Horrible First Experience with the "New" Elevate
 

Called into Elevate tonight, since I noticed that not only does my account say 0 status points (which even the rep admitted was clearly a system error, since i've had a number of flights and monthly credit card status updates), but it also doesn't reflect me as Silver Status.

She told me that even though I had both confirmation of my elevate silver card and forwarded that to her, as well as my elevate silver status email, she still stated that there was absolutely nothing her and her supervisor could do about a flight tomorrow, and that I absolutely wouldn't be placed on the upgrade list.

To make matters worse, she also mentioned that they've already changed the upgrade policy. Instead of getting automatic upgrades if you are silver or gold @ 24 / 12 hours (as their press release states clearly here - http://www.virginamerica.com/press-r...nch-tiers.html), they've instead changed it so that you are placed on a priority list and only informed @ 2 hours before Takeoff. So basically, anyone doing a paid upgrade, even up to the last minute has priority. If you want any promise of an upgrade or anything else, or even one bit of certainty, you may as well pay for it.

For a frequent traveler, their level of customer service and arrogance tonight was almost insulting. To make matters worse, I spoke to a customer service agent yesterday who promised me it was taken care of and that I'd receive an upgrade.

When are these people ever going to get something right the first time? Even the rep on the phone said that they were still "trying to figure out who's in the right status column", but that's up to a different team so we can't handle it.

As a final note, when asked for the contact information of her and her supervisor, I was told only that his name was "Nick". When I asked for a last name or any other identifiable information, I was told that it was confidential, but that he was definitely the only "Nick" supervisor.

Maybe it's time for a switch, and a permanent one at that.

Wow! That's unreal. :eek:

Sorry to hear. This reminds me of similar situations almost a year ago when VX changed their reservations system. They supposedly lost a lot of revenue in the transition. Will this be another repeat of last year's handling of customer service but now on a different issue?

BTW: When VX started the new Elevate, I also have zero points and I'm a regular flyer with them. Some customer service they are giving to us VX "Founding Members". :rolleyes:

I ye resting indeed!

Hope this all turns out to be a fluke of some sort with regards to a CS repmaking up stuff. Time will tell and others will also begin sounding off as well. Surprised your the first Teevor to post such an experience.

I'm heading out in two days. Hope it goes much better in that time frame for me than what you're reporting.

Stay tuned!

Well, I've been lurking the Virgin America forums for a while here, and I finally got so fed up I had to post! When I was talking to the FA on the flight over, she literally told me that she feels so bad for the customer service that VX customers receive, and she hears a lot of similar stories.

I still haven't heard back from them in regards to the status change - we'll see what happens.

The way i understand it, the "automatic" upgrades have always been based on availability. It would be stupid to promise somebody a upgraded Main Cabin Select seat when the number of them is so limited.

Cringle - agreed, but the difference is based upon availability at a certain time. The first policy read that it was at 12 / 24 hours. Now it's at two hours. That's a big difference when it comes to people upgrading at that last minute who are paid.

Right, but i think there's a difference between putting in the request before the special upgrade timeframe and during. You'd probably find out immediately if it was before, and not until just before departure (2 hours or whatever) if it was during, due to all the other status members on the flight jumping in at the same time to claim those seats. I bet gold members get preference, then silver, and the system takes into account who claimed first.

I'm thinking you got bad information because for them to move that to 2 hours really removes the main benefit of having status, at least as far as I see it.

That's very disappointing to hear - I get trying to sell seats until 2 hours before the flight but thier initial marketing seems pretty clear on 24 and 12 hours before the flight. Anyone else experience this?

Mike_K - Quoting Virgin's new elevate documentation:

"Opt in for free upgrades to Main Cabin Select when there’s space available.
If you’re flying solo, you’ll have the chance to opt in for an upgrade while you book your flight online, through an authorized travel agent, or when booking through the Virgin America Call Center, and we’ll update your flight status with your new cabin (if available) up to two hours before departure."

http://www.virginamerica.com/vx/how-...it-works#seats

I know it's definitely the case, because I was able to purchase an MCS upgrade at 4 hours prior to departure (which is really what makes this benefit useless in most cases of full flights)

Yeah, that would make sense I suppose, but per the latest experience and their updated documentation this isn't the case.

