Platinums can now use complimentary upgrade from a Choice fare

[Gold Member]

Hi Gold Member​

For a limited time, we are offering more choice so you can enjoy the perks of Business Class when using your complimentary UpgradeMe Platinum benefit. As a Platinum member, you can now request to use your complimentary UpgradeMe credits when travelling on eligible routes on a Choice fare, in addition to our Flex Fares*! You are still able to upgrade from a Flex fare to Business Class using one of your UpgradeMe Platinum credits^. To upgrade from a Choice fare, the below credits are required.​

How to request your complimentary upgrade​

Login to your My Velocity account and check your benefits.

Upgrade your upcoming Choice or Flex fare via our Membership Contact Centre on 13 18 75, until two hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time, or at the Virgin Australia lounge until 40 minutes prior to the scheduled flight departure time.

Travel between 27 September 2023 and 31 March 2024.

Great initiative that is most welcome for VA Plats. Well done Virgin!

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I'm on hold for the contact centre now to give this a go (10 minutes so far --- longest wait I've experienced to date especially as a WP).

 

[Edge]

Good initiative, if a little steep. They could've made it 0-1,500 and 1,500+.

 

[pauly7]

Hmmm I agree it’s steep…

Clearly they’ve been under sustained pressure from Plats over the ‘enhancement’ that made the upgrades very difficult to use.

Look it’s a start, all we can do is continue to give feedback and maybe they will back down further in March!

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Success. I'd assumed it was going to use up all 4 of my credits, but turns out SYD-HTI squeaks in at 945 miles which was good luck and was able to snag the return flight as well. My credits also expired on 7 October so this has turned out to be impeccable timing.

 

[ols]

This would be better if your upgrades not used could be rolled over from the previous year.
Just retained platinum at review this month.
Last year was unable to use any upgrades so they are lost.
Live in Perth so any flight to east coast on choice would use all of this years upgrade credits in one hit

 

[trisreed]

Live in Perth so any flight to east coast on choice would use all of this years upgrade credits in one hit

Same here. Might be better value to fly to ADL and then do a 'twofer' on the other half to SYD, MEL, BNE etc. If it were 2 credits for the >1000mi ones then it would be a different matter. I've used these before but it seems very questionable whether using all four for one upgrade is better 'value'.

 

[ols]

Same here. Might be better value to fly to ADL and then do a 'twofer' on the other half to SYD, MEL, BNE etc. If it were 2 credits for the >1000mi ones then it would be a different matter. I've used these before but it seems very questionable whether using all four for one upgrade is better 'value'.

Even Perth to Adelaide is 1,316 miles

 

[knagelli]

I was on call for almost 25 minutes finally to realise that there is no availability for complementary upgrade for any of my upcoming flights.

Agree it's steep but with the availability so scarce I am not sure how many of us would be actually using the benefit.

All the best.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

I was on call for almost 25 minutes finally to realise that there is no availability for complementary upgrade for any of my upcoming flights.

Agree it's steep but with the availability so scare I am not sure how many of us would be actually using the benefit.

All the best.

Definitely seems I got lucky on my SYD-HTI trip - otherwise availability is indeed not great.

Realising my credits will refresh again next week, I had a look at availability on a few other trips. No availability on either inbound or outbound sectors on SYD-HBA or ADL (both in March), and only one segment on a mid-day return from MEL in Feb.

 

[Harrison_133]

Interesting experience this morning.

Had all 4 vouchers sitting there unused with the expiry date looming. I rarely, if ever, book Flex fares so have found the upgrade vouchers rather useless. I called up this morning to upgrade, rather than letting them go to waste. Short wait, competent and friendly agent, upgrades available on my desired flights. All was well, or so I thought…

The upgrade seemed to process — an updated itinerary was emailed, but I got a callback about 30 minutes later from the agent I originally spoke to. She said that although she could see I had 4 unused vouchers, when she tried to process the booking, the system kept telling her I only had 1 voucher left (I did have 1 unused voucher in the previous membership year). On my end, it was showing all 4 vouchers available for use before the approaching expiry date.

She’s escalated the booking to another team to fix, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see. At this stage, the app still shows my seat allocation of 2A, but manage my booking online says I’m in Economy with no seat selected.

VA tech at its finest…

 

[luckypierre]

A great initiative potentially. Have two credits to use. My cunning plan to upgrade and have myself sitting in row 2 and Mrs LP sitting in row 3 came unstuck. The upgrade has to be applied to the whole booking, and cant be applied to one passenger only; foiled again

 

[ThePW]

A great initiative potentially. Have two credits to use. My cunning plan to upgrade and have myself sitting in row 2 and Mrs LP sitting in row 3 came unstuck. The upgrade has to be applied to the whole booking, and cant be applied to one passenger only; foiled again

You could split the booking and then go ahead to upgrade yourself?

 

[luckypierre]

You could split the booking and then go ahead to upgrade yourself?

Yep, thought about that , but our travel plans and bookings are already set for the 10 months.

 

[muppet]

Can someone remind me how these upgrades usually work for Flex fares? Do they require Business Reward availability to work?

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Can someone remind me how these upgrades usually work for Flex fares? Do they require Business Reward availability to work?

Yes.

 

[randompunter]

Looking ex-TSV there seems to be few VA 737s at the moment, mostly Alliance F100s and the odd Air North E190. Even some small F70s doing the BNE run. So not great for J upgrades I also checked early December for a trip I need to book and it is a bit better 737 wise but noticed a few are the tired DJ 737-700s.

That said, if I am stuck in Y I would rather have the relatively spacious F100 seats than the crammed 737

 

[Must...Fly!]

It's nice and all, but it does highlight the problem with the offering as a whole as it reduces a Platinum member's perceived loyalty, in a sense, to one transcon upgrade per year. It is of course better than letting them expire though.

With that said, if the A330s were still around, maybe it would be a fairer trade...!

 

[pauly7]

It’s been said on here many many times over but Virgin need to do a complete overhaul of Platinum. It’s a very weak offering.

 

[Must...Fly!]

It’s been said on here many many times over but Virgin need to do a complete overhaul of Platinum. It’s a very weak offering.

I don't think I would go quite that far, myself. The biggest issue arguably is the situation with recognition on partner airlines. If that was better, such as perhaps more akin to OWE equivalent, I think things would look much better.