DJ op up given but taken away

[greg-777]

So now we have a new catch-phrase, the 'op-down'?

Appreciate the feeling of joy turning to sadness when an unexpected upgrade is re-instated to economy, although part of me reckons that this falls into the 'suck it up, cough happens' category, which means some good things like op-ups are balanced by bad things like op-downs. But agree with everyone that this could have been handled a LOT better, and losing your original Row 3 was worst of all! Would have been nice if they gave you Row 3 and also bought you a full meal as a little 'sorry about that!' gesture.

I sucked it up like a princess but these things shouldnt happen.

J way full, row 3 and the rest of the plane was full....

I make a friendly enquiry on twitter to see what come back.

 

[lovestotravel]

I sucked it up like a princess but these things shouldnt happen.

J way full, row 3 and the rest of the plane was full....

I make a friendly enquiry on twitter to see what come back.

Don't waste your time on Twitter

 

[LiamR]

I wonder how, operationally (i.e. in the system), the gate thinks it's a mistake, unless somehow there are separate systems which aren't talking, and there is a subsequent conflict for the seat which the OP was upgraded to (which would be a real problem, since there may not be any J seats left, so what to do).

Well it's not automated, so all that happens is the gate staff see that a Y pax is in J (I believe they check the seat map before every flight) they simply move them to a spare Y seat.

I had a good chat with the lounge team in MEL about this the other day, OLCI upgraded me to J, and they proactively put me back to Y, giving me a good seat instead of what would be left over when this mistake is picked up just prior to boarding time.

 

[markis10]

I wonder if this is the effect of fly forward and upgrades that are cheap?

 

[serfty]

...

I had a good chat with the lounge team in MEL about this the other day, OLCI upgraded me to J, and they proactively put me back to Y, giving me a good seat instead of what would be left over when this mistake is picked up just prior to boarding time.

Kind of sad when such occasional poor judgment from staff results in an elite actually not wanting an op-up.:-|

 

[Justchecking]

It seemed pretty clear to me that when they gave plats 4 free upgrades a year, their intention was, here's you're op-ups enjoy them because we're having a no op-up policy. Either way, fair call they're entitled to say we won't op-up unless the world's going to fall off it's axis. They just need to make that seamless so no seat rearranging until at gate and staff see a need to move someone.

 

[dfcatch]

Well it's not automated, so all that happens is the gate staff see that a Y pax is in J (I believe they check the seat map before every flight) they simply move them to a spare Y seat.

I had a good chat with the lounge team in MEL about this the other day, OLCI upgraded me to J, and they proactively put me back to Y, giving me a good seat instead of what would be left over when this mistake is picked up just prior to boarding time.

I'm confused - why would you "NOT" want the J opup that OLCI gave you??

I can not imagine any situation where a Y seat would be more preferred ??..??..??

 

[eastwest101]

I think what some were trying to say was if you had already been allocated a good Y seat (say 3A) and then got "op-up" to a J seat and then get "op-down" back to the Y again. In the case of a very full flight this becomes dangerous as 3A may have been reallocated to someone else then there is nothing stopping the "op-down" from being to 25E.

In this case the "op-up" is doomed and you are simply losing your good Y seat that you originally selected for a potentially very bad Y seat.

I agree would be good if the OP gives feedback and see what the VA response is. I assume this was a very full flight. I would not be surprised if this is another case of Virgin's computer systems either not talking to each other or being in conflict somehow.

 

[dfcatch]

I was referring to Liam's comment and cannot imagine why he wanted to op-downed at all..??

Op-downs simply should not be occurring!

Once an opup is given - it's yours and should not be taken away. End of story.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I was referring to Liam's comment and cannot imagine why he wanted to op-downed at all..??

Op-downs simply should not be occurring!

Once an opup is given - it's yours and should not be taken away. End of story.

I didn't read Liam's post the same way.
I think he means that he was op-upped and then when he had to be op-downed due to full paying J customers the Lounge angels made sure that he got a good seat ( the proactive part) instead of what's left over at the back.

 

[Fruitcake]

Sounds like they need to make the decision not to do op-ups until the Y cabin is literally 100% (ie 168 pax) checked in. Or, if they're going to offer speculative op-ups (ie Y has 171 seats sold, 166 people have checked in with 2hr to departure), then stick with it. In that situation paying J pax wanting to fly ahead would just need to be told "Sorry, J cabin is full". They'd be incredibly unlikely to find out whether that was due to op-ups or otherwise.

 

[dfcatch]

I didn't read Liam's post the same way.
I think he means that he was op-upped and then when he had to be op-downed due to full paying J customers the Lounge angels made sure that he got a good seat ( the proactive part) instead of what's left over at the back.

I read it exactly like you did.

My point is that it is totally unacceptable to be given an upgrade (points or opup), and then have it removed.

Either give the opup and stick with it - or don't give it at all.

If DJ are trying to "do the right thing and look after elites but still reserve the right to sell the seat", then simply put the elite on an "upgrade-standby" in the system back-end. Don't promise anything to the elite, and then if at the gate they get a positive beep - then it's a bonus.

