Virgin America Elevate - Main cabin MORE than First Class?

I was just messing around on the VX web site, and for the SEA-LAX flight that leaves in an hour and a half, they're selling Y seats for 284 and FC for 254! Main Cabin Select is 249. Checking returns for 11/9 is similar. Y and F are the same price (254) and MCS is 249. Odd.

I was just messing around on the VX web site, and for the SEA-LAX flight that leaves in an hour and a half, they're selling Y seats for 284 and FC for 254! Main Cabin Select is 249. Checking returns for 11/9 is similar. Y and F are the same price (254) and MCS is 249. Odd.

Been reported here before. F gets it's price lowered closer to departure and when only a handful of Y seats are left at the highest price, you get this reverse pricing scenario.

Been reported here before. F gets it's price lowered closer to departure and when only a handful of Y seats are left at the highest price, you get this reverse pricing scenario.I wonder if you'd get a credit if you bought a higher Y or MCS ticket than the currently available F fares and then "upgraded" into F via the website prior to the flight?

I have had this happen on United as well a few times. Going from SEA to MRY (via SFO) once. The price of a coach ticket was $1250 while the price of a first ticket was $350. You would not believe the grief I got from my corporate travel dept for booking a first class ticket instead of a coach ticket for that trip...

I have had this happen on United as well a few times. Going from SEA to MRY (via SFO) once. The price of a coach ticket was $1250 while the price of a first ticket was $350. You would not believe the grief I got from my corporate travel dept for booking a first class ticket instead of a coach ticket for that trip...Just get a CYA e-mail response from your manager. Send him/her an e-mail that says something like, "I need authorization to spend an extra $900 to purchase the least expensive economy-class ticket for $1,250, because such purchase would violate the company policy to book the cheapest ticket option (which, on this flight, is a first-class seat priced at $350)."

Scenario 1: Your manager responds authorizing you to buy the first class ticket. Attach the response to your expense report.

Scenario 2: Your manager authorizes you to spend the extra $900. Attach the response to an e-mail, subject line = "...??", to your manager's manager. Enjoy what happens next.

Just get a CYA e-mail response from your manager. Send him/her an e-mail that says something like, "I need authorization to spend an extra $900 to purchase the least expensive economy-class ticket for $1,250, because such purchase would violate the company policy to book the cheapest ticket option (which, on this flight, is a first-class seat priced at $350)."

Scenario 1: Your manager responds authorizing you to buy the first class ticket. Attach the response to your expense report.

Scenario 2: Your manager authorizes you to spend the extra $900. Attach the response to an e-mail, subject line = "...??", to your manager's manager. Enjoy what happens next.


I actually pretty much did what you suggested. I emailed my boss after I bought the ticket and told her that this is why I did what I did. She of course was in complete support. When my AP people questioned it, I sent them the email and they approved it no problem. The AP rep actually laughed about the whole situation.

Good news: MCS got repriced- as an example, MCS is now $170 on SEA-LAX/LAX-SEA flights, $84 less than F. ^

Bad news: there are some of those flights where coach is priced at $184, MCS at $170. :confused:

Can someone let the VX Revenue Management folks know their pricing algorithms still need work?

Good news: MCS got repriced- as an example, MCS is now $170 on SEA-LAX/LAX-SEA flights, $84 less than F. ^

Bad news: there are some of those flights where coach is priced at $184, MCS at $170. :confused:

Can someone let the VX Revenue Management folks know their pricing algorithms still need work?

They know

They know

LOL

AA has had this situation recently on 1-month-out flights LAS-LAX and LAS-SFO. Restricted first was $190 one-way (LAS-SFO), where the cheapest restricted coach ticket was something like $430. This is for a route where the lowest coach-fare bucket is around $45 o/w.

The restricted first-class ticket required r/t purchase--unfortunately, as it was about the same price as coach seats on other carriers for that date! So I got a VA ticket instead.

This is a great quirk. My first F on VX was SEA-LAX. I was booked on UA and they were showing a four hour delay. Didn't want to deal, so looked up Virgin and - voila - F ticket for $254, Y for $259. This was about three hours prior to departure.

This is a great quirk. My first F on VX was SEA-LAX. I was booked on UA and they were showing a four hour delay. Didn't want to deal, so looked up Virgin and - voila - F ticket for $254, Y for $259. This was about three hours prior to departure.

So how much did UA want from you?

So how much did UA want from you?

UA wanted four hours of my time, for which I was more than willing to pay VX $254 to recover.

In the end I was able to get a refund from UA on the SEA-LAX segment because of the long delay, so the actual cost was less than $100. ^