Upgrades Gold v Cost

Just arrived at SFO on VS19 and I am a little cheesed off but don't know if I should be.

I am a Gold Card member and was travelling in PE. Going through the gate I was hoping for the beep that I have never had and no surprises didn't get today but the guy in front did, no problems there I tell myself he's probably gold like myself. So on to the aircraft seat 23D (terrible seat as the toilet is right next door) and this is where it got interesting.

I was chatting the lady in 23E and the guy in 23F who told me that this was his first flight with Virgin, wasn't a flying club member etc... Then another lady turned up with 23F handwritten on her boarding pass (a friend of the flight crew). The next thing I know is the guy in 23F is being moved to Upper.

So I asked as a gold card member why wasn't I being moved. I was told that he had paid more for his ticket than had. I assume he was on a higher class ticket (I was on a K). I said to the FSM that in that case I'll never get upgraded as I'm always on a K ticket so what's the point of being gold?

However my arguement was (and still is) he may have paid more on this one flight (his only flight!) but as a Gold Card member Virgin have had 10's of thousands of £'s off me over the years.

I got nowhere, thus me feeling slightly betrayed given my long term commitment.

I all fairness the Cabin Crew were fantastic (They pretty much agreed with me) and ensured that my meal choice was taken first and I was well looked after all flight.

You make some really good points here!

The decision has to be that you fly with VS and get your free pen, luggage tags or whatever but aren't really rewarded in the air!

The example you have given today stinks of a very narrow minded approach by VS, look at the current fare class and that's it, nothing else taken into account I.e the cost and commitment to achieve gold!

My decision to switch to VS is based on the service I receive! I'm pretty sure frequent fliers are better recognised on other airlines.

I think you make some very valid points too and I would write in to VS and SR's office to make them. VS is very bad at thinking about such things holistically, hence you witness what you did, at least you weren't insulted further by see a friend of crew wafted up as well!

I can't help but think that FC and rewards lose VS a lot of custom, especially in the US.

[honey lamb]

I think I too would have been exceedingly miffed if that had happened to me, especially as the perceived wisdom is that Gold members are at the top of the pecking order for upgrades. Do write to VS and SRB's office as it does beg the question "What price loyalty" The answer seems to be none

I think I too would have been exceedingly miffed if that had happened to me, especially as the perceived wisdom is that Gold members are at the top of the pecking order for upgrades.

I too would have been livid and have always understood AUs to be prioritised for op- ups regardless of ticket fare class ! .
Given that Hoppy was also in what I consider to be the worst seat in PE, I'd be thinking about voting with my feet.
Keep us posted regarding the response from Crawley.
DL

This kinda happened to me last year or maybe year before when in premium, one of the couple across from me was on the larger side and complained that she couldn't fit in to the seat. It was obviously their first time in virgin by the sounds of their conversation. They were both moved downstairs to upper.

I wasn't a happy bunny either, especially as my p/e ticket was over £1500.

Be interesting to see if you get a sensible a answer if you decide to write in.

David

[Neil]

I always thought the crew didn't know specific fare codes, just J/W/Y, that is what it certainly printed on the boarding cards, so I wonder how the crew knew who had paid more? Maybe it was just an excuse by the FSM to disguise another reason or mistake in who they upgraded?

I always thought the crew didn't know specific fare codes, just J/W/Y, that is what it certainly printed on the boarding cards, so I wonder how the crew knew who had paid more? Maybe it was just an excuse by the FSM to disguise another reason or mistake in who they upgraded?

Neil, it was the ground crew who arranged it, as the doors were still open as general boarding was still going on. I was told they had checked the tickets and that was the reason.

Thanks all for your comments, I feel a little better knowing everyone else pretty much would have felt the same.

I agree - I'd be (very) annoyed too. Like others have suggested write to SRB but keep the letter plain and measured and simply question their policy on upgrading pax and how you would have expected (not demanded) to have been upgraded before a new VS pax and especially before any of the crews mates.

I find that the ground crew ignore a lot of these types of "rules" or do not get complete information. For example, twice I have had to buy two separate tickets for me and my partner since I was paying for mine and using my miles for my partner's. With FC, I asked these tickets to be "linked" so that our seats would stay together. But at least once I was upgraded when my partner wasn't. When I asked about the link, they said they saw nothing on their forms to say our tickets were linked. Being GC had no pull with them either.

[buns]

I too would be miffed. You are quite right to say gaining and retaining Gold status is not cheap (especially when it is your own hard earned cash) yet VS are blighters in coming forward and appreciating it

If Hotel chains and other airlines can do it then why not VS? Perhaps too busy chasing the likes of Madonna

buns

If Hotel chains and other airlines can do it then why not VS? Perhaps too busy chasing the likes of Madonna

buns

Indeed and what benefit have they got out of her no doubt heavily discounted 'custom'?. All the press stories mention her behaviour and rarely mention VS and when they do it is a bad light.

Indeed and what benefit have they got out of her no doubt heavily discounted 'custom'?. All the press stories mention her behaviour and rarely mention VS and when they do it is a bad light.

