Points upgrade from paid Economy

[Reise]

Planning a holiday flight CNS-SYD-AUH-DUB in about 10 weeks time and returning a few weeks later from ex Rome (FCU). I havefruitlessly been searching high and low for a few answers - hopefully someone willbe able to help me or point me in the right direction.

My partner (we're both Gold) is joiningme in SYD and we would like to secure an upgrade to business class forboth of us. We don't have enough points to buy reward seats outright and so would like to do it on pay plus points. What's the best way of approaching this, i.e. how can I be assured of an upgrade before I buy the economy tickets?

 

[Pushka]

Planning a holiday flight CNS-SYD-AUH-DUB in about 10 weeks time and returning a few weeks later from ex Rome (FCU). I havefruitlessly been searching high and low for a few answers - hopefully someone willbe able to help me or point me in the right direction.

My partner (we're both Gold) is joiningme in SYD and we would like to secure an upgrade to business class forboth of us. We don't have enough points to buy reward seats outright and so would like to do it on pay plus points. What's the best way of approaching this, i.e. how can I be assured of an upgrade before I buy the economy tickets?

You cant be assured of an upgrade through points. You could use points plus pay but mostly those arrangements are not good at all in terms of value.
EDIT: that is the way Qantas works - didnt realise you were on the Virgin Board. Ignore.

 

[flying_double]

As a gold member, to be assured of an upgrade for a long haul international flight, there needs to be upgrade availbility when you request it and you need to hold a flexi economy fare (or premium economy). You can check for this availibility online or speak with the call centre before you book the ticket.

You can only use points to upgrade VA operated flights (ie Etihad flights are not eligible). VA's flights between Sydney and Abu Dhabi will be suspended from 7 April 2016 until 25 July 2016 however as part of the B777 upgrade, so your travel dates (in about 10 weeks) might fall within this period.

 

[deva22]

Have you already purchased the tickets?
If not you could go for the top up option to get to enough points to book reward seats?

 

[Reise]

As a gold member, to be assured of an upgrade for a long haul international flight, there needs to be upgrade availbility when you request it and you need to hold a flexi economy fare (or premium economy). You can check for this availibility online or speak with the call centre before you book the ticket.

You can only use points to upgrade VA operated flights (ie Etihad flights are not eligible). VA's flights between Sydney and Abu Dhabi will be suspended from 7 April 2016 until 25 July 2016 however as part of the B777 upgrade, so your travel dates (in about 10 weeks) might fall within this period.

thanks flying_double looks like I'll check with the call centre. re: the SYD-AUH suspension ... i was looking on line and they were taking bookings for my dates so fingers crossed.

 

[Reise]

Have you already purchased the tickets?
If not you could go for the top up option to get to enough points to book reward seats?

not bought yet deva22 -will have a look but last time this seemed an expensive option but maybe it's time to look again.

 

[Ausbt]

I've done a lot of Y Flexi SYD-AUH-LHRs and at circa $2,800-$3,200 return, I think adding 90K points to get to J (SYD-AUH and AUH-SYD) legs-only is good value. You should be able to say Flexi outbound and Saver back, so if you only want to aim for 2 x pax upgrading SYD-AUH, you'll need 90K points. If you have 72K points accrued, you should be able to buy the top-up to 90.

However, with VA1 & VA2 'off-duty' for refirb right now, I'll be doing the lot in Y this Friday. I'll need a few drinks to cope, I'd say.

Edit: Sorry, I mean VA29/30 on that route. Let's face it: they are all off-duty right now, I suppose. We will all have to wait for our points upgrades but I'm sure "The Business" will be worth it.