Virgin America Elevate - Check in now or later if I want to 6 hr upgrade?

Hi Everyone,

I'm taking a redeye tonight and would love to upgrade to first class given the promise of a 10 AM meeting tomorrow morning;)

If I check in to the flight now, I'll get better boarding priority, but I seem to recall that I'll lose the ability to do the 6 hour upgrade without calling or something. Does that sound right?

I'm afraid to check-in for this reason, but assuming I miss the upgrade, then I'll be in a battle for carry-on space. Decisions, decisions...

Would greatly appreciate any assistance. I assume that at T minus 6 hours I just go into my Elevate account, click Check In, and then get prompted to upgrade, no? It's been a while since I've done this.

Thanks,

Alex

You are correct. You would have to call to "uncheck" in at T-6. However, the last few times I tried to upgrade to MCS at T-24, I had to call anyway, since the on line upgrade wasn't working. If you do call at T-6, keep in mind that you may be on hold for 20 or more minutes. I would go ahead and upgrade to MCS at T-24 and then try for the F upgrade at T-6.

Thanks for the help. Does making an MCS upgrade give you priority for a F upgrade? And I would assume that if I do an MCS upgrade, I'll have to call for the F upgrade...?

You are correct. You would have to call to "uncheck" in at T-6. However, the last few times I tried to upgrade to MCS at T-24, I had to call anyway, since the on line upgrade wasn't working. If you do call at T-6, keep in mind that you may be on hold for 20 or more minutes. I would go ahead and upgrade to MCS at T-24 and then try for the F upgrade at T-6.

Thanks for the help. Does making an MCS upgrade give you priority for a F upgrade? And I would assume that if I do an MCS upgrade, I'll have to call for the F upgrade...?

It does not give you any priority. You should assume that you have to call under any circumstances, given the fact that the reservation system isn't working as designed. However, the way it's supposed to work is that you should not have to call. Just do not check-in. Upgrade without checking in. As malsf1 suggests, call at least 20 minutes before T-6, accounting for the hold time. You can be prepared to upgrade via the Internet at the same time, and it just might work at exactly T-6.

You don't have to wait these days anymore, I called 2 weeks ago and there was a call back option, I opted for that and they did call.

The call back option does work, as LovetoTravel83 states. However, if you are on another call when they call back, you may have to repeat the procedure and lose the upgrade opportunity.