Online seat allocation and airport upgrades

Hello fellow V-flyers

I'm going back to NYC, my favourite city, at the end of January after 18 months of withdrawal symptoms. Last time I went I was in PE and UC thanks to miles upgrades. Indeed in the last 4 years I've not done an economy flight with Virgin and have been a big PE fan. Money won't allow for that this trip so I've taken the plunge and gone for an economy trip - well they have just launched the new economy meal service...

Two questions:

1) I've gone to select my seat online and it's only letting me select from the rear section of economy seats (from row 51 onwards). I'd rather not be this far back. Is there a reason for this? Obviously I'd much rather be in the upper deck in seat 75C if I'm going to fly economy but I'm not holding out hope for that!!

2) How often do they do airport upgrade deals these days? On two occasions in the last 4 years I've managed to get an upgrade on my return leg for about £150 on the way home. Given that I'll be in a rotten mood to be leaving NYC, I might be in a mood to throw caution to the wind.

Thanks for any help given in advance.

Happy travels

Lloydie

1. check again at OLCI as other seats will be opened up then. VS only allows 60% of seats to be pre-requested with the balance released at OLCI (but also worth checking a couple of hours before). My advice is to choose the best currently available seat you can then try and change at OLCI.

2. It depends on the flight and the day of the week and loads whether there will be any upgrades available. Again worth checking in 'manage my bookings' on a regular basis as upgrades often offered there. If you see one there and are happy with the price then nab it then as no guarentees they will be available again.

I know what you mean about NYC. I want to go back again and I only came back from a trip a couple of weeks ago !

Thanks tontybear - that's really useful. I'll grab the best seat I can now and then as soon as OLCI opens I'll see if I can get a better one!

I've been traveling with Virgin to NYC since 1998. It's become a fairly regular thing. Looking forward to writing another trip report when I'm back.

I've just had a browse in "my bookings" and the PE upgrades are £360 on the way out and £300 on the way back. What's interesting is that on the way back there's the option to upgrade to Upper for an extra £520. Is it just me, or is that comparatively cheap?

There is a mini sale on at the moment Book by the 21st Dec) with UC fares to NYC for £ 1,499 so that will have an effect on the upgrade price - looks like there were sale fares on the date you want to travel !

If you want it grab it !

Ah, that explains it. Much as it's tempting, that's the price of another economy trip to NY - and I'm keen to make a second visit this year. What appeared today is a thing called "Your Bid" which I've not ever come across on the Virgin site before. It allows me to place a bid for an upgrade on each leg of the journey. It's on a sliding scale and lets me know the "strength of my bid" depending on how much I'm bidding. It'll let me know 72 hours before departure if my bid has been successful. You can only bid to upgrade by one class (so you can't bid Economy to Upper) but I think, for me, it's a rather neat idea. I know how much I've paid before at the airport for an upgrade and I'd not pay more than that. This seems like a way of getting the fare I want if they have the right cabin availability.

Hmmmn, 'your bid'? Thats interesting... I don't have any non UC flights booked at the moment. Where do you see this option? In your booking?

It's at the bottom of the booking page when you go to check your booking. I can only assume it's new. I like the idea in theory - wonder how it'll work out.

It's at the bottom of the booking page when you go to check your booking. I can only assume it's new. I like the idea in theory - wonder how it'll work out.

Thanks for the heads up on this new offering Lloydie,
I've had a look at a couple of my bookings and there is no sign of a bid link. I wonder if they are testing it out on a few selected routes, or possibly it is used on known lightly loaded flights?

Wow - everytime I go back and check my booking something changes. I'm guessing a PE sale has just been launched as I can now upgrade my return journey for £95. That's a bit of a no-brainer as it's less than I just bid!! (Thankfully Virgin let you withdraw your bid up to 68 hours before departure). I'm actually glad that I'm so obsessed with checking my booking!

Oh - and now I'm frustrated as "that upgrade is no longer available". Mistake by Virgin or an offer so limited that when I logged in it disappeared? Hmm.

Sorted. A quick call to the flying club and they've honoured the upgrade price (well, they've done it for £96 which I think is a bargain).

They've also confirmed that the "your bid" way of bidding for upgrades is being rolled out today.

They've also confirmed that the "your bid" way of bidding for upgrades is being rolled out today.

sounds interesting - what is this bid system ?

http://virginatlantic.custhelp.com/app/ ... your%20bid