Upgrade to Business on Velocity Points or is there a better method?

[deangelj]

Hi everyone - my first post. I'm not "up" on all the options on how to get the best deals but here are my requirements - would appreciate any advice..

1. Need return tickets SYD->Perth x 2
2. can fly anytime Mar-June 2014
3. Have 300,000 Altitude points (equals 150000 Velocity points)

Should I buy some cheap tickets when available then use points to upgrade, or should I get the whole fare on points? (roughly about 150000 points for the 2 tickets).

Any other options?

Thanks!

 

[Mogul]

You can only upgrade from flexi tickets so no cheap tickets at $500 each way plus points.

 

[jneufeld]

With Velocity the best value for money seems to be using points for upgrades, but in the last few years the costs of flexi's have sky rocketed. If you can cough up for the flexi fare then upgrade to J with your points you will get a tidy sum of SC's as well as your travel dates fall within the double SC promo period (if you book before the 31st). If you can't afford the flex fare then points plus pay would be your next best option.

 

[jchenb87]

With upgrade you are looking at only 9,900 points per person (so roughly 80k altitude points) - downside is having to stump up $2k cash. The remaining 220k points can be converted to other frequent flyer awards such as SQ or CX (approx 160k for bus return to Asia) or MH (204k for bus return to Europe).

Main advantage with upgrade is you still collect velocity points and SC on the underlying fare - so can get at least 2000 points back each way after the flight. I'm not sure if Velocity has fixed their glitch but when I travelled in July with upgrade, the SCs posted were at business class level instead of full flexi.

 

[markis10]

With upgrade you are looking at only 9,900 points per person (so roughly 80k altitude points) - downside is having to stump up $2k cash. The remaining 220k points can be converted to other frequent flyer awards such as SQ or CX (approx 160k for bus return to Asia) or MH (204k for bus return to Europe).

Main advantage with upgrade is you still collect velocity points and SC on the underlying fare - so can get at least 2000 points back each way after the flight. I'm not sure if Velocity has fixed their glitch but when I travelled in July with upgrade, the SCs posted were at business class level instead of full flexi.

Glitch fixed in sept.

 

[bass_ke]

If you're after max SC's try positioning to OOL and flying OOL - MEL - PER. The flexis to Perth can be had for under $400 out of OOL as well

 

[deangelj]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Several options to look at...

Oh one more thing please. To do the flexi then upgrade, how do I guarantee that I can get an upgrade when I buy the flexi - can you do it in one transaction? Or do you just check for business class seat availability, buy the flexis then hope they are still available when you get the upgrades?

 

[Plutonus]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Several options to look at...

Oh one more thing please. To do the flexi then upgrade, how do I guarantee that I can get an upgrade when I buy the flexi - can you do it in one transaction? Or do you just check for business class seat availability, buy the flexis then hope they are still available when you get the upgrades?

You can see availability by searching for reward seats on their website, Comes out of same bucket.

 

[Gredgy69]

Thanks everyone for your responses. Several options to look at...

Oh one more thing please. To do the flexi then upgrade, how do I guarantee that I can get an upgrade when I buy the flexi - can you do it in one transaction? Or do you just check for business class seat availability, buy the flexis then hope they are still available when you get the upgrades?

Ring the customer service guys whilst doing the flexi booking to confirm whether you can upgrade and they will be able to advise. Then either request the upgrade online or get customer service to do.

 

[williamsf1]

Ring the customer service guys whilst doing the flexi booking to confirm whether you can upgrade and they will be able to advise. Then either request the upgrade online or get customer service to do.

you cannot request a upgrade online... over phone only.

 

[iambents]

Ring the customer service guys whilst doing the flexi booking to confirm whether you can upgrade and they will be able to advise. Then either request the upgrade online or get customer service to do.

Still no guarantee doing it this way either. Has only happened once - but told on phone that one available on return leg of a flight I was booking - but by the time they processed the forward one - the return leg upgrade was no longer available. They were pretty good about it.. offered to move my Flexi to another flight where there was availability.

 

[erkpod]

If you're after max SC's try positioning to OOL and flying OOL - MEL - PER. The flexis to Perth can be had for under $400 out of OOL as well

I upgraded my flexi the other day to J for MEL - PER - MEL. I also had to change the date of the flights (unrelated to the J upgrade). I was sure to warn the lady I spoke to that it was a complicated itinerary. She soon agreed with me after hearing what I'd planned.

 

[kevrosmith]

While not often the best value and won't guarantee an upgrade, there is another option: UpgradeMe Premium Bid.

UpgradeMe Premium Bid | Virgin Australia

Saver Fares are sometimes eligible for these as well.

 

[knightman7]

I just call the VA call centre and make the entire booking over the phone, so they can confirm the upgrade is available, sell me the flexi ticket and then do the upgrade all at once.

 

[serfty]

Doing that would incur an additional service fee would it not?

 

[Gredgy69]

Doing that would incur an additional service fee would it not?

serfty, yes it usually would but if you are having issues with the website (and let's face it, who doesn't?), they usually waive the fee for you. This has happened a couple of times for me recently.

 

[Gredgy69]

Still no guarantee doing it this way either. Has only happened once - but told on phone that one available on return leg of a flight I was booking - but by the time they processed the forward one - the return leg upgrade was no longer available. They were pretty good about it.. offered to move my Flexi to another flight where there was availability.

That's unfortunate. I'd say that there wasn't many upgrades left then. Recently had upgrades for the family to/from Perth done over phone. Took 20 minutes but there was 12 upgrades available as advised by the Rep.

Next time ask the rep how many are available as it will give you an idea how successful you might be. Good luck.

 

[Gredgy69]

If you're after max SC's try positioning to OOL and flying OOL - MEL - PER. The flexis to Perth can be had for under $400 out of OOL as well

You can't get flexi's that cheap now especially from Sydney - $499 to $519 now. It was $449 when I booked in October.

 

[bass_ke]

You can't get flexi's that cheap now especially from Sydney - $499 to $519 now. It was $449 when I booked in October.

I've noticed the outbound from OOL creep up, I did manage to book per-syd-CNS on a flexi for $389 about two weeks ago though!

 

[The man with no name]

While not often the best value and won't guarantee an upgrade, there is another option: UpgradeMe Premium Bid.

UpgradeMe Premium Bid | Virgin Australia

Saver Fares are sometimes eligible for these as well.

I just got confirmation of an upgrade for my MEL - PER flight on Tuesday. The original flight was a saver booked with TRA01 promo code. My bid was $320. I thought I'd have no chance at that price.