Virgin and Status

[Pom-DownUnder]

Thinking the answer to his might be obvious but if I could just get it confirmed / denied?

I am a point hoarder / infrequent flier, essentially take a trip to UK every 18 months or so and make sure I get enough to do it in business, I used to do this with just Qantas points, and lived on the mantra of qantas points not qantas metal, essentially I believe if i book a reward seat on a qantas flight i'm probably going to get bumped down a class by someone with more frequent travel / any level of status above my entry level.

Since EK went crazy with taxes ive been using Velocity a bit more the last couple of years, but have never taken a Virgin flight, am I right in assuming that I would be in just as likely to get bumped down a class if I use virgin metal?

 

[bcworld]

Why worry about a tiny chance of being downgraded? If you find business class availability, just book it.

 

[drron]

Even when I had red status with Virgin I could get premium cabin awards on the day they were released. Can't do that with QF points if you have no status.
If you are flying in a premium cabin you would only have a slight chance of being downgraded on each airline.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thinking the answer to his might be obvious but if I could just get it confirmed / denied?

I am a point hoarder / infrequent flier, essentially take a trip to UK every 18 months or so and make sure I get enough to do it in business, I used to do this with just Qantas points, and lived on the mantra of qantas points not qantas metal, essentially I believe if i book a reward seat on a qantas flight i'm probably going to get bumped down a class by someone with more frequent travel / any level of status above my entry level.

Since EK went crazy with taxes ive been using Velocity a bit more the last couple of years, but have never taken a Virgin flight, am I right in assuming that I would be in just as likely to get bumped down a class if I use virgin metal?

As others have mentioned it’s an incorrect assumption, both on Qantas, VA and their respective partners.

Getting bumped is potentially more likely on domestic flights where pilots or other crew are on duty travel, with confirmed business class seating. This can displace fare paying pax.

It’s less likely to occur on long haul flights with large numbers of business class seats.

There’s always a chance you’re gonna get bumped, but an award ticket in and of itself if not the determining factor.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

As others have mentioned it’s an incorrect assumption, both on Qantas, VA and their respective partners.

Getting bumped is potentially more likely on domestic flights where pilots or other crew are on duty travel, with confirmed business class seating. This can displace fare paying pax.

It’s less likely to occur on long haul flights with large numbers of business class seats.

There’s always a chance you’re gonna get bumped, but an award ticket in and of itself if not the determining factor.

never saw the award seat as the issue I see being bronze as the issue but from the replies perhaps i've been worried about nothing, the people replying are low status too ?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

never saw the award seat as the issue I see being bronze as the issue but from the replies perhaps i've been worried about nothing, the people replying are low status too ?

It would be widely reported if the bumping of low-tier members was common.

 

[SCM]

There is no VA metal going to UK, you'd be flying QR or SQ. I have never been bumped going to Europe, never heard of such a thing happening.

 

[fletty]

Even if you were bumped, you could request the next available flight in the cabin you booked rather than having to accept the downgrade.

 

[Pom-DownUnder]

Seems like its rarer than I thought, have seen a few posts highlighting status / reward seats tho, a few:

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Seems like its rarer than I thought, have seen a few posts highlighting status / reward seats tho, a few:

And that includes platinums!

But thy was from back in 2024, i don’t recall any recent reports?