Frequent Virgin Australia flyers have access to a range of perks when flying on Virgin, or any of its international partner airlines. These status perks generally include the use of priority check-in counters, priority boarding, and lounge access for top-tier Gold and Platinum Virgin Velocity members. But there is one particularly fantastic perk available to Virgin flyers on US-based Delta Airlines.
Silver, Gold and Platinum Velocity Frequent Flyers can request a free upgrade to Delta “Comfort Plus” when flying within the United States & Canada! Comfort Plus is Delta’s “Premium Economy” product on domestic flights. It’s a separate cabin between Economy and First Class, featuring Economy-style seats with extra-legroom. Comfort Plus passengers receive complimentary in-flight entertainment and snacks, as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages on board.
Platinum Velocity members can request an upgrade to Comfort Plus online, up to 72 hours before departure. Silver and Gold members may request an upgrade up to 24 hours prior to wheels-up.
There are a couple of ways to do this. The first method is to simply select a Comfort Plus seat through seat selection on the Delta website or App. These seats can generally be chosen for a fee from the time of booking. But, as long as your Velocity frequent flyer number is added to the booking, remaining Comfort Plus seats should become free to select at the relevant time before departure.
Firstly make sure that you VFF number is linked with the DL flight booking. In my experience, the night before the flight I open up the Delta app and view the seat selection. By that time the Comfort Plus seats should be open for selection.
Any remaining seats may also be offered to you when you check-in at the airport.
The usual caveat – that the seats are subject to availability – does apply. It’s possible that all Comfort Plus seats will have been taken by the time they become available to select for free online. One member was recently unsuccessful in upgrading on the popular Los Angeles to New York route, however they were successful on other routes.
im WP but found the EC seats+ only went free on the DL site at T-48. Main routes were all gone by this time ( LAX-JFK ) but managed to get them on the less popular routes.
While this is a great benefit, at least one member spruiks the benefits of buying a First class seat on Delta outright instead. US airlines like Delta often give empty First seats away to their elite members. So, in order to avoid giving too many away for free, they often price First class fares very reasonably. Also of interest to Virgin flyers is the generous stash of status credits that comes a with First class ticket.
As mentioned above, if you really want Comfort + (and not a middle) pay at the time of booking. Of course, the other option is to check out the price difference to first class. I just booked a flight from the midwest to LAX (on my way home) and First was only about $120 more — also resulting in 120SC’s.
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