look into buying an upgrade, but the "Manage My Booking" section doesn't seem to have any access to either the "pay for it now" or auction. Am I missing some deep link, or does the fact it was booked through a travel agent eliminate that?

I was able to manage the booking to select seats, so I'm sure the ticket and such are there.

Thanks for any hints,

SF

UKtravelbear

The bid for upgrade option does not include (as far as I am aware) for PE to UC. Even then it would depend on the availability of seats in UC.

Upgrades may or may not be offered. That can change at any time so you would need to keep checking

As to whether a TA bookings would be upgradable in advance would depend on the fare code of the booking.

SkippyFluff

The fare code of the booking is H, which the travel agent lists as "Premium Economy", but does not appear in the table here:

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/us...rade_table.jsp

(only W and S do). Negotiated discount, maybe?

I'll keep checking back. This is the shorter flight and Premium Economy is supposed to be pretty nice, so it is no big deal if it isn't available. But I'm a bit surprised that they wouldn't run the auction the whole time--typically that would result in more bids and a better chance at higher bids (especially as the bids of other participants aren't shown).

Thanks for your reply,

SF

Silver Fox

I have the bid for upgrade on PE to UC now for PE->UC in P class, LAS-LGW, starts at £1595. As I remember that button has been there since the booking was made, or very close to it.

backdoc

http://v-flyer.com/the-toolbox/fare-codes?code=H

H

Discounted Premium Economy & Virgin Holidays Fare

This is the second lowest Premium Economy Fare and also used by Virgin Holidays for PE bookings. It is very restricted and non-refundable, but some changes can be made for a fee. Advance purchase is required on this fare
Flying Club Miles and Tier Points will be earned. 125% of mileage flown earn for all passengers (175% for Flying Club Silver and 225% for flying Club Gold members) and 3TP's per sector.
This fare class is also used for Premium Economy Flying Club MilesplusMoney fares (MpM). There will need to be availability in this for you to be able to take advantage of MpM. MilesplusMoney tickets do not earn Tier Points or Flying Club miles even though they are booked in this class.
You cannot use Flying Club Miles to upgrade this fare to an Upper Class Reward fare.
This fare class is used by Virgin Holidays for passengers flying Premium Economy. Customers booking holidays with Virgin Holidays/Vacations can pay a fee per person to upgrade from the standard Economy flights. The upgrade fees can be quite reasonable at times.

simoflyer

I was booked in PE on a recent return flight from HKG and wanted to upgrade to UC but no offer ever appeared in MMB. Eventually I called Virgin the day before online checkin opened and they said the upgrade fee was circ £1400 or I could use 15,000 miles to upgrade - so I did the latter.

at240

The offering of upgrades, in my experience, is quite hit and miss and it doesn't always reflect what is actually available if you call up.

For example, if you upgrade one leg with miles, paid upgrade options tend to disappear from the remaining leg even when they remain available (although I think the auction remains visible, if offered).

Best plan is to call and speak to the Upper Class team, who are generally very good.

Incidentally, I don't think the auction is available on all flights -- but it can be offered from PE to UC.