You're absolutely right TB, I've never heard a good thing about her in person (always loved her music) - and talking to CC they loathe it when she's there. So yes, VS has it's priorities completely wrong pandering to rude people, when not looking after the people who day in, day out, keep the airline in business.

I'm not in the camp of willy nilly upgrades, but as Hoppy describes, VS could if they wanted to get this right and not piss off a regular customer.

I have always said that I am entitled to the seat I have paid for and no more. Anything else is a bonus - that is true. BUT I also expect, whatever I am buying - car hire, hotel rooms etc - that the more business I give the more it is appreciated which is the whole point of a loyalty programme in the first place.

I would have been seething the whole journey if a first time flyer was upgraded ahead of me regardless of fare paid. That is too narrow a criteria for upgrading. The other pax may have paid GBP500 more than me but may never set foot on a VS flight for another year so what have VS gained ?

Back to my favourite topic - silver and Gold are too easy to get and therefore have limited value. On the ground Gold has great value (lounges etc) but on board my feeling is it counts for nothing. Having been a top tier in United for many years they recognise your status every step of the journey - VS seem to forget about you once you are on board.

Back to my favourite topic - silver and Gold are too easy to get and therefore have limited value. On the ground Gold has great value (lounges etc) but on board my feeling is it counts for nothing. Having been a top tier in United for many years they recognise your status every step of the journey - VS seem to forget about you once you are on board.

Is that not more to do with the American service culture though? There does seem to be more value with EVERYTHING there compared to here.

Similar happened to me.
Flying Club Gold on a full priced PE ticket to Jo ' Burg.
Asked in lounge about upgrade with miles but was told flight was full. Was advised to wait in lounge and they would keep an eye on flight and let me know if anything came up which it didn't.
Proceeded to gate where the guy in front of me was given a free upgrade to Upper.
Asked about his status out of interest and was told he was not Gold and that it was "lucky timing" on his part!
It made my very long flight to Jo ' Burg even longer

TOTALLY agree (and I've said it before)

Virgin really need to sort out prioritising their Gold card holders for OP upgrades over anyone else. If you don't look after your regular travellers and high spenders, then someone else will.

I get thoroughly miffed when I see other random folks getting upgraded when I've spent $30,000 on VS flights in the last 6 months and been loyal Au customer for years. USA airlines lag behind in nearly everything, but they know how to treat their top tier frequent flyers, and VS could do with learning from that.

Strict instructions need sending out - OpUp's to GOLD card holders first and foremost!

Its more serious than any of you say: If VS are succeeding in p-ing off their big spender Gold Card holders, they will jump ship, and the airline's income will deflate like an sad balloon.

About the dumbest thing you can do is ignore your top tier frequent flyers when it comes to upgrades. They are the ones who spend a lot of bug $ regularly, in preference of the casual flyer whose on their annual economy trip. Ridiculous short sighted behaviour and bad training protocols, if you ask me.

I too look to BA or AA to be looked after properly. Who wouldn't, when they see a tourist on their once a year trip given preferential treatment over the loyal high spending business customer?

I too look to BA or AA to be looked after properly.

Gold means bugger all in the air with BA, there are so many.We have been looked after very well on CX because of our OW Emerald status.

Back to my favourite topic - silver and Gold are too easy to get and therefore have limited value. On the ground Gold has great value (lounges etc) but on board my feeling is it counts for nothing. Having been a top tier in United for many years they recognise your status every step of the journey - VS seem to forget about you once you are on board.

Is that not more to do with the American service culture though? There does seem to be more value with EVERYTHING there compared to here.

Not if you trawl the FlyerTalk boards, especially the United one. Clearly US-based airlines fine grain the FF program and treat folks very differently at the different levels. If you are a Premier with United, you will have a hard time feeling like there is any recognition, especially out of an airport like SFO which is so UA-heavy. It's not so much that everyone is treated better - many here would argue that simply flying a legacy US airline is in fact a surefire way to be treated considerably worse on average. It's that status is used to make the experience of those at higher tiers a bit more tolerable, noticeably so at a level like 1K, so it becomes a genuine incentive program.

As has been said many times, VS does not use vanilla Gold status the same way. For all the griping, I'm not sure how much they would concretely benefit, but US pax care about this stuff if they fly frequently, and will take it into consideration.

In this specific case, if upgrading priority were to be a benefit of Gold status (certainly not a published one as far as I could read in the past) then we'd be dealing with a rogue Gate Agent, and a letter would definitely result in compensation. I'd bet GAs have one mission to fulfill, get the flight out on time, with as many pax on board as reasonably possible. And yes, I'd have been really upset to see me being passed over when I was a VS Gold; my bet is they have latitude in how they get their job done, guidelines maybe, but I am not sure you'll get a lot of sympathy. Even as good as UA are at processing upgrades, I realize that once I am on the plane my 1k status might not come into play in such a situation, it will end up being more of "wherever the GA's eyes and fingers fall" at that point.