Did someone say upgrade???

Hi, I am just curious about something..??

Last week I was sitting next to someone on the plane who said he flew alot and how great it was that they looked after him so well at Heathrow, frequently upgrading him to Premium, i nearly fell off my chair !! Admittadly he was easy on the eye, twinkley eyed and wearing a suit (none of which match my descripton !)

I was just curious – that has never happend to me, ever at LHR. (I've been flying now for about 6 years with Virgin around 10 tips a year, am a gold card hoder and sometimes on a high fare bucket sometimes not.) However a twinkley eyed man in a smart suit I am not ! Grrrrr knew it was somthing !!

I had my first op-up about 24 months ago from PE to UC. In 10 years of VS flying. At time due to lack of flying past 12 mo - I was merely a VS basic red card holder - not even a Gold/Silver.

I would comment I typically fly in a suit jacket, jeans, plus t-shirt or polo. Suit jacket, to keep it nice for other end as it doesn't travel well in my suit bag.

So I'd say it's not common. It does depend on route though. Routes overbooked DO get op-ups and FC members ARE first on list as proven above.

Its not common!!!
I am lucky enough to only fly PE for day flights to BOS and NYC and UC for the rest and UC for night flights home.
I went thru a stage of getting a number of OP-UPs in a row about 18 months ago, then, all went silent. I travel in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt in the summer and Jeans, boots and some top in the winter. I also do not have twinkly eyes
As someone else mentioned, pretty sure its down to overbooking and then in my mind only, goes in this order.

1. Size of party (singles trump all)
2. FC Status(Gold, Silver, Red)
3. Bucket of fare(highest to lowest)
4. You know someone on the flight.
5. What you are wearing???

Of course number 3 can always trump 1 and 2 if you know then well enough and I am guilt of that treat

Don't think it's common... It's happened to me once , and that was due to overbooking.

Now that your seat neighbour has bragged about his op-ups the op-up gods will not look so kindly on him in future!

[buns]

Now that your seat neighbour has bragged about his op-ups the op-up gods will not look so kindly on him in future!

My thoughts precisely

For the record, have never been op-up'd since I have been Au

buns

Ignore me -- wrong thread

But as an aside I haven't gotten an op up and mainly fly EWR-LHR multiple times the past several years.

i have been lucky enough to experience two op-ups on a single route but a fews years apart. both were for overbooked flight and i was a lowly red. first time in jan 08 coming back from NRT i had just boarded and sat at my exit row seat in Y (for which i paid 75gbp for at NRT checkin) when a CA came told,me they had a better seat for me in PE :-)
the second time was in march 13 again at NRT at the gate (i was now travelling with my good missus) and we were called at the gate where we were presented with boarding passes for UC.
now,that we are going to be flying BA i cant imagine that happening.

Over the years we've managed 3 op ups.

1) American Airlines flight JFK-LAX. My wife got upgraded because a couple wanted to sit together (they were on honeymoon) and were willing to give up their Business Class seats to be together

2) Virgin flight back from Barbados. Their had been storms the previous nights and so the flights had been cancelled. On the day of our flight these passengers were put onto our flight meaning that not only was the flight overbooked but EC and PE (where we were seated) were full. We had checked in online and were sat in our seats when a family came saying that we were in their seats....long story short showed CC boarding passess and both sets had same seat numbers...because we were Flying Club Red and Silver all 4 of us got upgraded to UC

3) Emirates. Orginally booked in Business LGW-DXB-MAURITIUS. Guessing the flight was overbooked and when we were boarding in DXB the agent struck a friendly conversation with us and said 'you'll be flying First Class today'.


Admittedly we have been rather lucky but I think most op-ups nowadays are due to overbooking. Although equally if there aren't any seats in higher classes then overbooking can see you bumped off all together.

Now that your seat neighbour has bragged about his op-ups the op-up gods will not look so kindly on him in future!

My thoughts precisely

For the record, have never been op-up'd since I have been Au

buns

Buns, you do realise don't you that your upgrade odds aren't great if you always fly UC

Flying VS 6-8 times a year for 18 years, one upgrade, that was from Y to W....

Buuuut, that one upgrade meant I never flew Y again

I was given an opup from PE to UC on my first ever VS flight - it certainly helped build some immediate loyalty and was a terrific experience.

Thinking about it reminds me how much UC has slipped since then, but that's a different story.

OH and I were op-upped at check in from PE to UC in April 2011, our third flight with Virgin. I assume it was due to overbooking but didn't know enough in those days to check.