Talk about over-promising and under-delivering.

I can not express my utter amazement that this is happening and has been confirmed by at least 2 or 3 occurrences in this thread alone!

 

[simongr]

I agree dfcatch - very bad form by DJ on this one.
I also don't think that the 4 free upgrades were meant to replace OpUps - the whole point of an OpUp is not to give a freebie but to meet an Operational need.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I'm confused - why would you "NOT" want the J opup that OLCI gave you??

I can not imagine any situation where a Y seat would be more preferred ??..??..??

I think he did want the J seat given at OLCI.
He wasn't given a choice to stay in there and the Lounge managed to get him a reasonable Y seat.
I think we are interpreting Liam's post differently
I do not think he wanted a Y seat over a J seat.
Anyway I think we can all agree that DJ's current way of doing this is shocking

 

[dfcatch]

I think he did want the J seat given at OLCI.
He wasn't given a choice to stay in there and the Lounge managed to get him a reasonable Y seat.
I think we are interpreting Liam's post differently
I do not think he wanted a Y seat over a J seat.
Anyway I think we can all agree that DJ's current way of doing this is shocking

Perhaps it's IMHO that Liam was giving credit to DJ where in fact they should have been receiving fire and brimstone.

(no offense to DJ lounge-angels who I have nothing but praise for).

Seriously - I have to exclude myself from DJ threads for a while, this is doing my head in.

I can't help but shake my head at the number of own goals and unforced errors being made by DJ! It blows my mind, it really does.

The left hand is totally disconnected from not just the right hand.... But both hands are 10,000 miles away from even line of sight with the body, and god knows where the head is..

I truly, truly, truly want to see DJ and Borghetti succeed - for several reasons, not the least of which is decent and genuine competition.

Unfortunately, QF have a perspective on DJ which I refused to believe, but am starting to suspect may have a strong basis in fact ***.

(*** the viewpoint was expressed by QF at the Rockpool lunch, those there are aware of it, I will not repeat it here).

 

[MichaelD]

Talk about over-promising and under-delivering.

This has been DJ's problem from the launch of Business Class, and why several of us very frequent flyers here have cooled off DJ very quickly.

Once one disaster has been slightly fixed (737-700s) another three appear (catering, J seat allocations being arbitrarily changed, OpUps and then downs).

I really would like to give DJ more of my travel spend...but I'm sick of worrying about whether I will actually get what I paid for. When J is good, it's great, but lots of things need to align for it to work well.

(In fairness, my last 4 or 5 DJ flights in J have been fine in the last few weeks - all have had great CSMs which seems to be a huge factor).

 

[oz_mark]

Unfortunately, QF have a perspective on DJ which I refused to believe, but am starting to suspect may have a strong basis in fact ***.

(*** the viewpoint was expressed by QF at the Rockpool lunch, those there are aware of it, I will not repeat it here).

Not sure what the QF perspective is (in fact, I don't know), but I think one of the things this shows is that it is hard work to shift the basic culture of an organisation.

I too want them to succeed, but I suspect there are legacy issues in their culture, processes, IT systems and so on that are preventing them from reaching the heights they need to.

 

[lovestotravel]

Perhaps it's IMHO that Liam was giving credit to DJ where in fact they should have been receiving fire and brimstone.

(no offense to DJ lounge-angels who I have nothing but praise for).

Seriously - I have to exclude myself from DJ threads for a while, this is doing my head in.

I can't help but shake my head at the number of own goals and unforced errors being made by DJ! It blows my mind, it really does.

The left hand is totally disconnected from not just the right hand.... But both hands are 10,000 miles away from even line of sight with the body, and god knows where the head is..

I truly, truly, truly want to see DJ and Borghetti succeed - for several reasons, not the least of which is decent and genuine competition.

Unfortunately, QF have a perspective on DJ which I refused to believe, but am starting to suspect may have a strong basis in fact ***.

(*** the viewpoint was expressed by QF at the Rockpool lunch, those there are aware of it, I will not repeat it here).

I can only agree with this post 110%

 

[Justchecking]

I wasnt at the Rockpool lunch but I can imagine the sentiment was something along the lines of......we're not too worried because we don't think they can get it together anyway.

They can believe that at their peril, for while undoubtedly stuff like this doesn't make for airline awards, arrogance has been the downfall of many. What DJ has done in a year though is increase their own share of the business market and rolled out a stack of changes at a speed I've never seen any large business accomplish. That's not something to scoff at, even if it does need more work.

 

[lovestotravel]

Agree again, give VA, another 12-18 months when they have had some time to fine-tune their new offerings..........

Personally they need to get away from the 737 model for the MEL-SYD-BNE triangle... A330s, yes maybe... But I'd still say a 20 or so order of 787's would be a great way to fight the game even better!

737/787 for domestic
A330 for Asia

I still think the A330 setup is too much for domestic, angled lie-flat for MEL-SYD is an overkill and almost too much for the SYD-PER run as well....

That being said we'll see what happens in Europe first... GFC2 ?