Someone should see this, so should Virgin.

Joined
May 16, 2022
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I recently had a ticket to fly Melb- Sunshine Coast, and since I couldn’t get a business ticket, bought an economy X seat, with a confirmation saying they had set aside a confirmed seat 3A on the first flight, 3C on the return. The night before I flew, they sent me an email asking if I’d like to bid for an upgrade, suggesting $250 as a magic figure, and I confirmed the bid as I had always planned to fly business. That evening, when the “confirm your check-in now”. email came in, I tried to confirm and was told I couldn’t, presumably since my booking was awaiting the result of the upgrade bid. Next morning I received notice that the bid hadn’t worked, but the check in counter said they couldn’t give me 3A (no reason) and gave me 6A. On my return trip - they notified me they had kept my bid for an upgrade and put it onto the return flight, so I let it go - not knowing I would go through the exact same problem on my return. No upgrade success, and seat 3C taken and thus not available.
On this voyage, I did argue a little, saying if they couldn’t give me the upgrade, why did that give them the right to take away my original booking, and the girl responded only by saying that she agreed I had booked Economy X and would give me a refund of $60 to my credit card.

The point is, I will never bid for an upgrade again (surely to the cash detriment of Virgin) and of course, am most upset with Virgin airlines. Seems they really need to take a look into this policy - it is indeed bizarre.
 
I recently had a ticket to fly Melb- Sunshine Coast, and since I couldn’t get a business ticket, bought an economy X seat, with a confirmation saying they had set aside a confirmed seat 3A on the first flight, 3C on the return. The night before I flew, they sent me an email asking if I’d like to bid for an upgrade, suggesting $250 as a magic figure, and I confirmed the bid as I had always planned to fly business. That evening, when the “confirm your check-in now”. email came in, I tried to confirm and was told I couldn’t, presumably since my booking was awaiting the result of the upgrade bid. Next morning I received notice that the bid hadn’t worked, but the check in counter said they couldn’t give me 3A (no reason) and gave me 6A. On my return trip - they notified me they had kept my bid for an upgrade and put it onto the return flight, so I let it go - not knowing I would go through the exact same problem on my return. No upgrade success, and seat 3C taken and thus not available.
On this voyage, I did argue a little, saying if they couldn’t give me the upgrade, why did that give them the right to take away my original booking, and the girl responded only by saying that she agreed I had booked Economy X and would give me a refund of $60 to my credit card.

The point is, I will never bid for an upgrade again (surely to the cash detriment of Virgin) and of course, am most upset with Virgin airlines. Seems they really need to take a look into this policy - it is indeed bizarre.
bizarre indeed, sounds very odd & that something is wrong with what happened, it's usually QF that stooge people in row 4 (their only EcoX equivalent) they've stooged me recently with no reason being 'balancing the plane load'.

Anyhow good you received refund, but gives you little confidence in making a bid to J as you believe you will lose your row 3 seat.
I'm sure it's not a policy, something just went wrong. They should really compensate you more than refund. How about an EcoX redemption for next trip VA.
 
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I recently had a ticket to fly Melb- Sunshine Coast, and since I couldn’t get a business ticket, bought an economy X seat, with a confirmation saying they had set aside a confirmed seat 3A on the first flight, 3C on the return. The night before I flew, they sent me an email asking if I’d like to bid for an upgrade, suggesting $250 as a magic figure, and I confirmed the bid as I had always planned to fly business. That evening, when the “confirm your check-in now”. email came in, I tried to confirm and was told I couldn’t, presumably since my booking was awaiting the result of the upgrade bid. Next morning I received notice that the bid hadn’t worked, but the check in counter said they couldn’t give me 3A (no reason) and gave me 6A. On my return trip - they notified me they had kept my bid for an upgrade and put it onto the return flight, so I let it go - not knowing I would go through the exact same problem on my return. No upgrade success, and seat 3C taken and thus not available.
On this voyage, I did argue a little, saying if they couldn’t give me the upgrade, why did that give them the right to take away my original booking, and the girl responded only by saying that she agreed I had booked Economy X and would give me a refund of $60 to my credit card.

The point is, I will never bid for an upgrade again (surely to the cash detriment of Virgin) and of course, am most upset with Virgin airlines. Seems they really need to take a look into this policy - it is indeed bizarre.
Definitely sounds like something went wrong.

If there are available seats in business the emails inviting to bid for an upgrade is automatic and I assume they are sent to all economy passengers. The upgrades are done via a separate (integrated) platform.

Nothing should change on your original ticket unless you are successful.
 

And if this fails, politely but firmly insist to be elevated to a manager and don’t stop repeating that until it is. It normally ends up in Brisbane then.

The other VA call centres are only trained to a certain point and seem to just block and stonewall when they don’t know next steps.
 
I have been successful in bid upgrades from Economy X to Business class several times, and have always been reimbursed the Economy X fees everything on request, so please get in touch and it should be resolved.
 
I recently had a ticket to fly Melb - Sunshine Coast, ad since business was booked out, I bought an economy X ticket, with a confirmation saying they had set aside seat 3A on the first flight, and seat 3C on the return. The night before I flew, they sent me an email asking if I'd like to bid for an upgrade, suggesting $250 would get me one, so I confirmed the bid as I had always planned to fly business cos of Covid. That evening, when the "confirm you check-in now" email came in, I tried to confirm and was told I couldn't, presumably because my booking was awaiting the result of the upgrade bid, Next morning I received notice that the bid hadn't worked, but the airport check-in said they couldn't give me seat 3A (no reason) and gave me 6A (economy, not economy X). On my return trip - they notified me they had transferred my upgrade bid to my return, so I let it go, not knowing I would go through exactly the same problem again. No upgrade, seat 3C taken and unavailable.
On this voyage, I did argue, saying if they couldn't give me an upgrade, why did that give them the right to take away my original booking . The girl responded only by saying she agreed I had booked Economy X and would refund me $60 on the ground I was flying economy yet again.

The point is, I Weill never bid for an upgrade again (surely to the cash detriment of Virgin) and I am most upset with Virgin Airlines. Seems they really need to take a look into this policy - it is indeed bizarre. Diane Holuigue. Melbourne.

It does seem strange - I recently flew on Virgin where i had seats 3A on both legs. I applied for an upgrade through Upgrade Me and wasn't successful but I retained my original seats.
CMak
 
I have been successful in bid upgrades from Economy X to Business class several times, and have always been reimbursed the Economy X fees everything on request, so please get in touch and it should be resolved.
I wasn't aware you could get the X fee reimbursed on a successful J bid. I've always taken the X fee into consideration when placing my bid.
 
Are they not in the process of changing res platforms? I’ve had a few seat issues recently and the girl on the desk said they are in the process of upgrading systems or something.
 
Having had a few UpgradeMe bids recently, they don't clear until 24 hours before take off, whereas check in commences 48 hours prior.
On both flights where I had a successful upgrade I had checked in at T-48, then was reallocated automatically to a J seat at T-24. Probably would not have had the issue if you'd checked in at T-48.
 
Same for me. Have never lost my Economy X seat when bidding for an upgrade. I wonder if status has any influence. I'm WP and my Econ X should stick no matter, as I'm not buying up into it, and that Econ X seat was my original seat selection.
 

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