Virgin Australia UpgradeMe pricing and success

[kerfuffle]

Considering that QF upgrade is charging 200+ for minimum, it's not surprising.

Happy spending the minimum (or close to) on Virgin for an upgrade, but never on Qantas. $200 for a domestic upgrade is money I can use on another Y domestic flight from SYD to MEL, BNE or ADL, even on Qantas metal

 

[Aussie_flyer]

yeah the Qantas prices are way off for domestic, not realistic. I do miss my old $30 Rex upgrades MEL-SYD

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

How much does J typically go for when flying SYD-PER or MEL-PER?

 

[kerfuffle]

Thread 'Virgin Australia UpgradeMe pricing and success'

Oct 10, 2013

So I booked a flexi BNE-MEL today to spend a weekend away. I was thinking of using points to upgrade but I thought I would plug the figures into UpgradeMe and see the results.
So this is the difference between the UpgradeMe minimum cost versus just paying the difference.









Minimum of $500 for outbound to use UpgradeMe and minimum of $200 for the return leg.

Sorry but this is only $76 cheaper than paying for the difference between L & J classes, without the benefit of J SCs or points.

• IainF
• flight upgrades
• Replies: 1,529
• Forum: Virgin Australia | Velocity

• 

 

[bbtlife]

My recent PER – MEL return both unsuccessful at $135 (minimum bid +$10) . When I first bid I did think $125 was a bit low for east-west; minimum bids typically start much higher. Does the minimum bid change closer to the flight?

 

[Stealthflyer]

HBA-SYD $65 bid was successful. I think the minimum was $55.

It was an interesting process. Usually I upgrade with points but I thought I’d give the bidding a go. I put in my bid and 10 days before my flight I got an email from VA:
“Upgrades to Business Class are in high demand for your flight, and other guests have made higher offers. To see the highest offer, click below.

You can modify or cancel your offer up to 3 hours before your scheduled departure time. Your offer could still be successful without being modified, depending on the level of availability and other guests’ offers.”

The “highest bid” was well over $100 so I thought c’est la vie and left my bid as is. I’m quite happy to sit in 3C after all. But five days later I got an email saying that my $65 bid had been successful. What an odd game VA plays.

 

[fletty]

It's in their best interest for you to FOMO into bidding more. Someone could be bidding for 2 pax at $500 each but if there's only 1 seat, someone on a minimum bid might get through.

 

[ols]

My recent PER – MEL return both unsuccessful at $135 (minimum bid +$10) . When I first bid I did think $125 was a bit low for east-west; minimum bids typically start much higher. Does the minimum bid change closer to the flight?

Don't believe the min bid changes but PER to SYD and MEL is usually difficult to get an upgradr

 

[PERLHR]

Don't believe the min bid changes but PER to SYD and MEL is usually difficult to get an upgradr

Yes it's rather difficult. Sometimes lucky but mostly not.

 

[Disco]

HBA-SYD $65 bid was successful. I think the minimum was $55.

It was an interesting process. Usually I upgrade with points but I thought I’d give the bidding a go. I put in my bid and 10 days before my flight I got an email from VA:
“Upgrades to Business Class are in high demand for your flight, and other guests have made higher offers. To see the highest offer, click below.

You can modify or cancel your offer up to 3 hours before your scheduled departure time. Your offer could still be successful without being modified, depending on the level of availability and other guests’ offers.”

The “highest bid” was well over $100 so I thought c’est la vie and left my bid as is. I’m quite happy to sit in 3C after all. But five days later I got an email saying that my $65 bid had been successful. What an odd game VA plays.

We bid slightly over the minimum for Per to Ade return. Was notified as being outbid in both cases and was unsuccessful. However, we were upgraded into economy X seats for no extra charge. Which I was happy with. We've been treated well by Virgin this year .