Travel Question: How to apply for a cheeky upgrade?

Q We are flying from Heathrow to Sydney in November. When would be the best time to apply for and upgrade to premium economy?

Michael H

A Premium economy offers more legroom than economy class (typically an extra seven inches) and more elbow room, often with extra touches such as separate check-in and pre-flight champagne. So first calculate how much it is worth to you.

For a journey of around 24 hours, I would pay an extra £200 for premium economy – though I imagine the airline will be planning on something closer to £500.

See if you get offered anything particularly tempting between now and then, otherwise wait until the airport. Very often there will be an “on-the-day” offer which is a lot less than the amount you would pay in advance.

Bear in mind that flying from a UK airport in anything other than basic economy doubles your liability for Air Passenger Duty (APD), so you would be paying an extra £78 to the chancellor for the privilege. So you might want to consider travelling out in economy, back in premium economy (which, in my experience, is when the benefit is most appreciated).

Finally, there is a chance that some free upgrades to premium economy are around, which of course is the best solution – and there is no extra APD to pay. They will tend to be offered to members of a frequent flying programme, even if you are not a very frequent flyer, especially if you have paid one of the higher economy fares. It also helps to be travelling alone. This combination of circumstances benefitted me last year, for which I was duly grateful – even though it was only for a four-hour flight from Moscow to London.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder