cant upgrade to PE !!

[furballs]

I apologise now, but i have to vent my anger somewhere and thought that you guys would understand where im coming from.
Ive been reading loads of threads on here about upgrading to PE on virgin flights, and since we are travelling with them in November i thought i would give them a ring and see how much it would cost us to upgrade. Fine, i thought, but i was wrong.
I was informed by a very nice man that since i booked my flights through a travel agent on a 'special deal' that these flights are not upgradeable at any time. I am absolutely furious with the travel agents, since i have had disagreements with them since the booking anyway. (i certaintly wont be using them again) I feel that she should have told me at the time of booking that they werent upgradeable. (im not a difficult person to please, honest, i just like to be told the score)
To be honest we possibly wouldnt have been able to afford the upgrade anyway but it would have been nice to have the choice and i want it even more now since i cant have it.
Anyway, rant over, i feel slightly better now lol

 

[wilma-bride]

Is it not written in the terms and conditions of your booking that your tickets aren't able to be upgraded? What a shame though - I can understand your frustration. I would just work on the basis that it would probably have cost more than you wanted to pay anyway

 

[AliceGardner]

Hi furballs

To be perfectly honest, 99.99999% of flights are not upgradeable and that is perfectly accepted.

If you buy a standard economy flight through ThomasCook, Expedia, Opodo, Lastminute.com, teletext, even direct from British Airways or Virgin Atlantic then you would not be able to upgrade it or change it. That is why the flights are cheap - they are completely inflexible (you cannot change class or dates of travel).

At time of booking, you CAN specify that you want a "partially/fully flexible" economy ticket, but you will be paying £800/£1100/£1500/upwards PER person to add more flexibility - this if often more eexpensive than buying a PE (or even UC!) ticket from the beginning. That is why travel agents don't say "would you like to buy a flexible economy ticket incase you want to later upgrade it?" (you would say "how much?", they would say "£1500 a person", you would say "go away" but in less polite terms...).

The only reason that so many people have been able to upgrade on here is that they book with Virgin Holidays that DOES allow you to change your flight class, your dates or you choice of accomodation if you pay a change fee. That is extra-ordinary and very uncommon.

Most people want the cheapest deal when they book a holiday and book with whomever is cheaper - who you booked with may well have been several £100 cheaper than booking with Virgin Holidays... Surely having that cheaper price is more important than having the possibility of upgrading?

My tip is, if you are feeling flush nearer the time you fly, ask about the possibility of buying upgrades when you check-in at the airport. If they give you a good deal, then you can take it...

Good Luck,
Alice

I apologise now, but i have to vent my anger somewhere and thought that you guys would understand where im coming from.
Ive been reading loads of threads on here about upgrading to PE on virgin flights, and since we are travelling with them in November i thought i would give them a ring and see how much it would cost us to upgrade. Fine, i thought, but i was wrong.
I was informed by a very nice man that since i booked my flights through a travel agent on a 'special deal' that these flights are not upgradeable at any time. I am absolutely furious with the travel agents, since i have had disagreements with them since the booking anyway. (i certaintly wont be using them again) I feel that she should have told me at the time of booking that they werent upgradeable. (im not a difficult person to please, honest, i just like to be told the score)
To be honest we possibly wouldnt have been able to afford the upgrade anyway but it would have been nice to have the choice and i want it even more now since i cant have it.
Anyway, rant over, i feel slightly better now lol

 

[wayneg]

Majority of people including myself just want the cheepest option to fly, we have to accept no flexibilty. I was very suprised to read the other thread about the upgrade, I think the total now paid is £1,470 for 3 of them in PE. It is amazingly cheap. But offers do come along for out of school holiday flights.

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
It has always been a mystery to me how people get good deals on "flight only" (unless there happens to be a "sale" at the time) Every time we have been to Florida it has always been better value to book a flydrive through Virgin Holidays (we have our own car hire insurance) plus as mentioned you can upgrade at reasonable cost.

Mick.

