VA Gold member complimentary upgrade

[Deleted member 29185]

IIs there any way to get an alert should Z-class availability become available, mrpooky.

Further to VRCs comment above, you can judge how good your chances are by doing a mock J full fare purchase. If there is availability, the lounge option should work. If there is no availability then your chances are slim.

 

[mrpooky]

Great, thank you all.

There is currently purchased J availability, just not reward J availability. I had been planning to try in the lounge after check-in anyway, but figured my chances were slim. Perhaps they're a bit better than I thought. Fingers crossed!

mrpooky

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Great, thank you all.

There is currently purchased J availability, just not reward J availability. I had been planning to try in the lounge after check-in anyway, but figured my chances were slim. Perhaps they're a bit better than I thought. Fingers crossed!

mrpooky

Full report expected of course!

 

[mrpooky]

Full report expected of course!

Of course, and alas -- no upgrade.

I asked at Check-in and was told to ask in the lounge. I asked in the lounge and was told not available. When I queried whether it would be worthwhile asking again later (I checked in at the BNE terminal @T-2-and-a-bit) the dragon told me in no uncertain terms, "No. It's based on class availability and there is no Z-Class available."

Oh well. It was worth a shot. Thanks everybody!

mrpooky

 

[Deleted member 29185]

the dragon told me in no uncertain terms, "No. It's based on class availability and there is no Z-Class available."

Thanks for the update.

Someone has their wires crossed. Reports here on AFF has the lounge upgrades ticketed into J not Z.

MarkD may be owed SCs for his lounge upgrade if it's actually Z!

Maybe a question to VFF may be in order to clarify that one as I'm sure a number of us are planning future lounge upgrades!

 

[777]

Of course, and alas -- no upgrade.

I asked at Check-in and was told to ask in the lounge. I asked in the lounge and was told not available. When I queried whether it would be worthwhile asking again later (I checked in at the BNE terminal @T-2-and-a-bit) the dragon told me in no uncertain terms, "No. It's based on class availability and there is no Z-Class available."

Oh well. It was worth a shot. Thanks everybody!

mrpooky

Out of curiosity, how full was j?

 

[mrpooky]

Out of curiosity, how full was j?

It turned out to be completely full -- the only spare seats on the entire flight seemed to be a couple at the back of Y.

Of course, I don't know if any of the J seats were upgrades.

mrpooky

 

[777]

It turned out to be completely full -- the only spare seats on the entire flight seemed to be a couple at the back of Y.

Of course, I don't know if any of the J seats were upgrades.

You don't really need to. If there was no availability for whatever reason then the booking class doesn't really enter into it does it?

 

[bullerdude]

No it doesn't really, but it would be nicer if the lounge staff simply advised no availability in J instead of talking about booking classes.

I was under the impression that the lounge upgrades work on both Z/J seats from T-4h to T-40m

 

[oz_mark]

No it doesn't really, but it would be nicer if the lounge staff simply advised no availability in J instead of talking about booking classes.

Because if they just said no J availability, sure as eggs someone would produce proof from the internet that there was, in fact, empty J seats on the flight. Saying no 'Z' class pretty much shuts those arguments down....

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Saying no 'Z' class pretty much shuts those arguments down....

Well that may be true out in the real world, but here on AFF................

Now we're left with a conundrum. Told no Z availability......but did they mean Z or J? Does lounge upgrades drop into a Z bucket or J bucket? How will I sleep tonight?

For the record, I suspect the Z inference was accidental........there were simply no seats available!

 

[Jama]

And if the upgrade is being done immediately before the flight from the lounge and the plane is going to leave the ground with empty seats in 'J', does it really matter if there are no Z when you have a status member you could make happy. It's not as though its being requested for nothing.

 

[mrpooky]

Well that may be true out in the real world, but here on AFF................

Now we're left with a conundrum. Told no Z availability......but did they mean Z or J? Does lounge upgrades drop into a Z bucket or J bucket? How will I sleep tonight?

For the record, I suspect the Z inference was accidental........there were simply no seats available!

Yes, I was actually a bit surprised. I also asked the lounge dragon if it would be worthwhile me asking again later while I was in the lounge -- say T-1 or so -- and she made a point of saying that even if business seats were available she couldn't give me one unless it was in Z class. In other words, no, there was no point.

I suspect it's a case of them being practically able to allocate non-Z business seats, but perhaps going against policy by doing so.

mrpooky

 

[serfty]

Perhaps VA are changing the way they do these things, perhaps not.

I suspect the agent did not know the full story of what they were talking about and was getting quite confused with this new thing.

As referred to by swanning_it, these have indeed booked in J class going by the fare bucket printed on a member's BP.