Have Virgin cancelled the 'Fly Ahead' benefit again?

[ben95]

Aka no show?

yes and no. If I just doesn’t turn up to the airport then the plane has an extra empty seat which could be used by VA to fly someone else ahead. Seems fair to charge me a fee to rebook in this case.

If I request to fly behind X hour before departure then the seat could be sold/given to someone to fly ahead. A win-win situations for everyone it seems, especially the late night flights are usually cheaper than the peak hour flights.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Small sidetrack - have anyone tried to “Fly Behind”? If flying ahead is a benefit then it feels to me volunteering to take a later flight is beneficial to VA as well?

I suggested this to VA as a possible enhancement for platinum status.

Even if they limited it to once or twice a year. Nothing more frustrating than being stuck in traffic and potentially going to miss your flight! The ability to call and ‘fly later’ would have been an amazing benefit.

 

[Must...Fly!]

I suggested this to VA as a possible enhancement for platinum status.

Even if they limited it to once or twice a year. Nothing more frustrating than being stuck in traffic and potentially going to miss your flight! The ability to call and ‘fly later’ would have been an amazing benefit.

Would be good but I can see why they might be hesitant. It does import some additional liability on to VA in the case of the last flight of the day being cancelled.

 

[henrus]

Small sidetrack - have anyone tried to “Fly Behind”? If flying ahead is a benefit then it feels to me volunteering to take a later flight is beneficial to VA as well?

Yes but only when my flight has been delayed I've asked in the lounge to fly on a later flight which is actually earlier.

 

[FishFood]

I'd really like to use Fly Ahead for an upcoming flight, however the website says that for Gold VFF members you can only fly ahead on flex or business fares. Interested to hear some data points on whether it is still worth trying my luck.

Benefits At A Glance

Silver, Gold and Platinum members enjoy a range of Status benefits with our participating international airline partners. Benefits may include Priority Check-in, Priority Boarding, Priority Baggage, baggage allowances and lounge access.

www.velocityfrequentflyer.com

 

[sudoer]

Interested to hear some data points on whether it is still worth trying my luck.

Definitely won't happen over the phone. Slim chance you can convince them at the airport (if you ask very nicely.)

In short, worth trying but highly unlikely.

 

[FishFood]

Slim chance you can convince them at the airport

I realised I missed the context that this is a choice fare. This is available on that fare category for platinum VFF members

 

[Human]

I realised I missed the context that this is a choice fare. This is available on that fare category for platinum VFF members

It’s definitely worth asking but I agree with the others above that your chances are slim. Is there anything you can give them to work with? Were you Platinum for x years before only being bumped down to Gold recently? Are you only a few SCs away from Platinum and on track to definitely make it to Platinum this year? Are you the CEO of Qatar Airways? In other words is there something — anything — that differentiates you enough from all the other schmucks who are Gold but who try their luck?

 

[prelude]

Definitely won't happen over the phone. Slim chance you can convince them at the airport (if you ask very nicely.)

In short, worth trying but highly unlikely.

At the risk of drawing attention to a good thing, I've been able to fly ahead two out of two times I've asked at the lounge as a Gold. Granted, both times were at non-peak hours and the flight I switched to was not close to full.

I didn't mention the fact that I was a Gold or "Fly Ahead", I just said something like "would there be any chance at all getting on an earlier flight to xx_, managed to get to the airport a bit early".