UpgradeMe pricing and success

[simmomelb]

I must admit with the B737's I am starting wonder if business class is worth it as oppossed to Row 3. Really being Perth based it makes sense when flying back from East Coast, but more and more when I return home I drive home so the alcohol appeal is gone.

Even using a complimentary upgrade you are looking at spending $200 - $300 more for the flexible flight and just doing that for the purpose of a upgrade I'm starting to question it.

Brisbane to Perth I think makes sense, Sydney to Perth yeah maybe, Melbourne to Perth is a bit hummmm.

Some of the equation I think is the time of the flight. I tend to find mid morning, afternoon flights are fine. But after 8PM from East to West you'll find it pretty much passengers wanting to sleep and less service.

Though it's always the little things ... Wider seats, meal, alcohol, more attentive staff and easier toilet access etc.

Yep, I mean if what matters to you is predominantly leg room, then Row 3 is worth considering - for sure.
You are also first to get served in the economy section if you need to buy something off the cart, and if you are in a window or centre seat, you can usually get up for a toilet run without annoying your neighbours (mostly)

I agree it depends on the time of day also, I do struggle with the sharing of armrests in Econ X still, but it's good to have Econ X as a cheaper option that still has some added comfort for either free (Platinum travellers) or a small price for others

It's great to have something in the middle between Bus Class and Standard Econ.

 

[Leroy87]

Got an upgrade points question for something I've not tried before...

If there's J award availability, can you use points to upgrade to it straight away (or as part of booking even)?

There's a bunch of $79 choice fares for SYD-MEL floating around as part of the summer sale: 10k + $79 is better than the 15.5k + $35 for the J award outright, not to mention clocking some extra segments and the status credits.

Would feel silly taking the cheap fare and then getting stuck on it.

 

[alexczarn]

Got an upgrade points question for something I've not tried before...

If there's J award availability, can you use points to upgrade to it straight away (or as part of booking even)?

There's a bunch of $79 choice fares for SYD-MEL floating around as part of the summer sale: 10k + $79 is better than the 15.5k + $35 for the J award outright, not to mention clocking some extra segments and the status credits.

Would feel silly taking the cheap fare and then getting stuck on it.

instant upgrades are a thing yes
just like the QFF ones

 

[kerfuffle]

instant upgrades are a thing yes
just like the QFF ones

Can confirm. If they're not available because someone already bought two reward seats in J, you'll be waitlisted.

 

[Bagpuss]

Can confirm. If they're not available because someone already bought two reward seats in J, you'll be waitlisted.

The rule of 2 rewards seats in J is long gone. Ex Perth there's a lot of flights with 0, though on the flip side some flights can have a fair few.

 

[Leroy87]

Can confirm. If they're not available because someone already bought two reward seats in J, you'll be waitlisted.

The rule of 2 rewards seats in J is long gone. Ex Perth there's a lot of flights with 0, though on the flip side some flights can have a fair few.

I think it was more suggested by the first comment that if there were two J awards when you started booking but they were gone by the end then you would waitlist instead of upgrading.

And looking through inventory, enough flights seem to begin with 2 J awards that it appears as a de-facto standard, but there certainly blackouts/peak times where they might not load any.

I've occasionally (rarely) seen 3. I don't think I've ever seen 4 on domestic VA.

 

[Maz11]

Im feeling Cranky and probably have no right to, I just didn't think this was a thing. I put in an upgrade bid .. the lowest I could, for my husband & myself Bris to Sydney.
Main reason was I have a bit of lowered immune system as have been dealing with Breast Cancer and thought it was worth a few hundred to remove the extra seat risk of sitting next to someone who is ill.
Jokes on me though I got a Congratulations email and thought thats great ..then I see I am in 1F and he is in 2F. Im presuming these are behind each other ? I already have lounge access so I guess I just paid $300 for the privilege of both of us having someone next to us .
Live and learn wont be doing the upgrade thing again

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Im feeling Cranky and probably have no right to, I just didn't think this was a thing. I put in an upgrade bid .. the lowest I could, for my husband & myself Bris to Sydney.
Main reason was I have a bit of lowered immune system as have been dealing with Breast Cancer and thought it was worth a few hundred to remove the extra seat risk of sitting next to someone who is ill.
Jokes on me though I got a Congratulations email and thought thats great ..then I see I am in 1F and he is in 2F. Im presuming these are behind each other ? I already have lounge access so I guess I just paid $300 for the privilege of both of us having someone next to us .
Live and learn wont be doing the upgrade thing again

You could always call and see whether VA would override the other's seat selection and pop you together. Don't ask, don't get.