I believe a certain number of seats become available for complimentary upgrade at the 24hr/12hr window, and I think this window goes until 2 hours before departure (maybe the process runs multiple times between -24 and -2). If an elite does not receive the upgrade at that point, they can be put on the standby list at the airport for an upgrade and the gate agent will be able to utilize all open seats for comp upgrade.

Seems similar to my experience with AA. My guess is this is what the agent was trying to communicate, although maybe didn't do a good job of doing so.

I can understand the frustration about your status not showing right. Everything is new and hopefully they work through it quickly.

Yesterday I arrived at DCA and overheard a upgraded passenger "complain" about the new process of upgrading.

I was booked in F and was the only one booked there up until the day of departure when two others were in the cabin when I got on the plane. Upon sitting down I heard the guy in the 1C giving the FA an earful about how difficult it was to upgrade even for him being Gold level. I didn't get the details but I did see thenFA speaking to the GA when she came on than the three of them had a "chat". At the end of th talk the GA said there was nothing she could do but suggested that he contact the customer service folks to complain.

Once we got air borne, the FA spoke with him again and then she went to coach and brought up two adults and sat them in the other two bulkhead seats. The two adults thanked 1C and that was all that was that.

Strange!

I'll tell you... Virgin gets the experience right. They have a product that, so far as I've seen, is second to none and the potential for them to take off (no pun!) is there but I'll be damned if this company can execute any real change without completely fumbling.

I remember my first flight with them was booked in Dec of last year and their reservation system was down on the website. Fair enough; it happens. A full 3 weeks later the site was still botched. Wow. And as ridiculous as I thought that was, MONTHS later the website STILL wasn't working and then months after that I still couldn't access half of my reservations.

And then you think to yourself, Ok fine, the site is broken. At least offer stellar phone support to make sure all your pissed off customers have a place to call and get help. Nope, you sit on hold for an hour to talk to someone in India with a strong accent, no concept of American colloquialisms, no ability to actually help you and absolutely zero empathy skills.

It's like they methodically identified every possible way they could upset a customer and then executed that perfectly. I can't imagine how many first timers they've lost too. I almost canceled my first reservation because I had serious concerns about how they maintained their planes if they couldn't even get something as basic as a reservation system working for literally months.

Seriously, to the person that posts in here and works for VA, pass this on. This is the face your company is putting on. They are so close and yet so far away. Everyone in charge of implementing program changes should be canned immediately. They've demonstrated an inability to perform their job and they're a liability to the company.

And that's my rant.

I'll have $10,000 spend with VA this year so I earned it. :)

India? Virgin America's call center is located in Washington state.

Agree. It was weird I needed/need to call VX to submit my upgrade b/c they said our corp agent (AMEX) doesn't submit it. However, this was Day 2 of the new process.

So far, 3/3 on upgrades to MCS. Feels nice to finally feel some butt in the seat benefit beyond the norm as frequent user of VX.

That's not what the press release said at all. Space available, not that you automatically confirm at the windows.

The exact words on the topic were complimentary "space-available upgrades to the carrier’s premium Main Cabin Select service". That means they will give them if they dont think they will sell them, nothing more at the 12/24 windows. No different then any other domestic upgrade program.

"up to" is a bit ambiguous. It could mean "as much as" (i.e. 1 hour, 45 minutes, etc.) or "until" (from T-24 to T-2, say). Maybe the ambiguity is intentional. They can try to sell what they sell and leave the sloppy seconds for whoever is still waiting around begging.

Not all that different from other posts on flyertalk about other airlines and hotel chains. They're all using their newfound data crunching ability to extract more revenue, which means trying to keep loyal customers around with vague promises while selling their benefits out from under them. Get used to it, it's the "new normal" until somebody proves at the boardroom level that it costs them money. At the moment I think they're all very impressed with the sparkly new revenue sources and don't have any way (or inclination) to assess the opportunity cost from elites leaving for greener pastures (if those even exist).

FYI: Mike_K If you spend $10k this year with VA, your points go to Virgin Australia. :D

Virgin America's code is VX.

Question about the New Elevate
 

I'm a little confused. When Virgin's new Elevate program went live on August 8th I had 56k elevate points as well as the Virgin Visa card. Yet my account says I have 0 status points. I originally thought when the program started that all the points I had already earned would automatically bump me to Gold but nothing! Is this a system error or are they really making me start from scratch to get status points?

