Purchasing a PE upgrade

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Hi
I'm thinking about upgrading to PE for the return leg of our Nov/ Dec trip. Can I upgrade if I do OLCI in Florida or would I have to wait until I got to the gate?
We travel back on Sat 5th Dec and I'm hoping the flight is not going to be that full.

You checkin online then look at upgrading at the airport/downtown Disney.
All three flights are showing "9's" in PE (though UC is all gone on all three) so you should be able to, for around £199 each

 

[Netty]

I just wanted to ask this obi, and I thinkI already know the answer! can you do olci in florida and then use dtd to dump the cases?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

I just wanted to ask this obi, and I thinkI already know the answer! can you do olci in florida and then use dtd to dump the cases?

Yes.
We actually use all three.
we checkin online, then get rid of all but one bag at DTD, and then when at the airport get rid of the final bag which we put the car seat into.

 

[s.and.s]

Thank you, i thought that might be the casenever mind i know for next time. thank you

Hi

Another way to keep air miles alive is with a Virgin Atlantic credit card. The air-mile expiry date is 3 years after the last activity so each time you use the card it pushes the expiry date to 3 years hence (plus earning air-miles on purchases and a first use bonus).

Cheers

 

[Netty]

Yes.
We actually use all three.
we checkin online, then get rid of all but one bag at DTD, and then when at the airport get rid of the final bag which we put the car seat into.

well that wasn't the answer I thought it would be!! so I can do olci and dump cases-woohoooo!!
do i need a printout of olci?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

well that wasn't the answer I thought it would be!! so I can do olci and dump cases-woohoooo!!
do i need a printout of olci?

Nope ;-)

 

[Netty]

Nope ;-)

brill! thankyou Obi

 

[TCO]

Sorry to bump this thread but i thought it wiser than creating a new one.

We don't go to Orlando till September 2010 but having just paid it off 10 months earlier than expected we were thinking of upgrading.

However I wasnt sure whether to pay for an upgrade now £645 for two of us one way or risk it and try and get them cheap at the airport.

In March we upgraded at the airport for about £150 each and got amazing seats, row 75 next to the emergency exit in the bubble.

We fly on the 21st September 2010 which is a tuesday out of term time so i was thinking the plane possibly wouldn't be full.

Ah decisions decisions, also if I convince the wife that we should be able to upgrade at the airport she may let me book an extra 4 nights

Sorry to do this but does anyone have any advice or opinions on this?

 

[tony64]

You checkin online then look at upgrading at the airport/downtown Disney.
All three flights are showing "9's" in PE (though UC is all gone on all three) so you should be able to, for around £199 each

Cheers Obi

 

[pumpkin mom]

thanks for posting re upgrades and miles etc. Both husband and self have over 44,000 miles each! always book package holiday through virgin holidays and so never know if I can use these for upgrade. have to travel in school holidays with 11 year old. have not booked next year yet. any advice would be great.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

thanks for posting re upgrades and miles etc. Both husband and self have over 44,000 miles each! always book package holiday through virgin holidays and so never know if I can use these for upgrade. have to travel in school holidays with 11 year old. have not booked next year yet. any advice would be great.

You cannot use Virgin Atlantic miles for Virgin holiday flights, as they are seperate companies.
However you can upgrade at the airport if seats are available.

School holidays are always difficult to get either miles plus money or miles upgrades in as the demand for seats is high, so no need for discounts.

What i would suggest you do is the following:

see how much a VH fly drive cost is for your dates, thats you base line cost

Check how much flights are on:
Virgin Atlantic
Continental
web sites for your dates

Plus BA for an alternative pricing. If you have no problems flying indirect, check out the American carriers Uk websites as well. Keep checking to get a feel of how the prices are going (up or down)

Check every day to see if Miles Plus money tickets come up on the Virgin Atlantic website for your dates

Then decide from the information above what is the best time to go for the flights.
THEN DON'T LOOK AT PRICES AFTERWARDS! if you are happy with the price, don't beat yourself up if it comes down a little.

car hire you can do at anytime
many on here can give you the best way to book hotels/villas etc.

 

[scarletlancer]

My wife and I are both flying club members, if between us we have enough points to pay for one seat can we combine our points to do this?