 

[lexie32]

Hi,
It has always been a mystery to me how people get good deals on "flight only" (unless there happens to be a "sale" at the time) Every time we have been to Florida it has always been better value to book a flydrive through Virgin Holidays (we have our own car hire insurance) plus as mentioned you can upgrade at reasonable cost.

Mick.

It must be different at different times of the year, i was looking to book a virgin flydrive but it was going to cost me £1875 for 17 nights + compact car and insurance, instead i booked miles + money flights for £860 and will book a separate car ( airline network quoted £318) totalling £ 1178 a saving for me of nearly £700.

Alex

 

[Daysleeper40]

I know you feel like the agent didn't tell you something they should have but if they tried to second guess you and answer all the questions that you didn't actually ask when booking, then you would have all been there a very long time!

Just think if you hadn't read the upgrade posts on here would it ever have entered your mind?

Try not to get too worked up - you still have your seats, you're still going to Florida, thats still something to be happy about

 

[wayneg]

Hi,
It has always been a mystery to me how people get good deals on "flight only" (unless there happens to be a "sale" at the time) Every time we have been to Florida it has always been better value to book a flydrive through Virgin Holidays (we have our own car hire insurance) plus as mentioned you can upgrade at reasonable cost.

Mick.

I have had flydrives same price as flight only but never cheaper.
Just priced up next August flydrive without costing for car £829 each. Most I have ever paid is this August at £533 flight only with M&M (full price was £833).
M&M have saved us a small fortune last few visits.

 

[furballs]

Thanks for all your replys guys, your all right that i should be happy we are going to Florida in the first place, and of course we are Im sorry if i sounded a little hot tempered earlier.
I had just come off the phone to virgin and this only added to other issues that i have with the travel agents ( its a long story).
Thanks for your info AliceGardner I didnt realise that most flights werent automatically upgradedable. I had just read so many threads on here about people doing it that i kindof assumed that everyone could, given availability. Its just as well i didnt take it out on the guy at Virgin i spoke to, otherwise i would be eating a very large slice of humble pie.
Daysleeper, Your totally right in saying that if i hadnt read on here about upgrades it would probably never entered my mind. I think its just the kid inside me, wanting something i cant have lol.
I feel calm and serene now
Ps, sorry i dont know how to do quotes.

 

[Andy Lou & Meg]

Really sorry that you had this problem..but like you said at least you are going.

I also must add my 2 cents worth to this.

As some of you may have read, yesterday I upgraded to PE on my Virgin flight. Well to start with when I booked my flights in April I booked them in the sale and was told they we not flexiable or refundable (fine, no problem). Then yesterday on the off chance I called Virgin direct (Indian Call Centre) to see if I could upgrade. They checked and told me that it was no problem at all (they did not even mention about my original flight being non flexiable etc) I was just told how much the difference was - £370 for 3 of us. Bargain.

Again sorry that you are having problems, I am throwing some pixie dust your way............................

 

[PaulaSB12]

I have had flydrives same price as flight only but never cheaper.
Just priced up next August flydrive without costing for car £829 each. Most I have ever paid is this August at £533 flight only with M&M (full price was £833).
M&M have saved us a small fortune last few visits.

M&M who are they, I am looking for cheap flights for next august.

 

[wayneg]

M&M who are they, I am looking for cheap flights for next august.

Miles and money, Virgins frequent flyer program. Are you flying Virgin this year?

 

[PaulaSB12]

Miles and money, Virgins frequent flyer program. Are you flying Virgin this year?

Yes I should have 26,000 airmiles after this flight.

 

[wayneg]

Yes I should have 26,000 airmiles after this flight.

Cool, you only need 2,000 per person to get a M&M flight. Like I say this Aug it brought price down from £833 to £533. Easter just gone down from £550 to £290 and next Easter down from £809 to £409 (Don't know why so expensive next easter)
Total saving with M&M £3,280 on 3 trips
Only time I got it wrong was LAX last Oct, booked M&M at £375 each (+2,000 miles) tehy then had a sale and brought price down to aroud £350 without my miles.