Change to max saver rewards - mistake or points devaluation?

Unless I'm missing something, it seems all the Maximum Saver reward seat prices have been quietly changed, e.g. West Coast USA in Upper has been reduced from 67,500 to 41,000 (one way).

Call me cynical, but unless the plan is to put more seats on as saver rewards at a lower price, I can only think this is to reduce the notional points value of cash tickets when upgrading with points (as the price is calculated as the points cost of the upgraded seat minus the maximum saver reward points cost in the cabin originally purchased).. which would indirectly be a kind of devaluation..

Here are the old and new Maximum Saver Reward seat tables:

Old:

Old max saver rewards.png (152.82 KiB) Viewed 9064 times

New:

New max saver rewards.png (118.48 KiB) Viewed 9064 times

The new table is available here: https://www.virginatlantic.com/flying-c ... ward-seats

* Edit: Maybe this new table is a mistake? As I can see the new "Maximum" saver reward prices are exactly the same as their example "lowest" saver reward prices..

It may be a mistake, but also with the new A339 coming which of will have more UC and premium seating and then the drift of B787 which with have more UC and PR seats, then it could be (wishful thinking) to have more seats at the cheapest saver rate.

But most likely is to make the devaluation of upgrading.
For example; I upgraded from premium to UC on Las Vegas flight in November. UC was 41,000 points, premium maxim saver was 27,500, so only paid 13,500.

With new table of points if UC was still 41,000, I’d pay 24,500 points to upgrade .

However I just took a look at LHr-JFK for example; July point seats. 35,000 UC plenty available. Also JFK-LHR at 35,000 (peak season rate). Which JFK - LHR is never really so low. So maybe they are also aligning it and that save reward seats are released first, and more of them.

More confusion to a already confused customer

[mitchja]

The were changed a few weeks ago. It was briefly mentioned in this post.

Whilst many routes saw a drop in points required, several routes have also increased as well.

The were changed a few weeks ago. It was briefly mentioned in this post.

Whilst many routes saw a drop in points required, several routes have also increased as well.

I think that post is talking about there being some cheap saver rewards available at the time, but that’s not the same as the max saver reward points changing. The only mention of maximum saver rewards is Premium to MCO at 22,500, which is what it was on the old table above. The max saver reward table for that route now shows 13,500.

If it’s not a mistake (it may well be, as it seems weird saying that the lowest saver reward points cost is the same as the maximum), it will make upgrading cash fares more expensive in terms of points.

I just hope lower saver rates are offered first. I’ve had multiple flights where I’ve booked saver reward seats (but not the lowest) and weeks/months later have been reduced to the lowest saver reward seat price. But that’s money making for VS as then they can charge change fees.

Just like if you book return flight on points, you can cancel one of the flights off of the booking no problem. But apparently booking a one way ticket, you cannot add the return. Why? Because now US-LHR are higher fees, so they’d prefer you to book the one way to get more £££.

The maximum saver rates still stand (they’ve just removed them from online).

Had to change the flights in November to next May.
I previously paid £115 per person upgrade fee and 13,500 points per person from PR to UC on the LHR-LAS (full reward seat was 41,000 points in UC per person).

New flight LHR-LAX was 41,000 per person in UC.
Agent refunded points on previous upgrade, and again was advised 13,500 points to upgrade (41k- premium maximum saver (27,500 points).

However I had to speak to 3 agents as two insisted they had to charge full UC redemption and one agent quoted 350k points each.
Still staff are not all trained on how to deal with these upgrades.
So if it doesn’t seem right, try again.

I have checked and its bee updated to reflect the maximum saver reward seat price and not the lowest.
So it seems it must have been an error on Virgin side. All looks as it does before.