<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by MEBenson:
The title of your thread perpetuates a common misconception. Virgin does not CODESHARE with Continental. They have a hardblock arrangement. CO actually owns a limited number of seats on certain VS flights, and if you're in one of those seats, then you get OP miles. If you're not in one of those seats - no miles. You cannot use OP miles to upgrade on VS flights.</font>
I quote from continental.com:
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Continental OnePass members can earn miles and redeem rewards on all codeshare flights operated by Virgin Atlantic.
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But yes, you are correct that CO purchases a set amount of tickets on Virgin, and only on certain routes (e.g., not London-LAS). They purchase and resell both economy and upper class tickets (not premium economy, and no upper class from Orlando), and I imagine it's CO's decision whether they want to sell them for hard cash or for miles/upgrades.
Also, your seating options will be limited, since CO only has access to certain seats, and they're probably not the best ones. (Although the gate agent could probably switch assigments if there's space).