Virgin Australia UpgradeMe pricing and success

[Yipchoi]

5/9/19 VA69 MEL to HKG Economy Getaway Fare Minimum bid placed $650 to business and accepted the day prior. Only 2 seats spare once boarded (not including crew rest seat that was curtained off)

 

[Demonoid]

Can confirm no problems accessing the higher business class baggage allowance on a upgradeMe flight.

 

[Carrots]

I've not had any issues with J class baggage on upgrade bids (am VA Plat).

Had an interesting experience the other day.

Put in for some upgrades to BNE. Successful one way only (first time I've failed on an upgrade bid out of many).

As the cabin was full I called up to swap seats with my partner on the booking. I'm assuming whatever magic went on for this to occur lead to me receiving J Class status credits and points for the flights. Thanks VA!

 

[openseat]

ZQN - BNE. Upgrade successful with $200 bid. Minimum bid was $190. Good value for an almost 4 hour dinner (I hope!) flight. This for Monday.

 

[clam16]

Any benefit on bidding earlier (LAX route) or wait till few weeks before/invite comes through?

 

[Mattg]

Any benefit on bidding earlier (LAX route) or wait till few weeks before/invite comes through?

The main benefit IMHO would be that you can get a better idea of the likely flight loading - and therefore can make a better guess at how much you might have to bid - if you wait until closer to the date.

 

[ja1]

I bid $160 (the minimum) on a Adel-Bris flight and did not succeed. I noticed the seats in business were empty so asked at lounge if I could buy them at the $160 price and he said it would $220 so I and passed on the price and I noticed the business seats remained empty. Nice way to treat your platinum customers.

Just browsing the thread and saw this post.

From your side of things I agree it seems pretty silly. But looking at it objectively, it isn't about how they are treating you at all (platinum or not). They have to create some perception of value of a product and establish a floor on the value. Your idea of the value might be anything from $100 to $1000 but they have no ability to have a system sophisticated enough to track current (instant point in time) value against future value - e.g. where you would have paid $160 today but $220 tomorrow, but you would not pay $220 in the future if you had once paid $160 in the past for the 'same' product.

It would be great if we could ever get one of the VA economists who design the fare offerings to comment on how these are structured but that seems really unlikely (in terms of strategic/confidential IP..)

 

[cqtiger]

Fair enough but why have the cut off point of $160 if it is impossible to succeed and the seat goes empty

 

[odysseus]

May be different pricing depending on lounge pricing and upgrademe. Not uncommon for different channels to have different prices.

The upgrademe may not have succeeded at the time due to other bookings that were then cancelled at late notice freeing things up, but lounge pricing is different.

 

[MikaD]

Anyone successfully bid east coast to DPS? I can purchase outright for $763 one way with a promo code so I might just do that. Cheapest Y is 350 and i imagine a bid of 300ish required anyway?

 

[Stealthflyer]

Anyone successfully bid east coast to DPS? I can purchase outright for $763 one way with a promo code so I might just do that. Cheapest Y is 350 and i imagine a bid of 300ish required anyway?

I’d buy J outright. That way you get the status points and certainty. I flew that route earlier this year, J outbound (on a points upgrade), Y inbound. If I fly VA on that route again, I’ll definitely upgrade both legs. That particular plane is okay for short domestic flights, but not so comfortable for a longer international flight. You well and truly feel like a sardine.

 

[MikaD]

I’d buy J outright. That way you get the status points and certainty. I flew that route earlier this year, J outbound (on a points upgrade), Y inbound. If I fly VA on that route again, I’ll definitely upgrade both legs. That particular plane is okay for short domestic flights, but not so comfortable for a longer international flight. You well and truly feel like a sardine.

Will do. All the returns are night flights so im gonna redeem the return through krisflyer. Figured the recliner j was fine for the day flight.

 

[Stealthflyer]

Will do. All the returns are night flights so im gonna redeem the return through krisflyer. Figured the recliner j was fine for the day flight.

As in fly SQ via Singapore?

 

[MikaD]

As in fly SQ via Singapore?

Yep, try out the 787-10 to sin. Only paid flatbed back is QF at $1300+

 

[Ktan89]

Have a flight SYD - PER next week (A330) and upgrade bid is showing: Min $400 - $995 Max.
There is also an option to pay $699 to upgrade or i can use 30k points.

I'm only a low RED.. so what are the chances getting it at $410 or should i just use points?

 

[knagelli]

I'm only a low RED.. so what are the chances getting it at $410 or should i just use points?

There are instances where the bid was accepted instantly at lowest bid. So you can take a chance ; just wondering whats the deal with $699.

Personally I prefer buying the revenue tickets at that price , as I want to make some SCs.

 

[Ktan89]

@knagelli don't know why they even let you bid more than $699 if you can buy it straight up..

 

[Isochronous]

5/9/19 VA69 MEL to HKG Economy Getaway Fare Minimum bid placed $650 to business and accepted the day prior. Only 2 seats spare once boarded (not including crew rest seat that was curtained off)

Thanks for the data point - $650 seems to consistently work on the HKG sector bases on what other posters have said.

 

[The-Aviator]

12/10/19 | VA83 | SYD to HKG | bid $650 which was about $20-30 above the minimum, bid accepted for two seats pretty much straight away after the 75hr window had passed. No more than 2-3 seats empty in The Business.

27/10/19 | VA82 | HKG to SYD | bid $655 which was a token $5 above the minimum, bid at the last minute less than 48hrs before the flight, got accepted again for two seats the morning prior. From the looks of it there were no empty seats in The Business.

Gold member, not sure if that made a difference. Really enjoyed the service and will be posting food pics etc. shortly in another thread. If anything though I preferred the experience on the flight outbound to HKG, the red-eye flight home was good but not as good as the trip out.

 

[clam16]

Does pricing ever change on the bid system? Looking at international flight but keen to hear others experience?