UpgradeMe pricing and success

[fletty]

Success at T-25 for SYD to BNE, +$25 from minimum bid of $65

 

[luckypierre]

MEL to ZQN At T-30 2/8 seats taken. At T-24 5/8 seats taken (guessing their bids higher than mine). My bid successfull at T-12.5 @ $210 each. 7/8 seats taken .

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

MEL to ZQN At T-30 2/8 seats taken. At T-24 5/8 seats taken (guessing their bids higher than mine). My bid successfull at T-12.5 @ $210 each. 7/8 seats taken .

What was the minimum?

 

[luckypierre]

What was the minimum?

Good question, I placed the bid months ago. I think it was around $190

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Good question, I placed the bid months ago. I think it was around $190

Always interested to see how far above minimum for a successful bid.

 

[kamchatsky]

If I made an UpgradeMe bid on a return trip, would they need to accept bids for both flights together? Or they will accept bid on each individual flight? I've just made my first upgradebid but no idea if it will work.

Also, when does VA announce that you have been outbid? Is it as soon as someone outbid me, or it has to wait until T-xx before starting to clear the upgrades?

 

[fletty]

If I made an UpgradeMe bid on a return trip, would they need to accept bids for both flights together? Or they will accept bid on each individual flight? I've just made my first upgradebid but no idea if it will work.

Also, when does VA announce that you have been outbid? Is it as soon as someone outbid me, or it has to wait until T-xx before starting to clear the upgrades?

It's per sector.

You'll get an email stating if you've been successful or not, I find they're at about T-8

 

[fletty]

Success BNE > MEL tonight for $90 (min + 20). Loadings were pretty light when I booked a week or so ago (J8) and then J2 this morning.

 

[luckypierre]

Also, when does VA announce that you have been outbid?

Places two upgrademe bids for two sectors on the same booking, for the two of us. The first sector I knew had 7/8 seats taken, hence no outbid notification received. The second sector MEL -ADL , there were >4 seats available, received the outbid email about T-19.
Didn’t change my bid, then was advised successful @ T-13 . Successful bid $75 (minimum+15)

 

[NoName]

BNE-MEL for tomorrow morning. Put in a bid a few days ago. Min bid $65, I put in $100. Got the “you have been outbid” email yesterday but this morning I see I have been successful.

 

[lovestotravel]

BNE-MEL for tomorrow morning. Put in a bid a few days ago. Min bid $65, I put in $100. Got the “you have been outbid” email yesterday but this morning I see I have been successful.

Ah yes the fake outbid email...

 

[tedii]

Does anyone know if bid upgrades get the full status credit?

 

[MooTime]

Does anyone know if bid upgrades get the full status credit?

That's a hard no.
Unfortunately.

 

[kamchatsky]

VA412 SYD-ADL morning flight. Bid $80. T-25 received email that I have been outbid. Did not receive the upgrade. Lucky I allocated myself on 5A YX seat at T-48 and had no one sitting next to me. Also my AC physical Gold card (expiry date 31/12) got me lounge access, even though my digital AC card is Red as I cut my HSBC CC last month.

VA439 ADL-SYD night flight. Bid $90. Received upgrade at T-13. I took the 7th J seat.

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Bid minimum + $1 (yes, $1) and was successful on tonight's MEL-BNE....Mrs Hawk also bid minimum + $1 and was unsuccessful as we're on separate PNR's.

Is the protocol to send back a glass of red and crackers?? #askingforafriend

 

[fletty]

Looks like the UpgradeMe screen has changed - shows the number of seats available and number of offers too.

 

[fletty]

Having a poke around around in the response that builds the page I see:

"numberOfSeatsAvailable": 3,
"numberOfBidders": 5,
"numberOfBids": 3,
"auctionClosingTimestamp": "2024-11-28T19:55:00",

I wonder if the 3 bids from 5 bidders means that 2 are sharing the same bid amount (maybe the minimum?). A bit of game theory could suggest that 1 person has bid $145 and I'm then bidding for 2 at $101 and the remaining 3 bidders have bid the minimum ($90 iirc). We'll have to wait and see!

It also looks like the auction closes 1hr prior to departure if that timezone is UTC.

 

[Gold Member]

Looks like the UpgradeMe screen has changed - shows the number of seats available and number of offers too.

There may be some merit to this product enhancement, but personally I’d take the new UpgradeMe “insights” with a huge grain of salt. Neither UpgradeMe nor Virgin are obliged to present the true state of bidding so that you can save as much money as possible on n unsold seat. What they are compelled to do though, is make as much money for their partner merchants and shareholders. Deception and obfuscation via an opaque bidding system is one simple way.

IMHO, this is just another ploy to play on the Customer’s emotions similar to other ecommerce websites that have pop up cough claiming “there are x number of users browsing this product right now. Get in quick!”

 

[MooTime]

There may be some merit to this product enhancement, but personally I’d take the new UpgradeMe “insights” with a huge grain of salt. Neither UpgradeMe nor Virgin are obliged to present the true state of bidding so that you can save as much money as possible on n unsold seat. What they are compelled to do though, is make as much money for their partner merchants and shareholders. Deception and obfuscation via an opaque bidding system is one simple way.

IMHO, this is just another ploy to play on the Customer’s emotions similar to other ecommerce websites that have pop up cough claiming “there are x number of users browsing this product right now. Get in quick!”

Completely agree.

Just if they were found to be dishonest / incorrect fake bids, couldn't that be seen as against the law?

As misrepresentation of pricing?
Very hard to catch out / prove though without insider knowledge or the like.

 

[Gold Member]

Completely agree.

Just if they were found to be dishonest / incorrect fake bids, couldn't that be seen as against the law?

As misrepresentation of pricing?
Very hard to catch out / prove though without insider knowledge or the like.

It’s only illegal if they’re caught, with evidence, that can be proven in a court of law. It’s no coincidence that catching them and proving it is inherently difficult due to the way these things are designed.

Can you think of a single Airline hopping around that may have tried to defraud their customers recently (despite their vehement denials)? That was just one instance where they were found out, and there was enough evidence and public outcry to warrant further action. What about all the rest of their dishonest and disloyal behaviour that never got anywhere because they hid it so well and couldn't be unequivocally proven in a court of law.