Outright Business Reward Vs. Economy Purchase and Upgrade

[joejs90]

Hi All,

Just wanted to get some opinions on an upcoming trip to Bali in December, for Christmas. The plan is to leave on the 22nd from SYD to DPS (flights just released a few day ago) and return 1st Jan.

So far I figure these are my options:

1. Wait until reward seats become available and nab them outright with points. I checked the day the flights were released and there was no reward options, I'm guessing I need to check back every day for these?

2. Purchase economy tickets and then upgrade to J by an upgrade request. My question here is, if reward seats haven't been released I wont be able to upgrade? Or are these not the same thing?

At the minute I'm holding out to buy because I figure that we will save money buying a return trip all at once (22nd December and 1st Jan) rather than separately as they are released (Jan 1 tickets arent available yet).

Thanks

Joe

 

[jazza1971]

I was of the understanding that the upgrade & reward seats are in the same fare bucket so if you cant get reward seats you wont be able to get the instantly approved upgrade, but who knows how the black magic works with VA!

 

[joejs90]

I was of the understanding that the upgrade & reward seats are in the same fare bucket so if you cant get reward seats you wont be able to get the instantly approved upgrade, but who knows how the black magic works with VA!

Thanks Jazza, I assumed this was the case. Would you know if I submitted an upgrade request and a reward seat became available, would it automatically be allocated to me?

100% agree on the black magic.

 

[jazza1971]

I assume if you wait list for a points upgrade, it's processed by status...but that's me just taking a guess

 

[serfty]

I am not sure how Velocity wait lists are processed, when nor by whom/what.

Certainly the same fare bucket (Z) as for award redemptions.

Generally if you can book a VA business award flight online then you can also upgrade on it if within the rules.

 

[bullerdude]

The wait lists generally aren't processed till a few days before the flights, so if reward seats appear online earlier you would want to jump online and get them.

But if no reward seats appear at all the the waitlist is a good option as VA can sometimes open up extra seats for the waitlist depending on loads.

 

[joejs90]

The wait lists generally aren't processed till a few days before the flights, so if reward seats appear online earlier you would want to jump online and get them.

But if no reward seats appear at all the the waitlist is a good option as VA can sometimes open up extra seats for the waitlist depending on loads.

Thanks bullerdude, Im much less nervous than i was about the whole thing. I have been looking at tonnes of other dates for the same trip and can see a few patterns. Now just to wait until the seats get released.

Thanks again.

 

[Purkulator]

If you have more than 1 passenger would it be almost impossible to get upgrades for everyone?