I believe the beginning of 2012 is the beginning of the status year.

While I respect your opinion, I completely disagree with you. When you look at the table, it specifically mentions that the upgrades to MCS are at 24 hours and 12 hours.

See the table from the press release. Even if it's space pending, that sure looks like you get upgraded at 12 or 24 hours to me....:

https://static.virginamerica.com/ima...iers-table.jpg

For the first 6 months I flew with VX I never once got anyone with anything even close to an American accent. This was a complaint echoed by others as well.

Perhaps it's changed since then. I should hope it has.

D'oh!

This table means nothing more then your are eligible at the upgrade window SHOULD the inventory management system have the inventory available for the upgade. NOT if the physical seat is still open. It's no different then any other upgrade program out there.

I absolutely read that as you will be upgraded at 24 hours or at 12 hours, not be made eligible pending availability.

Just like advance purchase window opens up at 24 hours or at 12 hours. Imagine purchasing an upgrade at 24 hours to first class, and then 3 hours before the flight someone buys a full fare ticket and VX has to downgrade you and refund your money.

Also, if you're green lighted at T24 as a gold member to a MCS upgrade, you would pay less for your upgrade to F, right?
With the current system in place, that MCS upgrade only really kicks in at T2?

I feel like everything is still in the works, so I can't criticize too much, but it READS a lot better than it is.

With such a small MCS and F offering, it seems like those will no longer be so accessible.

It's pretty clearly spelled out in more detail on the adjacent "How it Works" page. It isn't guaranteed:

Opt in for free upgrades to Main Cabin Select when there’s space available.
If you’re flying solo, you’ll have the chance to opt in for an upgrade while you book your flight online, through an authorized travel agent, or when booking through the Virgin America Call Center, and we’ll update your flight status with your new cabin (if available) up to two hours before departure.
If you’re traveling with companions, you can opt in to upgrade your seat by calling your exclusive Elevate Silver or Elevate Gold reservations line.
Since the upgrades are automatic, we can’t guarantee availability of any previously selected Main Cabin seats once you’ve been assigned a spot in Main Cabin Select.
If you’re upgraded to Main Cabin Select when you have already checked in for your flight, you’ll need to check in again online or at the airport to select your new seat in Main Cabin Select.

That text was added after the original delivery of the program.
The -12 and -24 hours still has nothing to do with the upgrades.

However, there are a number of Elevate customers, including some on this thread who have earned points by flying this calendar year, that have started the new Elevate program effective August 8 with zero status points. :mad:

I'd like to see how VX calculates the beginning of 2012 as the beginning of the "calendar" status year.

Real Ambiguous Explanation of Policy
 

Does this make sense to you?

https://virginamerica.com/frequent-f...ber-guide.html


Membership Benefit Year

The Elevate Status Benefit Year runs from January 1st to February 28th.
Your Benefit year runs from the time you qualify during the initial qualification year, and through to the end of the following full calendar year.
If you do not re-qualify for Elevate Status in a subsequent Membership Qualification Year, your Elevate Status Benefits will expire on February 28th after the end of the Elevate Status Benefit year.
For example, if you earn 20,000 Status Points between August 8 and December 31 2012, you will earn Elevate Silver Status for the remainder of 2012 as well as for the full 2013 Membership Benefit Year. If you do not re-qualify for the 2014 Membership Benefit Year, your Elevate Silver Status will expire on February 28. 2014.

you read it wrong then.

While I may interpret the text as wrong, this is how it reads.

Care to answer any of the questions I brought up in my misunderstanding of the text?

Upgrades are at 12 and 24 hours if available.
So are advance purchase windows.

... but all those are out the window if someone buys full fare up to 2 hours before the flight?

grt2106 - unfortunately, no matter how it receives, your above description seems to indicate reality. :td:

VX sucks donkey di
 

My experience was similar to this. I have been told it would take a vague "several weeks" to fix and they could do nothing about it.

W T F is up with their piss poor customer service. I'd rather travel as a platinum on American than silver on Virgin if they can't get their shet together.

My sentiments/sympathies exactly. Been through a similar experience like this before with customer service, but at that time, it had to do with their transition to their new reservations system and compatibility issues with their website. Near FT Hall of Fame... :eek: