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Old Apr 23, 2009, 7:51 am
  #6  
Wiirachay
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Home: Arlington, VA; Home airports: IAD/DCA/BWI
Programs: Active: AA, UA, DL
Posts: 4,093
Originally Posted by tilenius
I still think the useful tip here is for any last-minute frequent flyers who want to buy FIRST: don't do it if you see an open seat, upgrade instead!

For instance, flying SFO to BOS, last-minute pricing was $369 coach, $389 Main Cabin Select, $1069 First. If you wanted First, you could instead buy MCS for $389 then immediately upgrade (within 24 hours) for only $150 (I think that's the MCS to First upgrade rate: I know it's a lot less than Coach to First) so total price would be $539 -- about 50% off what you'd have paid if you just selected First when buying the ticket.

Why they don't reflect this in their reservation system is beyond me. In fact, I noticed that on my flight, they WERE selling First tickets for $899, but after I upgraded, it bumped the First price to $1069, presumably because the computer saw fewer seats available. But as it was within 24 hours, anyone could have had that seat for under $600 if they knew this tip.

So this is in part a nearly-foolproof way to save up to 50% off buying last-minute First class fares on Virgin America!

Okay, not 100% new, but maybe that helps justify my tip? So I guess this thread should be titled, "HALF PRICE FIRST CLASS SEATS ON VIRGIN AMERICA!" :-) LOL!
You do have a point about that. I wonder how many suckers have purchased just F directly on the same day. It would be similar concept where Johnson and Johnson sold 3-day, 1 week, 1 month contacts a decade ago, but all the contacts were exactly the same!
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