Last month our son and DIL were op-upped at the gate from Y to PE. This was their third flight, they are FC Red. Y and PE were both full, one empty seat in UC.

Both flights were LHR to EWR.

Never been upgraded with Virgin, but I'm only a once a year long haul and have only been with Virgin 4 years.
I have managed a couple of jumps to First, one with American Airlines coming home from Boston and one with Air Malaysia out to Brisbane.
The Air Malaysia trip was because there were so few in First and Business they decided to move all the Business passengers into the First class cabin and combine the service.
Dick D

I fly UC on business multiple times per year, and fly UC leisure on long haul if funds allow.
Several years ago flying PE out of Shanghai I arrived very early at the airport and to my surprise I was upgraded at the desk, my next flight out of Heathrow I was also upgraded from PE to UC ---- all very nice and it hooked me for life ............. however I have a gripe ..... no lounge access!! --- In my opinion VS and other carriers are missing out on a marketing trick here, if you are lucky enough to be granted an upgrade throw in the lounge as well --- a good lounge say LHR or HKG is a huge part of the experience .... I am sure others would be hooked by the full package and possible pay for the experience on thier next flights

Only ever been upgraded once - that was as we went to board the plane and the ticket machine made a nice 'beep' - from Eco to PE (no idea on coding) on LHR - LAX flight. Absolutely loved it and I was also invited to sit at the UC bar for a while as well as this was empty and I had a lovely chat with the CC before... As with others this is one of the reasons I fly VS.

I always hope for this, being predominantly a PE flyer it would be awesome. Next flight is in ECO so can always hope - I have seat plus so if the flight is packed they might move me and the OH to get 3 seats back. One can hope! However, I still believe that VS ECO is like PE in many other airlines!

[mitchja]

It's has happened to me several times, though not recently (to be fair I only fly premium or upper now anyway). No idea if it's because I travel solo, but I suspect that does help.

Most of the time, it's been a case of getting on-board and finding someone else sat in my seat in either economy or premium. Generally I've found this to happen at US airports, though it has happened once at LHR as well. Never had the boarding gate beep though here.

I remember once being at IAD where I was flying economy and had already received an op-up to premium whilst in the CH (I was AU at the time), but once on-board there where around 12 pax that had all been given the same 6 seats (including me with my already op-up'd premium seat). It was chaos basically as the crew where having to sort it all out with the ground staff no where to be seen. The person who had the same premium seat number as me had also been op-up'd from economy as they where also AU. In the end, they got the double op-up to Upper because they where on a slightly higher economy fare compared to me. I wasn't arguing as that was the only fair way to do it.

All in all I would say I've had about 5 or 6 op-ups on VS over the years.

It's fairly random in my experience.

It might help, for context, to get some basic statistics: on average, I fly 20-30 flights per year with VS, in all three cabins (roughly divided 50% in UC, 25% in PE, 25% in Economy).

I've had most 'success' when flying Economy, rather than PE, though. That makes sense, I suppose, as there's more to offer for someone in Economy.

I'm Au, and - just for the record(!) - the only thing I expect are the official benefits. Anything extra is truly always a bonus, and I am genuinely surprised if it happens. Mostly I fly solo, and 90% of the time, any kind of upgrade or 'extra' has happened when I've been by myself.

In terms of non-upgrade 'extras', when flying Economy I have been offered UC meals, champagne, extra legroom seats, bulkhead seats, which I put down to being Au. I'd say one or more of these 'extras' happens about 50% of my time when flying in Economy (most frequently on the quite often empty VS18 morning flights ex-EWR, where I've been offered a bulkhead or extra legroom seat quite a few times).

This kind of non-upgrade 'extra' virtually never happens in PE (I was once offered an UC meal, I think).

I've never been upgraded once entering the plane itself. I have had one-class upgrades (Economy to PE; PE to UC) whilst waiting in the CH, though. I'd say this happens maybe once a year (more often Economy to PE than PE to UC). I've never been upgraded Economy to UC.

It seems random to me, and while I assume it's happened because I'm Au, that has never explicitly been told to me.

Reading all of these posts has given me a tiny amount of hope that my girlfriend and I MIGHT get the nod when we travel to JFK from LHR later this month. Realistically we have no chance; cheapest economy tickets we could get and we are lowly red FC members with about 7000 points! To be honest though, I am happy that we got seats in the bubble and excited just to fly with Virgin!