Thank God I found this forum! Tons of good information. I've done some searching but I'm not clear on something re: Elevate.
My wife and I are flying to JFK in mid Decembe for our 20th. We've only been fortunate enough to fly first about 5 years ago.

We've had one good experience with VA on a short west coast hop so I thought I'd try it again for this trip. I'm willing to spring for the first class fare but I'm seeing in some posts here that if I book MCS and then wait until 24 hours prior, I can click on to my Elevate account and get an upgrade to first for considerably less.
Is that accurate?
Can anyone guess at what my chances are of getting the upgrade?

Obviously this assumes there are first class seats available 24 hours prior but I'm willing to gamble if it's a good bet...lol.
Oh, I just signed up for the Elevate account. I'm assuming this all would still apply even though I haven't used it yet?

Sorry for the rambling.

Please read the FAQ at the top of this forum. It explains the answers to your questions. But note that it's 6 hours prior to flight time, not 24.

Being a transcon in Peak season, you would want to be right in front of your screen with CC details ready on that 6hr mark precisely.

Id imagine the current cost difference between MCS and First would be huge, so Id hang it out, but you will need to be fast.