Fly Ahead on Business Reward

[Spacetravel]

Hey Everyone,

Wondering if anyone has had recent experience with fly ahead as a platinum member in Business Class Reward?

I found an old thread from 2014 which said it was fine, but nothing since. I happened to be on the phone to GCC and they said I couldn't (but we all know how inconsistent the GCC vs the airport can be).

I have a flight coming up in a couple of weeks and was hoping I could use it.

 

[Flyer 777]

Have received fly ahead a number of times this year on reward bookings no issue, even a couple with checked bags!!

 

[Eggsbenedict]

Have received fly ahead a number of times this year on reward bookings no issue, even a couple with checked bags!!

Agreed! Done many times without problems. In my experience if there is a business class seat they will move you, reward booking or not. One of the many things I still love about VA.

 

[samas]

A few months ago I had CBR-MEL-PER flexi, with transcon upgraded to the business with points.

About 10 hours before the MEL departure I got notified the service was running 2.5 hours late already, made it to CBR airport early to make the SYD routing, with baggage and asked to be transferred onto that flight.

Was told by the check-in agent that I would loose my business upgrade, but they didn't know how to make the change anyhow, so they got their supervisor to assist. It looked to me that on this occasion they basically cancelled the booking and printed out what looked to be a credit shell and then used that to rebook onto the new CBR-SYD-PER. They managed to keep the business upgrade for me and I correctly still got the flexi status credit earn across both sectors. When CBR check-in changed it they asked me to ask the Syd lounge to put on a "catering not assured" sticker as they didn't have them in Canberra (??). At the reception desk in SYD I did ask and they were shocked I followed through with the CBR request, however they referred me to get the sticker at the service desk with the big queue, so I didn't bother as they had two opportunities to already....

EDIT: Had the MEL sector not already been so delayed I suspect they would have charged me flight changes but thankfully common-sense prevailed to avoid me from their delays. Obviously this was a little more than a fly-ahead..

 

[Cryptarcadian]

Hey samas, don't leave us hanging! So did you get the meal of your choice after that?

And glad to hear it's doable, I might find myself in a similar situation to the OP later this year on a rare (for me) J reward...