V-Flyer

This is disastrous news! The hordes of Delta elites, not content with clogging up the lounge, now have the ability to upgrade from Economy to Upper using a single Global Upgrade.

Goodbye, G availability :(
Another slap in the face for VS Elites who get nothing similar.

REDEMPTIONS ON VIRGIN ATLANTIC

Valid on Delta-marketed, Virgin Atlantic-operated flights for use globally on published Economy Cabin fares booked in W, Y, B, M, S, H, Q, K, L, U, T, X or V class to Upper Class.
Global Upgrades on Virgin Atlantic flights must be confirmed 24 hours prior to departure.
Global Upgrade Certificates may not be used to waitlist for a Virgin Atlantic-operated flight.

https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/medallion-program/choice-benefits/systemwide-upgrade-certificates.html

Good job I've burned my VS Miles and am now building status with BA.

What is a Global Upgrade?

Delta Diamonds get 4 of them each year.

They buy a cheap X Economy fare, use one of the Global Upgrades and fly in Upper instead. It uses up the same inventory that miles upgrades come from which is why it's a total disaster for VS members.

Oh, okay. Judging from the 24 hour requirement my interpretation is that they book/reserve it, and if there is availability it "goes through" at T-24. If that's the case I can't see there would be much impact on 'G' availability. Seems to be the policy for their AF/KL partnership as well.
I think I'd rather wait and see what the impact is before concluding that the sky is falling.

Agreed.

And bear in mind also the G inventory available to those booking a US-UK itinerary is not the same as that available to those booking a UK-US itinerary. Someone based in the US looking for a G on an outbound flight from JFK-LHR may see no availability, whereas it may exist for someone based in the UK looking to return from JFK-LHR on the exact same flight. Therefore even if DL elites who are mainly based in the US gobble up all the Gs available to them, it doesn't necessarily stand to reason that there'll be no Gs available to UK-based passengers.

Once the VS & DL booking systems are fully integrated, in November or whenever, I've no doubt we'll see lots of changes - some positive, some not so.

I wonder how this will affect any of us that may wish to upgrade on the day. Will the revenue management department be converting fares at T-24 to accommodate the increase in G requests from the DL elites before VS FF are able to use miles at the check-in desk?

Small step for VS to give their Au members a reciprocal benefit, and have DL agree to honour the certificates too..

Will this really make any difference?

I would have thought that a large portion of Delta Diamonds would be flying UC paid for by work anyway and if they were actually flying in a lower class and looking to upgrade then they would have the miles to do that now so no real change to G availability.

I guess the closest that VS AU's get to the Delta upgrade certificates is the 80TP upgrade vouchers, it would be nice to see these expanded!