Bonus Confirmed Complimentary Upgrade

[drewbles]

24th december chrrisy eve

V. Interesting. EF is only showing the NZ code share on the 1700, yet the VA website is selling seats on the 382 code. It's possible there's something strange there.

Any reason you can't take any of the directs TSV-SYD? They're showing J7 most the day...

 

[dkmajm]

business owner, retail, christmas eve!!!

 

[froggerADL]

TSV to SYD thru BNE DJ382/DJ992, dont have an expertflyer login

There are 4 seats available for upgrade only on the direct flight DJ1518 on 24/12. None of the via BNE flights have 4 seats, they all have 2 seats available for upgrade. You can check availability by doing a dummy reward booking, but only if you have enough points.

Indirect connecting flights only use 1 upgrade, whether it's points or comps, e.g. DRW-PER-SYD-ADL uses only one comp upgrade.

 

[dkmajm]

they wouldnt let me comp-up 5 or 4 or 3 or 2 or 1!!!, yeah direct would be great but too early christmas eve need to work and get away for a 5pm flight

 

[froggerADL]

they wouldnt let me comp-up 5 or 4 or 3 or 2 or 1!!!, yeah direct would be great but too early christmas eve need to work and get away for a 5pm flight

I think you have to upgrade everyone on the same PNR, which may be why they won't upgrade 2 PAX. I could be wrong though. You could try asking them to split the booking into two PNRs with two PAX on each and then upgrade one PNR. I hope that makes sense!

 

[vantage03]

You have 4 comp upgrades. Depending on the tickets this could translate to 4 upgrades on 2 separate flights (equals 8, as you say) - but usually only 4. But the key is having the appropriate inventory available, just because there are 'available' or 'empty' seats in business does not necessarily mean they are available to use for the comp upgrades. It may be too late in this instance, but when wanting to use comp upgrades I always make the booking online up until the last step then ring the velocity number and ask if the upgrades are available on those flights and can they process them for me on the spot. If they say yes, I then 'pull the trigger' on the booking (while the agent is still on the phone), give them the reference number and they process the upgrades.

I have had the same experience calling to upgrade two fares on the same PNR into an empty Business class. The lady on the Plat desk, while friendly, said that I could only upgrade one passenger (even though I had my 4 annual "confirmed" upgrades available + my bonus one) because there was only one upgrade inventory available. (SYD-HTI fyi)

I am sure last year I was able to use my four upgrades on ANY J-class seat that was available for sale. This is where Virgin just don't get it. They have either changed the rules, or have staff in desperate need of training. I really want to love Virgin and they have done so much with their Velocity programme, but it keeps falling short and each frustration undoes the good work they have done.

 

[oz_mark]

I am sure last year I was able to use my four upgrades on ANY J-class seat that was available for sale. This is where Virgin just don't get it. They have either changed the rules, or have staff in desperate need of training. I really want to love Virgin and they have done so much with their Velocity programme, but it keeps falling short and each frustration undoes the good work they have done.

They may have tightened the rules (or started enforcing one)

13.18 Complimentary Fare Upgrades are subject to the availability of seats assigned for upgrades by Virgin Australia. Some flights may have no upgrades available.

 

[JohnK]

They may have tightened the rules (or started enforcing one)

This has been the case for at least the past 4 months.

One of the practices mentioned was to check availability first from the Velocity call centre and then book the flights.

 

[hammo81]

Do you still earn velocity points on bonus confirmed complimentary upgrades i am thinking earning points on fare booked, but read that no points earned on complimentry upgrades. Can someone clarify?

 

[robbie1984]

Do you still earn velocity points on bonus confirmed complimentary upgrades i am thinking earning points on fare booked, but read that no points earned on complimentry upgrades. Can someone clarify?

you earn points and SC's on the flexi fare booked at the Y earn rate and not the J fare upgraded to... have used points and the comp upgrades many times and this was how it showed in my account.

 

[kevrosmith]

I find the easiest way to know if an upgrade is available is to do an Award search for the route and date first. If seats show up in the Reward/Award section - not the any seat section - then I book the Flexi fare and ring up straight away. Seems to work the same if searching for 2 or more seats too.

 

[serfty]

I find the easiest way to know if an upgrade is available is to do an Award search for the route and date first. If seats show up in the Reward/Award section - not the any seat section - then I book the Flexi fare and ring up straight away. Seems to work the same if searching for 2 or more seats too.

That's a good short cut - currently "award business" is H class and the "upgrade to business" class is Q.

More here:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ades-to-virgin-business-39879.html#post624481

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-booking-codes-for-dj-35665-4.html#post664941

http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../complimentary-upgrades-41689.html#post652674

 

[ms1]

Do the upgrades get deducted from velocity accounts after the sector has been flown? I used my bonus confirmed comp upgrade last week for a flight for next week however it is still showing as available in my account.

 

[Fruitcake]

Do the upgrades get deducted from velocity accounts after the sector has been flown? I used my bonus confirmed comp upgrade last week for a flight for next week however it is still showing as available in my account.

In my experience they disappear the instant they are booked. Check your platinum upgrade counter, it might be one less than you were expecting .

 

[ms1]

In my experience they disappear the instant they are booked. Check your platinum upgrade counter, it might be one less than you were expecting .

Well funny you mention that.. the agent at the plat help desk went out of her way to find out which of my bonus comp upgrade or my 4 plat upgrades expire first. She said she would use the bonus upgrade as that one expired first. But alas, I've still got 1 bonus upgrade and 4 plat upgrades available.

 

[Fruitcake]

But alas, I've still got 1 bonus upgrade and 4 plat upgrades available.

You might have encountered a glitch in the matrix!

 

[TirEoghain]

Don't be complaining about that!

Happened me a few times when I upgraded using points. They upgrade me, and then forget to take the points off me.

One time they just took the points for one sector of a return trip. It was a half points promotion too, so it worked out at quarter points. SYD > PER and back upgraded for 4950

Oh, and I just hit WP yesterday after flying 69 eligible sectors and 990 SCs.

 

[ms1]

I tried to upgrade a PER-SYD leg today using one of my plat comp upgrades. Was told all business seats are sold out. I told them business seats are still being sold on VA.com. Was then told the upgrade allocated seats are gone and only full prices seats are available. They told me if there are still business class seats for sale within 14 days of the flight they'll happily let me use one of my comp upgrades.

 

[globalFF]

If you are all on the same ticket it can be used for everyone.

Does this mean I cannot use it for a family member that is not traveling with me?

 

[straitman]

Does this mean I cannot use it for a family member that is not traveling with me?

That is my understanding though I'm happy to be corrected.