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

My wife and I are both flying club members, if between us we have enough points to pay for one seat can we combine our points to do this?

they are seperate accounts so not possible, however I have used my miles to buy my lad his seat, but not mine and the wifes.

 

[Cinderella]

My wife and I are both flying club members, if between us we have enough points to pay for one seat can we combine our points to do this?

This is possible - we did it last year with Virgin. We called up and they transferred my husband's points to my account and booked the trip all in one transaction.

 

[JoJo1980]

I'm starting to really panic about our upcoming flight this december

We've flown with virgin twice in PE - September 05 & 08. Just over a week ago we booked our economy flight for the 27th November from Manchester to MCO. When I went to choose the seats after booking there were no seats together Its just my husband and I but I am a very nervous flyer and dont want to fly unless I can be sat with him. I've also read horror stories about economy seats and am now really stressing out and dont know whether i'll have a total melt down on the day and wont fly

Does anyone have any photos of what the economy seats look like? Do you think if I check-in online the night before that some more seats will come available so we can sit together? If there are spare seats in PE or UC at check-in how much do they tend to cost? We used our points to get a bit of a discount on the economy price.

Thanks for any help anyone can give!!!

 

[Laurafoster]

This is possible - we did it last year with Virgin. We called up and they transferred my husband's points to my account and booked the trip all in one transaction.

Thats interesting as we were told we could not do this.

When i booked miles only flights a while ago i was told you could use miles from other peoples accounts but you could only pay for either one way or a full return flight - not just an odd 5000 miles.

E.G the reward flights were 40,000 miles, i had 67,000 but DH only had 38,000. I could not give him the 2000 miles but i could pay for 1 leg of the journey at 20,000 miles.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

My question is re sitting together as well.

When we go on normal foreign holidays (layin the sun) due to my severe fear of flying I pay for us to sit together and know where I am sitting.

With virgin can you pay to do this when you book? As I know alot say they do their seat booking on line just before fly.

I do not worry re paying for this, as it is peace of mind.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

There are some pictures here
http://www.airliners.net/search/pho...rder=datestamp+desc&page_limit=15&thumbnails=

If you are on the VS75 on 27th November Economy is quite full. the 40% held back have been released, there are no seats showing currently next to each other but a few one behind the other.

PE is showing available 3 upstairs (2 next to each other) and 7 downstairs. (though again, this does not show availability upstairs for the blocked VH seats so more upstairs may be available)

Is there any reason you chose teh frriday, as the saturday flight is very much open with not many passengers on it at all!

UC has only 2 people in it.

Yes, IF they have not been taken by disabled families, rows 21 to 29 will become available for OLCI at 24 hours before your flight, plus the extra legroom seats and emergency exit seats will become available at Twilight checkin for £30

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

My question is re sitting together as well.

When we go on normal foreign holidays (layin the sun) due to my severe fear of flying I pay for us to sit together and know where I am sitting.

With virgin can you pay to do this when you book? As I know alot say they do their seat booking on line just before fly.

I do not worry re paying for this, as it is peace of mind.

No.
You can pre request seats together but it is only a request.
Of course each class of cabin is different
You have more chance of keeping your seats in UC & PE than you do in economy and the probability of being moved in economy is higher if the flight is full, as they do have to accommodate families with children seated together.

you can contact Virgins special assistance and explain your problem and see if they can help. However an irrational fear of flying will come lower than disabled families etc, but its worth a try.

What are your flight details? I can have a look and see how full the flight is going to be (ATM of course...)

 

[kevin harrison]

Yes, IF they have not been taken by disabled families, rows 21 to 29 will become available for OLCI at 24 hours before your flight, plus the extra legroom seats and emergency exit seats will become available at Twilight checkin for £30

Hi Obi, we have requested special seats for my autistic son, who also has additional needs, what are these seats like? Space, quietness etc?

We have told VA that we need extra space due to him needing a feeding pump, and if he starts getting stressed, was wondering about the extra space we may get and if it is worth upgrading as that's an extra expense I can do without at the moment.

VA also told me the request I have made can't be guaranteed, which was a different story to when I paid!!