Velocity Platinum Complimentary Upgrades

[ben95]

No issue to redeem one of my credit for my christmas travel. Checked rewards avaiability, booked the Flex fare and called in and after waiting about 5 minutes on the phone and all processed no drama.

 

[SeaWolf]

Booked a return trip to Melbourne this morning for the end of January. Called up straight away and used my complimentary upgrades with no issues at all.

 

[ThePW]

Likewise, I took a $99 penalty to cancel a Choice fare trans-con to Melbourne, rebooked Flex as the new lower pricing isn't too much more than what I paid for Choice, and could upgrade with a complimentary credit straight afterwards. I thought it was worth it for the fee + the extra SCs I'll get as well.

 

[Chino Y]

Hi all does the benefit apply to the new VA flights to Doha in mid 2025?

 

[oz_mark]

Hi all does the benefit apply to the new VA flights to Doha in mid 2025?

No,
For points upgrade: Terms and Conditions section 8.9

UpgradeMe Points flight upgrades is not available on Virgin Australia flights to Doha (operated by Qatar Airways for Virgin Australia).

For UpgraeMe Platinum Benefit the rules talk about Domestic and Short Haul International. And right at the end of 9.2 it says

• Upgrades are not available on Virgin Australia flights to Doha (operated by Qatar Airways for Virgin Australia)

 

[Chino Y]

No,
For points upgrade: Terms and Conditions section 8.9


For UpgraeMe Platinum Benefit the rules talk about Domestic and Short Haul International. And right at the end of 9.2 it says

Yeah but they are not operated by Qatar, I guess it's not short haul.

 

[jase05]

Yeah but they are not operated by Qatar, I guess it's not short haul.

They are operated by QR though

 

[The-Aviator]

Feeling bad that despite being Platinum for two years I've never thought to use these, just booked a return SYD-PER next year and applied the upgrades without any trouble! I suppose it is still a bit tricky given you need to find J reward availability too but when it lines up it's great value, that's like $800 value each way.

Hopefully bumping this up will help some other WP newbies.

 

[Human]

Feeling bad that despite being Platinum for two years I've never thought to use these, just booked a return SYD-PER next year and applied the upgrades without any trouble! I suppose it is still a bit tricky given you need to find J reward availability too but when it lines up it's great value, that's like $800 value each way.

Hopefully bumping this up will help some other WP newbies.

They can definitely be of benefit on those routes where the Flex fare is substantially lower than the Business fare.

For the short-haul routes such as MEL-SYD, though, it's not a particularly useful benefit because the Flex prices are almost the same as, and sometimes even more expensive than, buying a Business Calss seat outright.

I've been Platinum for a few years now and the only time I've used it was during that promotion when they briefly allowed upgrades from Choice tickets.

Not that I'm complaining: every programme has benefits that are useful to some people but not to others. I'm reasonably happy with the benefits such as Fly Ahead that are very useful on routes such as MEL-SYD but less useful on other routes ... so swings and roundabouts.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

They can definitely be of benefit on those routes where the Flex fare is substantially lower than the Business fare.

For the short-haul routes such as MEL-SYD, though, it's not a particularly useful benefit because the Flex prices are almost the same as, and sometimes even more expensive than, buying a Business Calss seat outright.

I've been Platinum for a few years now and the only time I've used it was during that promotion when they briefly allowed upgrades from Choice tickets.

Not that I'm complaining: every programme has benefits that are useful to some people but not to others. I'm reasonably happy with the benefits such as Fly Ahead that are very useful on routes such as MEL-SYD but less useful on other routes ... so swings and roundabouts.

I bought my SYD-MEL flex fares for $209 and applied the upgrades, so saved $135 per ticket.

Also good value for Bali, saves hundreds of the business tickets.

 

[Scarlett]

I’m using one OOL-DPS next month. Agreed: good value.

 

[Happy Dude]

A surprising but good experience:

I flew CBR-MEL-PER vv recently on flexi fares. Not long before departure, I checked rewards on the outward legs but none available, unsurprisingly. I don't handle rejection well and I'm a realist (see avatar) so I didn't even check rewards for the return leg.

I got paged in the PER lounge which I thought might be related to the east coast disruptions that day. But to my surprise the staff said that she could see that I was on a flexi fare and there were three J seats available and would I like to use one of my complimentary upgrade certificates on one?

Upon boarding, the J cabin was full so assume at least two others had the same fortune. A fine example of personalised customer service going above and beyond and out of the way for a WP. Way to make a customer feel valued VA

 

[MEL_Traveller]

A surprising but good experience:

I flew CBR-MEL-PER vv recently on flexi fares. Not long before departure, I checked rewards on the outward legs but none available, unsurprisingly. I don't handle rejection well and I'm a realist (see avatar) so I didn't even check rewards for the return leg.

I got paged in the PER lounge which I thought might be related to the east coast disruptions that day. But to my surprise the staff said that she could see that I was on a flexi fare and there were three J seats available and would I like to use one of my complimentary upgrade certificates on one?

Upon boarding, the J cabin was full so assume at least two others had the same fortune. A fine example of personalised customer service going above and beyond and out of the way for a WP. Way to make a customer feel valued VA

Nice… but… the cynic in me asks whether the rest of the flight was full, perhaps oversold? And instead of upgrading you for free, they got you to use an upgrade voucher?

 

[Happy Dude]

Nice… but… the cynic in me asks whether the rest of the flight was full, perhaps oversold? And instead of upgrading you for free, they got you to use an upgrade voucher?

hoooo boy that's some next level cynicism there @MEL_Traveller

Been a while since any VA flight I've been on could be described as anything but full, even with my tight-cough preferencing of very early and/or late times, but still entirely possible I was played. Although, I'd prefer it if they made it easier for me to use them rather than when it suits them.

I never fly on flexis and this was only the second time I've used an upgrade, the first being at the end of Covid when you could use them on Choice fares, and this year's allocation was destined for expiry/deletion too.

 

[PERLHR]

Nice… but… the cynic in me asks whether the rest of the flight was full, perhaps oversold? And instead of upgrading you for free, they got you to use an upgrade voucher?

Actually quite likely. PER to MEL always full in biz ...