On Board Upgrade Offer

On my recent VS98 back from UVF, after loading, the FSM announced that there were two UC seats available if anybody wanted to buy them He did not reveal a price in the announcement but suggested that anyone interested should meet him at the bar.

One interested PE traveller, not me, went and had a chat..price was £1000 per seat. Mr "might be interested" returned to his seat to discuss with his nearest and dearest (who was pretty negative..."think what you could do with the money"), the FSM then appeared and offered him the use of the seats during take off to see whether he, the pax, might like them.

Mr "might be interested" was becoming Mr "not so sure" so did not take up the "use them for take off" offer. A further conversation occurred at the bar between him and the FSM, this time the price was halved, £1000 in total for the two seats. However Mr "not so sure" became Mr "no thanks we will stay in PE".

I didnt make an offer although might have done if the price was reduced further, a total of £500 for the pair. But I did not enquire.

I have never seen such an on board offer before.

Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

never heard an offer for UC made on VS, though i've been on one to DXB where spare EC legroom seats were on offer for a fixed price, not 100% sure but i think it was the same as the prebooking price

wonder if they're trialing/testing options for in-flight upgrades? with Emirates you can do onboard upgrades (i think you need to be in skywards), if VS did onboard for miles under the same rules as pre-takeoff i think it'd be ok, not keen on them treating it as an open auction/haggle though

also i'd hope they came up with a better approach than the fsm saying "meet me at the bar", things could get nasty if people decide to 'race' or get pushy!

I hate to be old and boring (which I am) but it struck me as being a bit unseemly and desperate.

I concluded that there must be commission involved for such sales.

Does sound odd as surely catering would of been based on the flight loads a few hours out. Unless this is a trail and they had full catering?

On board upgrades to UC are nothing new and £1000 is the set price. They can be sold via the duty free tills.

However CC very rarely offer them proactively, and I wasn't aware they ever discounted them. Maybe a cunning ploy to make 2 seats available further back? Better to make £1000 than op up I guess.

Call me fickle, but if I'm making you a little extra cash, you better be giving me a MUCH better deal than £1000 for two. It's much better to get a sale than no sale at all through making the price too high. It's the very basics of business sense!

Having said that I have had a right chuckle at Thomson phoning us up and telling us about the 'great deal' they are offering to upgrade us to PE (which basically offers you a choice of meal, more legroom and a larger baggage allowance) for the amazingly deal of £700 each. I know loads of people snap this up and all I can say is Thomson knows they can sell to people who have no idea about value for money. I could upgrade to Upper on many good airlines for that on the right day! In fact I could have a whole holiday for that.

Very strange! I'm guessing CC recieve comission on Duty Free sales and wondering if they would for upgrades onboard? If so, I guess the best deal they could do would be £1,000 for two seats and then only put it through the till for one?

Very strange! I'm guessing CC recieve comission on Duty Free sales and wondering if they would for upgrades onboard? If so, I guess the best deal they could do would be £1,000 for two seats and then only put it through the till for one?

I have heard of this before - that CC are given commission on Duty Free sales. So, if there is a till button on the system they would not be able to change the price for this. So only putting one through would work, making the lowest price possible £500 on that occasion.

I must say, I do agree with others there has to be a better way of doing this than an announcement over the PA. Perhaps looking at the PAX listing and speaking to customers who fly a lot / FC members. No doubt these PAX would expect a free upgrade however. Also, £1,000 would be a bit much on the day - even for 2 people. You could, with a bit of luck get a better deal on the ground - especially if you have points...

As everyone else has said I have never heard of this being offered so proactively on board before... The FSM must receive commission to be pushing the sell as much as he did. Either that or it was part of a bet amongst the crew as to who could sell the seats first

This is something you come across a lot during check in though, my favourite has been a two for one offer on PE to UC upgrades at LHR... then they realised there were four of us and quickly rescinded the offer. Ahhh the days before I was Au.

out of interest, was PE full?
maybe someone in E wanted to upgrade to PE, but to get their money, they needed someone to part with money in PE to UC.
Hence they end up selling 4 upgrades - rather than none. May explain why they was flexible in the price.

out of interest, was PE full?

No, PE was not full. I think they were just keen to get a sale...offering the seats for a trial during take off rather underlines the point.

That is not value for money, at all. Who falls for it would have missed the dedicated check in, priority boarding, extra luggage allowance, use of any dedicated lounges for UC customers. All you are left with is a bed and an a la carte menu.

On board upgrades to UC are nothing new and £1000 is the set price. They can be sold via the duty free tills.

However CC very rarely offer them proactively, and I wasn't aware they ever discounted them. Maybe a cunning ploy to make 2 seats available further back? Better to make £1000 than op up I guess.

Can other V-flyers confirm this. Apart from check in, in over 20 years i have never, ever heard of an "on board upgrade" on Virgin.

Travelling in upper with a friend in economy from las , i paid £1000 on board for my friend to take the empty seat next to me, he thought he was being removed from the plane when the fsm went and collected him

I was offered the opportunity to upgrade my brother in law from Premium to Upper one way for £1000 just after take off on a flight to Orlando last August.

Travelling in upper with a friend in economy from las , i paid £1000 on board for my friend to take the empty seat next to me, he thought he was being removed from the plane when the fsm went and collected him

Wow, that was mighty generous of you.
Can I be your friend !!!! ,

Travelling in upper with a friend in economy from las , i paid £1000 on board for my friend to take the empty seat next to me, he thought he was being removed from the plane when the fsm went and collected him

Wow, that was mighty generous of you.
Can I be your friend !!!! ,

What hiljil said ..

On board upgrades to UC are nothing new and £1000 is the set price. They can be sold via the duty free tills.

However CC very rarely offer them proactively, and I wasn't aware they ever discounted them. Maybe a cunning ploy to make 2 seats available further back? Better to make £1000 than op up I guess.

Can other V-flyers confirm this. Apart from check in, in over 20 years i have never, ever heard of an "on board upgrade" on Virgin.

Confirmed in regards to the availability of on board upgrades (not certain on the set £1000 figure though) Like gumshoe says, I have never heard of it being offered so proactively or with any sort of discount in the past.

Am surprised the FSM made a PA announcement publicising the upgrade - what if he got too many takers? (Unlikely I know given the price of £1k though!)

£1k for an onboard upgrade is not good value, as you have missed all the benefits at the airport & unless you are flying into LHR (Revivals) the only benefit onboard is better food & a lie-flat bed. I guess it all depends on what you have planned for the morning on arrival back into the UK though - an important meeting may make the lie-flat bed seem worthwhile.

A friend of mine was offered a PE-UC upgrade at Downtown Disney check-in for £800. (And yes, DTD quoted the price in pounds, not dollars).

[honey lamb]

£1k for an onboard upgrade is not good value, as you have missed all the benefits at the airport & unless you are flying into LHR (Revivals) the only benefit onboard is better food & a lie-flat bed.

Would you be entitled to Revivals, though? They work from a manifest of UC and Au passengers and if you upgraded on board there would be no way to upgrade the information, nor would you have a UC boarding pass to corroborate you were in UC.