Special Upgrade Dept?

Hi all,

Mum & I are flying to JFK, out on VS45 in Upper and back on VS46 in PE. We want to upgrade to Upper on the return journey. I’ve rung Virgin a couple of times to get a price but the quote they are giving me is more than I would want to pay.

Both of the agents I have spoken to have however told me to ring back a few days before we fly and they have a “special” dept that deals with upgrades that might be able to help me. Does anyone have any experience of getting a lower priced upgrade through this mystery department??!

Thanks in advance.

Hi lucinda,I will be interested to see what your outcome is as I'm doing the same flights in nov although mine are PE both ways so please let me know your outcome.
Regards
Blacky

From memory, wasn't this one of the flights where you could bid money to be upgraded?

It's the pre-flight team who are the same team that you may receive a call from a few days before departure. If there is availability a day or two before your flight then they can offer the same upgrade prices the airports can offer.

Isn't this all another way of calling the revenue department that oversee the computer's pricing of the flights. They are the ones that release reward upgrades and alter the pricing of the fares to correspond with sales/competition promotions etc... I am 100% certain that you cannot talk to these people directly as, otherwise, they would be being approached all the time B)

As SRH says the team you will be speaking with is plain old customer services preflight team that randomly call certain pax in the days running up to flights to offer upgrades, make sure all is ok with booking etc.. you can call these guys by going through the customer service switchboard, but as the agent says you will be attaining a much more acceptable upgrade price closer to the flight date - they have to flog the tickets somehow ):

Good luck with them y) y)

Thanks for your help all, will let you know how I get on. Don't feel all that optimistic!

but as the agent says you will be attaining a much more acceptable upgrade price closer to the flight date - they have to flog the tickets somehow ):

Mmm...I tend to disagree. In my (albeit very limited) experience they may choose not to price to sell, and would rather leave a UC cabin empty rather than promote the idea that delaying booking will lead to a bargain...

Mmm...I tend to disagree. In my (albeit very limited) experience they may choose not to price to sell, and would rather leave a UC cabin empty rather than promote the idea that delaying booking will lead to a bargain...

A fair point. My experience of upgrading into UC comes mostly from using miles as opposed to cash, which is where revenue management usually rear their heads either at check in or a few days before..

Delaying booking will most certainly not guarantee a bargain, my apologies did not mean to convey that message.

Hope you score that upgrade Lucinda y)

all my upgrades from PE to UC (4 in total) have come via the"MMB" page at a good price but you have to check at least 3 or 4 times a day

What's "MMB"? ?|

manage my booking which you can log in to once you got your locater number,or if booked via VH your booking ref

I'm not been offered an upgrade via MMB, do you think this will be an option nearer the time? Flying out on 21 Nov

I'm not been offered an upgrade via MMB, do you think this will be an option nearer the time? Flying out on 21 Nov

Maybe, keep checking back every now and again - it may pop up at some point before the flight. If not either give customer service a call or check at the airport. Always worth a pop, but don't expect miracles. 8D