upgrades for Virgin Platinum Members

[Paddingtontraveller]

My first question on AFF - so let's see how we go! My wife and I have recently been made Virgin Platinum members (I usually fly Qantas). I see that one of the benefits of Platinum membership is four complimentary upgrades from a Flexi fare to a Business Class fare on domestic flights. We are planning to fly from Sydney to Cairns in October - probably leaving on Saturday morning and returning on the Sunday eight days later. I was thinking of booking a flexi fare and applying for a business class upgrade. Does anyone know how likely it is that we would get the upgrade? Is there anything we could do to maximise the likelihood of getting the upgrade e.g. booking for a particular flight, or is that likely to be unnecessary?

 

[bass_ke]

Rule of thumb I use is look for reward seats available in J on the flight you want, unsure if upgrades and reward seats come from the same "stock" but it's always worked for me!

 

[kevrosmith]

Rule of thumb I use is look for reward seats available in J on the flight you want, unsure if upgrades and reward seats come from the same "stock" but it's always worked for me!

Definitely agree. If you search for a Reward seat and they are available, then you are likely to get approved for the upgrade. I've read here of people getting their purchase of the Flexi fare through to the payment stage, then ringing up, asking about the upgrade availability, and then on verbal confirmation, pushing the buy, getting the Booking Reference and then getting the agent on the phone to process the upgrade. That would certainly increase the likelihood of securing the upgrade.

To maximize your Upgrade experience, typically VA1429 (evening SYD-CNS) and VA1408 (early morning CNS-SYD) are E90 aircraft, so the seats are a bit different to B737 aircraft.

 

[ben_caunt]

The platinum desk usually will tell you if upgrade seats are available- I tend to have it up to purchase on my computer, call to see if it's available and if it is then book it and get then to upgrade it all in one go... Works well

 

[jneufeld]

Just to clarify, on VA upgrades are confirmed at time of booking. So once you have confirmed availability you can book the flight then request the upgrade and a new itinerary is issued. There's no wait and see factor.

 

[Deewhy]

Each time I've done it, I've called the plat desk to confirm availability beforehand.

 

[tuapekastar]

Definitely agree. If you search for a Reward seat and they are available, then you are likely to get approved for the upgrade. I've read here of people getting their purchase of the Flexi fare through to the payment stage, then ringing up, asking about the upgrade availability, and then on verbal confirmation, pushing the buy, getting the Booking Reference and then getting the agent on the phone to process the upgrade. That would certainly increase the likelihood of securing the upgrade.

To maximize your Upgrade experience, typically VA1429 (evening SYD-CNS) and VA1408 (early morning CNS-SYD) are E90 aircraft, so the seats are a bit different to B737 aircraft.

Have done exactly this every time. Definitely recommend it.

 

[carwashhair]

Add my voice to those above. Recently booked a CNS-SYD Flexi as SG about 5wks out, with plenty of J award availability. Upgraded with points over the phone while booking online.

 

[Kolo]

What they all said.

 

[Atleastonce]

And even when no upgrades available, they might upgrade your seat(s) on the day at the lounge. Happened to me last week. Phone calls to platinum line for 3 days prior to flight and no availability and requested at lounge on day of flight and they released a seat for me.

 

[Paddingtontraveller]

Thanks for all your help. I've now made my booking and the accompanying upgrade and it all seems to have gone smoothly.