Using SM to upgrade on VS
 

I've looked around the forum and don't see any "success" stories -- so posting to see if anyone has been able to upgrade a VS PE ticket to VS upper class using SM.
I'm booked JFK-LHR-IAD next week using an 006 ticket, W class of service on DL. It shows up on the VS www site as K (difference between 50% or 25% bonus on the base miles, both earn 50% bonus on MQMs). I am going to call to see if there is any chance of using miles to upgrade, but before I do, want to see if anyone had a success story. I've had some success using miles to upgrade S and W fares on AF (but not recently).
Thanks.
tom

I very much doubt that this is possible.

Currently not possible. Also in the same boat, purchased W on Delta = K on VS. K is not an upgradeable PE fare on VS but that doesn't seem to be the sticking point. I also purchased a round trip with VS S class (upgradeable PE) on the outbound and DL M on the return to burn a SWU. Even though the outbound is a VS flight and VS fare, because it was issued on 006 DL ticket stock VS cannot alter it in anyway.

The moral of the story is at present if you want to upgrade on VS you must purchase a ticket directly from VS in the appropriate fare class (see www.v-flyer.com for which fare classes are upgradeable).

The only glimmer of hope that was given after quite a bit of time with VS customer support was that there may be some wiggle room after you check-in, in which case VS can alter the ticket. I would expect you would probably need to buy up to S class in this case.

Hopefully the joint venture will become a little more cohesive with upgrades allowed from VS to DL and vis versa.

Thanks, I can live with PE on Virgin Atlantic if it is anything like PE on Virgin Australia. But thought I might give it a try. I definitely don't want to rewrite the ticket to VS stock because that might/will kill the MQDs on it.

Are you talking about paid upgrades? I don't think VS agents can pull (or even see) DL miles. Transactions using DL miles normally need to be done by DL agents, although KLM upgrades at AMS, including into BE on DL operated flights, seem to be an exception that's part of the way KLM handles all DL flights at AMS as well as having the JV.

DL miles cannot currently be used to UG VS flights.

In addition, per the VS staff I talked to at LHR yesterday, VS cannot sell extra legroom seats or PE/J upgrades in advance for tickets issued by DL. This can only be done day of departure.

I will see what happens at ATL in Monday for my return flight to LHR as I'd like to at least buy an extra legroom seat.

Just clarify my comments on check-in upgrades, as others have pointed out you cannot upgrade on VS with Skymiles, but it may be possible to use VS miles on the day of departure. Also I have seen VS sell upgrades at the gate.

FYI AMEX are doing a 35% bonus on transfers to VS til the end of November.

Please report back on your experience, rwoman. I'm very interested to hear what is offered on VS ex-ATL.

On the bus to the F terminal now! :)

Are there any updates to this?

I'm booked in "W" class on a Delta 006 ticket on VS for Wednesday 2/24. While I'll be happy in PE, it never hurts to ask whether a move to UC can be had for miles or cash.

VS may offer the UG for cash but there are not currently any SkyMiles UG options. Just ask at airport check in as VS will sell UGs if there's space. You can also see VS J/W space on ExpertFlyer.

On my last departure from LHR on February 19th (flying VS Metal on VS stock in W) I was told that VS would be integrating IT systems with DL by Q4 2016, and that would be the soonest we could expect to see the use of DL miles for VS upgrades.

Interestingly enough, VS customer service emailed me a few days prior to my departure and offered me a paid upgrade to Upper for <£600, which jumped to >£1200 on day of departure. If you're open to paying for the upgrade, you would do well to call in to Virgin directly.

Now thats a scary thought... probably taking a while to find the required obsolete hardware and retired software coders to downgrade the VS infrastructure to talk to DL.