 

[twinaisle]

6.4 for upgrades and seat selection.

 

[kerfuffle]

You could always call and see whether VA would override the other's seat selection and pop you together. Don't ask, don't get.

Or maybe ask the person who has your desired seat if they'd be willing to swap seats.

 

[helenaparis]

To date, I've had nothing but pleasant experiences with the VA call centre and have upgraded many flights using UpgradeMe bids.
Responding to an email VA sent recently, I called regarding bids for 2 upcoming flights, one month apart. The first operator I spoke to was very polite, but unable to assist, so she transferred the call to another person.
I am sorry to say that I was on the phone for nearly one hour. I had to repeat my details over and over again to the manager/supervisor, being put on hold several times, and still no resolution and indeed just utter confusion.
In the end I was advised that “I was inside the 25-day cut-off period for modifying my bid”. I said I had never heard of that, and previously been able to modify/cancel my bid with ease in the past until several hours prior to departure. I asked about my later flight which would definitely be outside this mysterious period and got no answer to speak of.

Am I missing something here?

To top it all off, I later checked my seat allocations, economy X, purchased months ago at the time of booking, and to my surprise, no seating was allocated anymore at all, and economy X rows were showing as n/a. So, I phoned VA again and luckily a very capable and helpful operator assisted me and reinstated my economy X seats, without any fuss.

 

[muppet]

MEL-CBR - Min bid of $60 accepted at T-25

 

[kyle]

Has anyone tried to revise their bid lately? I went in to check my bid and all I could see were the names of the two passengers. Nothing else on that screen.

 

[Dan_]

Has anyone tried to revise their bid lately? I went in to check my bid and all I could see were the names of the two passengers. Nothing else on that screen.

Yes I had this issue doing it on mobile. Was ok on desktop.

 

[simmomelb]

Has anyone tried to revise their bid lately? I went in to check my bid and all I could see were the names of the two passengers. Nothing else on that screen.

Your bid is.still there, are you using Chrome on mobile? I changed browsers and could see it fine.
Or as the above person said, open it on a laptop/desktop device and it'll work fine.

 

[kyle]

Your bid is.still there, are you using Chrome on mobile? I changed browsers and could see it fine.
Or as the above person said, open it on a laptop/desktop device and it'll work fine.

I've just tried opening the page on the desktop using both Chrome and Edge. Still just a blank page with only the booking reference and the names of the passengers. Nothing else...

Edit: And if I use the link in the original upgrade request email to "modify or cancel", there's no button to do either, but I can still the bid I submitted.

 

[simmomelb]

I've just tried opening the page on the desktop using both Chrome and Edge. Still just a blank page with only the booking reference and the names of the passengers. Nothing else...

Edit: And if I use the link in the original upgrade request email to "modify or cancel", there's no button to do either, but I can still the bid I submitted.

That's odd. I just put in a bid via the VA app, under 'trips' select the flight, scroll down to 'upgrade to business'.
That should definitely work.

 

[RAM]

I've just tried opening the page on the desktop using both Chrome and Edge. Still just a blank page with only the booking reference and the names of the passengers. Nothing else...

Edit: And if I use the link in the original upgrade request email to "modify or cancel", there's no button to do either, but I can still the bid I submitted.

Do you have any blockers installed? I've found that on some sites they will allow everything to show except the login script (for example).

 

[kyle]

Do you have any blockers installed? I've found that on some sites they will allow everything to show except the login script (for example).

No blockers at all.

Post automatically merged: Dec 30, 2022

That's odd. I just put in a bid via the VA app, under 'trips' select the flight, scroll down to 'upgrade to business'.
That should definitely work.

Have you tried going back in after putting in the bid?

 

[simmomelb]

No blockers at all.

Post automatically merged: Dec 30, 2022

Have you tried going back in after putting in the bid?

I will now and report back shortly.