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Online quote for taxes, fees, surcharges different from that given by telephone

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  • 20th August 2023 at 14:07
    #529129
    #529129
    Author of the Seas 18 posts

    I recently paid, with money, for LHR to JFK return in Premium Economy (fare code K). I have the option to upgrade with cash or points, or by bidding. I’m most interested in upgrading with points.

    I did a dummy search for the same flight, date and time in relation to the outbound flight (LHR to JFK), using the points option for Upper Class and Premium Economy.

    I noted the difference in points (30,000) and the cash amount in taxes, fees, surcharges, etc. (£230) between Premium and Upper.

    I then contacted Virgin Atlantic by telephone and using the online chat feature. The points quote they gave me matched what I saw online, but the cash component was £90 more (i.e £320).

    Can anyone tell me why there is a difference between the taxes, fees, etc. shown online and the amount quoted by telephone?

    I did notice the fare code shown for Premium online was P rather than the K code I originally paid for, but I thought P was the lowest Premium fare (hence cheaper than K).

    20th August 2023 at 18:38
    #529166
    #529166
    AL 579 posts

    It sounds like you might be used to the BA way of doing things, which doesn’t quite work here. For starters, A, P and G are the buckets used only for points bookings – there are no revenue seats in them. In Premium, W, S, H and K are the fare codes, from high to low, so the lowest revenue bucket is K. The delta between JCDI and WSKH isn’t necessarily accurate, either.

    The Upgrade with Points tab at https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/upgrades-and-extras.html lists the season dates, and the appropriate upgrade charts for each season. Quoted points are per passenger for a return, so to get a one way, simply halve the number of points. 30,000 one way is right, but the current taxes are a whisker over £600 return, so I suspect the £320 is correct, as that’s what I’m about to pay for a similarly-based upgrade (and is in line with what I’ve paid having done this in the past.

    Remember that the YQ may have been recalculated, but I’ve never seen £230 on WSHK to G – usually much more like £320 o/w.

    20th August 2023 at 19:58
    #529173
    #529173
    Author of the Seas 18 posts
    AL wrote:

    It sounds like you might be used to the BA way of doing things, which doesn’t quite work here. For starters, A, P and G are the buckets used only for points bookings – there are no revenue seats in them. In Premium, W, S, H and K are the fare codes, from high to low, so the lowest revenue bucket is K. The delta between JCDI and WSKH isn’t necessarily accurate, either.

    The Upgrade with Points tab at https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/upgrades-and-extras.html lists the season dates, and the appropriate upgrade charts for each season. Quoted points are per passenger for a return, so to get a one way, simply halve the number of points. 30,000 one way is right, but the current taxes are a whisker over £600 return, so I suspect the £320 is correct, as that’s what I’m about to pay for a similarly-based upgrade (and is in line with what I’ve paid having done this in the past.

    Remember that the YQ may have been recalculated, but I’ve never seen £230 on WSHK to G – usually much more like £320 o/w.

    Thank you for the info you provided. I’ve never upgraded before and I travel with Virgin Atlantic more than BA, so I’m new to upgrading either way.

    Yes, I’d checked that link you mentioned, and I understood the points aspect of things in relation to the seasons. I just couldn’t get my head around the taxes, fees & surcharges amount for the reason I mentioned in my original post.

    Considering the fare codes, the £320 figure sounding about right to you (based on your previous experiences) and a check I made of the YQ difference (between Premium & Upper) on the ITA software website a moment ago, I can only presume the agent gave me the correct quote.

    20th August 2023 at 22:40
    #529227
    #529227
    Author of the Seas 18 posts

    @AL This is my third time attempting to submit a reply. The previous two, though submitted, are not showing.

    Thanks for the information you provided. I travel with Virgin Atlantic more than BA, so I’m none the wiser to the BA way of doing things. I’ve never upgraded before, so I’m unfamiliar with all of this in general.

    I’d already seen the link you mentioned, so the points calculation (relative to the seasons) made sense to me from the outset. I just couldn’t get my head around the taxes, fees & surcharges difference for the reason I mentioned in my original post.

    Since the £320 sounds right to you (based on your experience with Virgin upgrades) and a check I made on the ITA matrix website shows the YQ to be £320, and taking into account the different fare codes for each cabin, I can only presume £320 is correct.

    21st August 2023 at 09:00
    #529265
    #529265
    AL 579 posts

    I think some responses go in to a moderation queue, based on some criteria, for Rob, Rhys, Sinead et al. to approve. That might be why they didn’t appear. Experience (and a call last night where I asked the question whilst talking about something else) confirms taxes approximately r/t per person:

    Y to P – £200
    P to G – £640

    To jump from Y to G, you pay the total of both (so £840 approx.). The best route is Economy Classic (which is the lowest revenue Y that can be upgraded) to G, to save unnecessary Y cost. You need availability in all reward buckets above your current bucket in order for the upgrade to succeed (e.g. 0 G, 1 P with a Y revenue fare would let you upgrade, at most, to P).

    21st August 2023 at 12:22
    #529344
    #529344
    Author of the Seas 18 posts

    @AL I can see now that the first attempted response (where I quoted your response) finally went through. Funny that the last one I attempted showed immediately.

    Thanks for the additional information you provided.

    Yes, I’m aware of the need for available reward seats in all reward buckets above that which I booked.

    In my case, it would be an upgrade from my original booking of Premium Economy K to Upper Class G. (I’d booked Premium because it wasn’t that much more than Economy Classic at the time; in fact, Premium was less than £60 more than Economy Delight.)

    21st August 2023 at 13:40
    #529362
    #529362
    AL 579 posts
    Author of the Seas wrote:

    In my case, it would be an upgrade from my original booking of Premium Economy K to Upper Class G. (I’d booked Premium because it wasn’t that much more than Economy Classic at the time; in fact, Premium was less than £60 more than Economy Delight.)

    Good effort!

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