Virgin Australia UpgradeMe pricing and success

[clare1991]

$200 bid accepted T25 Per-Syd
Plus get my $50 (promo price) back from economy X.

 

[I love to travel]

Got the email yesterday for flight next Saturday. Is there an optimal time to place the bid or does it not really matter. BTW, cannot see info on seats available etc or do you only see this after the bid has been placed. @Captain Halliday kindly has informed be it is J4 C2 D1

 

[TMP]

Got the email yesterday for flight next Saturday. Is there an optimal time to place the bid or does it not really matter. BTW, cannot see info on seats available etc or do you only see this after the bid has been placed. @Captain Halliday kindly has informed be it is J4 C2 D1

Timing doesn't matter (outside the window for processing) and the upgrade portal doesn't tell you about availability or not. Need to use other methods for that. However, closer to flight the minimum price to bid often comes down.

 

[g_batt]

Does anyone know if it's possible to submit both an UpgradeMe bid and a points upgrade at the same time? Currently on the waitlist for the points upgrade. if I put in a bid, would I be taken off the waitlist? If not, what's the priority - do they process cash first or points upgrade first (I believe QF always does points upgrades first)?

On a recent SYD-PER flight I put in both a UpgradeMe bid ($165, minimum was $150) and a points request from a Choice fare. They took the money at 3.30am for a 18:15 flight.

 

[MH_fan]

Well, things have clearly changed then! A points upgrade waitlist should trump an upgrade bid. That is not rewarding loyalty and sends the message that the points you earn hold little value.

 

[fletty]

Well, things have clearly changed then! A points upgrade waitlist should trump an upgrade bid. That is not rewarding loyalty and sends the message that the points you earn hold little value.

It makes sense that VA would prefer the cash first, but I agree that it makes points upgrade more useless.
Also explains the success rate I personally find on cash upgrades. I'd imagine most would rather burn some points.

 

[TMP]

Upgraded at T-25 for MEL-PER, bid was $127 which was minimum + $10. I'd paid $30 for Economy X.

Alternative was 30,000 points to be waitlisted for a points upgrade.

I know which is better value!

Cash fare at time of upgrade was around $1800

 

[SYD]

Well, things have clearly changed then! A points upgrade waitlist should trump an upgrade bid. That is not rewarding loyalty and sends the message that the points you earn hold little value.

If there is an award seat available, the points upgrade goes through immediately (as does the WP freebie) ie well before they start processing cash bids. QF operates the same for domestic Y to J points upgrades where there’s an award seat available.

But I assume the VA system doesn’t put unsold J seats out as reward seats until they process all cash bids first? By which time, they’ve all gone. Which makes “Waitlisted” points upgrades a low probability of success.

QF processes points upgrades ahead of cash bids. Which probably explains why the equivalent QF thread here is very quiet.

 

[g_batt]

Interestingly on my return Flex PER-BNE flight I called to request an upgrade (assuming they’d put me on the wait list because there were no rewards showing on the website) - after having been bumped from 4A to 10D (wtf) - but was told there were business reward seats available and I could use one of my complimentary upgrades. No idea what was going on there but not mad about it!