Going to Antigua in 2 weeks, is it worth Upgrading?

goldendonna

I am going to Antigua on 10th Dec from Gatwick with Virgin, I currently have economy seats and am thinking of ugrading to Premium economy, does anyonee know if its worth upgrading and haggling a price at check in, and if so how much for?
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated!

Donna,x

barney2201

If you give me your dates I can tell you how many seats are left in the PE section. You can then judge for yourself if you want to book in advance or on the day at the ticket desk.

It is worth it.... I have done Virgin both PE and Upper on the Barbados route and yes the PE is a good service but don't expect anything like business class (upper). If you are going to book in advance and it's a 747 try and get PE in the up stairs section (the bubble), the spacing is much better 2+2 if I remeber rightly and more attentive service.

goldendonna

Hi, my dates are 10th december from gatwick at 9.25am
coming back on 18th December
Many thanks
X

barney2201

[KVS Availability Tool 3.3.1/Lite - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]
LGW London Gatwick UK [EGKK]
ANU Antigua VC Bird Int'l AG [TAPA]
WED 10 Dec 2008
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability

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VS 33 LGW 09:25 ANU 14:05 744 0 J0 D0 R0 Z0 S7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q7 X7 N7 0 0


[KVS Availability Tool 3.3.1/Lite - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]
ANU Antigua VC Bird Int'l AG [TAPA]
LGW London Gatwick UK [EGKK]
THU 18 Dec 2008
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability

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-> VS 70 KIN 17:15 LGW 06:55 +1 744 0 J5 D5 R5 Z5 S7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q7 X7 N7 0 0


Premium Economy
H K W S

So there is 7 seats both out and return in PE available, it also looks like you fly direct to Antigua on the way there but fly via Kingston, Jamaica on the way back. This service should have the larger 58 seat PE section so only 7 seats left is not a hige amount. If you are going to wait until you get to the airport I would reccomend you get there early.

GH

barney2201 wrote: »

[KVS Availability Tool 3.3.1/Lite - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]
LGW London Gatwick UK [EGKK]
ANU Antigua VC Bird Int'l AG [TAPA]
WED 10 Dec 2008
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability

---

---

----

---

----

---

---- ----

---

VS 33 LGW 09:25 ANU 14:05 744 0 J0 D0 R0 Z0 S7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q7 X7 N7 0 0


[KVS Availability Tool 3.3.1/Lite - Apollo: ITN/US-ARL]
ANU Antigua VC Bird Int'l AG [TAPA]
LGW London Gatwick UK [EGKK]
THU 18 Dec 2008
Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability

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---

----

---

----

---

---- ----

---

-> VS 70 KIN 17:15 LGW 06:55 +1 744 0 J5 D5 R5 Z5 S7 Y7 B7 L7 M7 Q7 X7 N7 0 0


Premium Economy
H K W S

So there is 7 seats both out and return in PE available, it also looks like you fly direct to Antigua on the way there but fly via Kingston, Jamaica on the way back. This service should have the larger 58 seat PE section so only 7 seats left is not a hige amount. If you are going to wait until you get to the airport I would reccomend you get there early.

barney , do you know the typical (if there is one) cost of upgrading from Econ tp PE and from PE to UC on the day of travel?

freebiequennie

think its £195 per person each way to upgrade to PE.

we flew economy class to st lucia 2 yrs ago and had plenty of room as flight was half empty.

soolin

I'm going to Dominican Republic on the 11th and have paid £200 to upgrade our seats (not with Virgin though) . We always go away long haul at about this time and always upgrade and it is very rare that there are more than a couple of seats free on any trip.

My DH would not fly without the upgrade and it is worth the money to give him a bit of leg room and stop him panicking with claustrophobia in economy. The little extras are nice, they usually give warm scones and such like part way through the flight (no good for me alas as I am a coeliac), and of course all the drink, including bottles of water is free.

Aidenr

Hi I have just checked the Internal flight loads as I am crew fro Virgin

On the dates and flight number added above there are over 20 seats in PE on the way over and coming back from kingston there is in XS of 30 seats.

Virgin DO fly direct to and from St. Lucia from both Gatwick and Manchester (seasonal from this airport) and not via Jamaica unless due to operation reasons, which IMO is very rare!

I work in PE most of the time and am very proud of the product. As someone has already said, try and sit on the upper deck as the aircraft will be a 747. you will have 2 dedicated crew members looking after and a lot of people often comment that it is like being on your own private plane!
Meal services are delivered on china dinner ware and the PE service is more centered around the little extras like after dinner Baileys and Brandy, fruit being available throughtout the flight amongst many others things, oh and of course a bigger seat.

In relation to upgrades, I have no idea if you are able to " haggle " with the ground staff - VS do have fixed rates so i would imagine it unlikley

You are able to upgrade on the aircraft, but there is again a fixed price of around £300 from Economy to Premium and £1300 from Economy to Upper Class ( Please note that these are guideline prices and may vary )

The only thing I would say regarding PE seating is that to be aware that there are 16 PE seats on the main deck and always check where you will be seated prior to purchase to avoid disapointment if you had your heart set on the upper deck. You get the same service and seat but it does not "FEEL" as spacious

any other questions or if you would like to give me your exact flight numbers/dates I will look again at the availability

A

Daveg

GH wrote: »

barney , do you know the typical (if there is one) cost of upgrading from Econ tp PE and from PE to UC on the day of travel?

Hi Barney, we are travelling to Antigua next Staurday the 31st on the 9.25am VS 33 flight in P/E Any tips or advice Thanks Dave

Daveg

Hi Barney We are flying next week on the above flifgt in PE can you give me any tips or advice Cheers Dave

Endora_2

My hubby and I will be flying out to Antigua on Sat 21st Feb 09 at 0925hrs flight number VS033 for a weeks' holiday/belated honeymoon and also to celebrate our 25th (Silver) Wedding anniversary. We have already booked PE seats but, as we have not had a "proper" holiday for the past 13 years would like the experience to be a memorable one what with it being a special occasion and all. We are hoping to use the on-line check-in 24 hours before the flight, I take it we will be able to pre-book our seats then too as we obviously would like to be seated together and have the most pleasurable experience of this airline as possible. Any tips on how we can ensure we get the best possible service on this flight? Was also wondering how we pre-book the return seats if we cannot get access to a computer whilst on our holiday, I assume we can only do this 24hrs before the return flight (Sat 28th Feb 09 at 1730hrs(local Antigua time)? :A Also the reason we ended up booking the PE seats is that my hubby is 6ft 1" tall and of big build and I am 5ft 9" tall (with very long legs) so we thought we would benefit with extra leg and seat width room.