V-Flyer

Had a call from VS this morning in advance of my flight to BGI on Friday. Basically making sure everything was ok, trying to sell me upgrades/extra legroom, any special requests etc and noting/thanking me for being AU. nice touch I thought. Is this new or hit and miss, as didn't happen on my previous UC flights!

Also took the opportunity to ask when the LGW CH opened, said 7am which seems to contradict the 630am start experienced by some of the v flyers who recently were there!

According to the Clubhouse staff, they open at 6am!

gilly wrote:According to the Clubhouse staff, they open at 6am!

Thanks! More VS inconsistency! Well am staying at the Hilton so will aim for checkin at 530 and see where we get to!

There have been reports from others about similar calls - usually to try and sell an upgrade

honey lamb wrote:There have been reports from others about similar calls - usually to try and sell an upgrade

yep, last 2 flights it's happened to me.

flyerdavid wrote:

gilly wrote:According to the Clubhouse staff, they open at 6am!

Thanks! More VS inconsistency! Well am staying at the Hilton so will aim for checkin at 530 and see where we get to!

Will you be too late the evening before to do Twilight Check In? That's my plan for our trip in July, so in the morning we can stroll across and only have Security to negotiate.

I wish they did Twilight Check in at lhr. Anyone know what it isn't offered at Heathrow?
We have used it many times at lgw and it is a great service. Makes the next morning much more relaxing.

Spill wrote:I wish they did Twilight Check in at lhr. Anyone know what it isn't offered at Heathrow?
We have used it many times at lgw and it is a great service. Makes the next morning much more relaxing.

The reason it is available at LGW and not LHR is that all the flights from LGW have departed or else closed by midday and therefore there is unlikely to be a mix-up of flights departing the following day. Even if flights are severely delayed check-in will have closed unless notified by VS. LHR on the other hand have flights departing all through the day almost until the curfew. Therefore check-in will always be busy and there is more likely to be confusion between flights departing that day and the following day.

Spill wrote:I wish they did Twilight Check in at lhr. Anyone know what it isn't offered at Heathrow?
We have used it many times at lgw and it is a great service. Makes the next morning much more relaxing.

LHR won't hold baggage unless on a connecting flight, but then only for 24hrs max . A few reasons; there is a greater security risk at LHR (seen as more of a target) and the baggage system is currently run at capacity. They are increasing capacity, but it's not live yet - and won't be until T2 is operational. When it is, if LHR thought it was a good idea for them to offer twilight check in, it would be simple to do, as the system is set up to accept baggage upto a week in advance, so wouldn't get confused or anything.  It's got nothing to do with the number of flights that operate out of T3 or LHR as a whole.

T5 is the only terminal with enough slack in the Early Bag Store to operate any form of Twilight Check in at present - but BA choose not to.

If BAA offered it, I'm sure VAA would work out a way to deal with the busier check in at Heathrow if they wanted to make use of it.

Hamster wrote:LHR won't hold baggage unless on a connecting flight, but then only for 24hrs max .

I was refused that last year when I arrived in LHR at 9:20pm for an 8:30am departure. Although my flight was a BA codeshare I still had to collect and re-check the next morning

Another point - some airlines will not accept bags for a later if there is an earlier flight due to depart. I've frequently arrived in LHR from a VS flight but I cannot check in until two or three hours before the flight if I'm not on the same PNR yet the same bags go through if I am ?|

About 5 years ago I was flying BA from EDI to LCY and a colleague to LHR and they were applying strict times for accepting baggage - they cited a lack of storage space and 'security'

Got a call from VS a couple of days before my recent JFK flight.

They were making sure everything was ok, thanks for choosing to fly with them etc etc.. No thanks for being AU though, maybe next time. They were also flogging upgrades to upper, fortunately some G class had opened up so I was able to upgrade with miles and use drive thru check-in. y)

Thankful for the call on this occasion.

Will they only call and offer upgrades to pax who've booked flexible, upgradable economy or PE tickets?

Or are they offering them to everyone?

In other words, what criteria do they use when deciding who to call?

gumshoe wrote:Will they only call and offer upgrades to pax who've booked flexible, upgradable economy or PE tickets?

Or are they offering them to everyone?

In other words, what criteria do they use when deciding who to call?

I was on the cheapest available economy seat outbound the last time, and PE return. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.

gumshoe wrote:Will they only call and offer upgrades to pax who've booked flexible, upgradable economy or PE tickets?

Or are they offering them to everyone?

In other words, what criteria do they use when deciding who to call?

On this occasion I was travelling on S class tickets (upgradable) however last time I was travelling in K (lowest prem eco) I also got a call. Not quite sure what the criteria are as it doesn't always happen. It may just be a random sampling of pax travelling on a particular day or flight. Sorry can't be much help.. ?|

not yet had a call,but upgrade options do show in manage your flight page

jodash wrote:not yet had a call,but upgrade options do show in manage your flight page

Indeed, but are the offers made in the calls ever any better than those?

I had a call and was on a reward Y booking, offered PE upgrade for outbound sector LHR to MIA for £245pp.

gumshoe wrote:

jodash wrote:not yet had a call,but upgrade options do show in manage your flight page

Indeed, but are the offers made in the calls ever any better than those?

I would assume they are, but never had a call,although never answer the phone as it's never for me

jodash wrote:

gumshoe wrote:

jodash wrote:not yet had a call,but upgrade options do show in manage your flight page

Indeed, but are the offers made in the calls ever any better than those?

I would assume they are, but never had a call,although never answer the phone as it's never for me

Mine was exactly the same amount of money as quoted online.

I too had a call from VS a couple of weeks ago, two days before my flight to SFO. All the same shpiel as mentioned by flyerdavid. I was trying to work out what it was for (= what they were trying to sell me) and came to the conclusion it was an upgrade sales call to PE or Upper which they get on to late on in the conversation. I was on a cheap O ticket and had purchased an exit row. He didn't know I was Au, but I did tell him. DYKWIA

My reading is that this is a sales drive to generate more revenue from existing customers. To my knowledge there was no special deal to be had on the call. Maybe there should be as I'm sure it would help to sell a few more.

I have just had a pre-flight call from VS for my Monday flight to LA. VS23 is very busy with no upgrade availability in PE or UC. The lady was also checking if my ESTA or API is all completed.

She did try to sell me an exit row seat in economy for £80 but I hate these seats as they narrower. And she did suggest there is availability in PE on the earlier VS7.