Elevate MCS upgrades
 

I'm a new Silver and flew this last week for the first time as Silver from PDX to FLL. On the outbound, I was upgraded to MCS 12 hours before the flight as expected. On the return, I wasn't upgraded on any of the three flights I took that day. At the airport for my first flight at FLL, the agent said she'd put me on the upgrade list. That was nice but I would have thought I'd have been put on the list automatically. I didn't get it because MCS was full. At the LAX service counter, they put me on the upgrade list again - apparently I wasn't already on the list. The agent told me there were no upgrades - the flight was completely full. On board during the flight, I saw that three MCS seats were empty and the plane wasn't close to full. In SFO, I asked the gate agent if I was on the upgrade list. She told me MCS row 10 was empty and I could have whatever I want. I got the impression that if I didn't ask for the upgrade, I wouldn't get it. I don't understand why the Elevate upgrade system is set up this way. Why leave MCS seats empty when you've got Gold or Silvers on board? And why do you have to keep going to the gate agents to ask? That's not convenient or pleasant if there's a line. If this is status at Virgin, it doesn't seem worth it.

you have to 'opt-in' for MCS upgrades when you make your booking on VX.com, otherwise you can always call them up to add the opt-in to an existing booking. Not everyone wants auto MCS upgrades as you might end up in a middle seat (typically the last seats to fill)

What the poster above me said is very important: its important to make sure you opt-in on each reservation you make. If booked on vx.com, you can do this by checking the box on the payment page. If you made the reservation via an outside agency (corporate travel office, for instance), you have to call the Silver or Gold desk and ask that they flag your reservation for comp upgrades. It's a slight inconvenience, by you can do it at any time prior to departure and can take care of several itineraries during one call.


If, for whatever reason, the upgrade doesn't occur at t-12 or t-24, you can call the silver/gold desk and ask them to do it. Assuming there is availability, they can usually process it instantly. The airport staff, by contrast, don't seem so good about being able to process instantly and instead use this "upgrade list" that doesn't aways seem to work. The point is that it's often easier to accomplish by telephone.

If the upgrade doesn't occur at the window because there's bk availability, but availability subsequently opens up (due to a cancelation or something) your best bet is to call the desk ASAP and try to get the seat.

For golds, how far in advance are these usually clearing? What's the success rate? Obviously it's route specific, but I'm just generally curious.

They clear at T-24.

Extremely high success rate on most routes, probably exempting to/from BOS.

LAX-SFO can be a bit tough depending on what fight you're on, but even then, it's pretty favorable. Way better than legacies, imo.

Success rates as VX Silver:

VX Silver Upgrades 2014
SFO-JFK: 0/1
DAL-SFO: 0/1
SFO-PDX: 1/1
SFO-FLL: 1/1 ($170 option for 1st, purchased)
FLL-SFO: 1/1
SFO-SAN: 0/1


VX Silver Upgrades 2015
LAX-SFO: 1/1 ($50 option for 1st)
SFO-LAS: 1/1 ($50 option for 1st, purchased)

Thanks for the detailed responses! I have flown VX on and off for the past few years. Did my status match, and I'll make sure to get it extended through the end of 2016. Excited to see what the elite VX experience is like.

Welcome to VX! Even if you don't clear upgrades, the planes are generally more empty so it's a nicer environment in general unlike UA (every plane seems to be oversold).

I wouldn't get your hopes up unless you are Gold. In my experience Silver is not worth much; the main benefits are the ability to select exit row seats without paying a fee (normally up to $30), and an extra 6 hours ahead to buy F upgrades (at 12 hours instead of 6). Be careful with the "free" MCS upgrades, because if you already have an exit row seat window or aisle, you have a decent chance of ending up with a worse seat (middle) after the upgrade.

The status programs on most of the legacy airlines give you a better shot at upgrades than VX does, if you're not at the lowest level.

How full the plane is probably depends on your route. A lot of the flights I take are full.

The rest of it is true, but, assuming that you don't fly F or MCS, another nice benefit of Silver is the earlier boarding. If you travel with a carry-on and don't want to gate-check it, this is a nice bonus (I never check bags and I hate having to wait for them after the flight -- I want to walk out of the airport as soon as I'm off the plane). I fly SFO-LAS a lot and those flights are usually full (or close to it) and people in the last couple of boarding groups are constantly having to gate-check their bags.

They often offer earlier boarding to get volunteers to gate-check before boarding starts. I always thought that this was completely useless, since, once you don't have any carry-ons, earlier boarding isn't really worth anything. They should offer a free drink or something. I'm sure that a lot of people would check their bags in exchange for a beer.

Wait, what? I'm UA Gold – which isn't great but certainly isn't the lowest level – and I get upgraded about 1% of miles flown. My friend who's Platinum doesn't do any better (except when he uses his two CPU certificates...and even then he often gets denied). How could it be worse than that?

A few ways:

1) There is no way to upgrade into first class without paying the same fee that someone without status pays. You do get a first shot at buying the upgrade, but in my experience that has only been useful at most 10-20% of the time (for the remainder, F is generally sold out in the last 12 hours before the flight).

2) The Main Cabin Select upgrades are just exit row seats with free food, which you can get at booking on the legacy airlines if you have status (minus the food). With VX you can only get them at the upgrade window, meaning 12 hours ahead for Silver and 24 hours for Gold. Making this worse, you really don't want to rely on the automated upgrade process if you don't want a middle seat, because that's mostly what's left at the upgrade windows and they give you no way to specify that you want the upgrade only if there's a window or aisle available. So much of the time the upgrade is actually something of a downgrade if you aren't careful. There is one row of exit seats available at booking for free, but this is at best at parity with the legacy airlines, not an advantage.

3) You get lounge access as UA Gold when flying internationally and on partner airlines. This is a significant benefit. VX only has one lounge (at LAX) and you still need to pay $20 to get in, even as Elevate Gold. On VX partners there are no benefits (only redeeming awards and earning points).

The other benefits (priority boarding and security, and mileage bonuses) are identical to the legacy airline programs.

I would argue that if you're getting Economy Plus at booking most of the time, and F upgrades occasionally, you're doing much better with United than you'd do with Virgin status. I like the airline but the status program is very weak.

I mean, I guess. MCS, to me, compares more with First on most other airlines. I mean you get more legroom, free food, free drinks and free movies/tv.

Most of the time I get row 3 so I am one of the first off the plane which I also think is a great perk.

Maybe I am also just an alcoholic but the free unlimited drinks makes a 6hr JFK-SFO flight much more tolerable.

Maybe I am also crazy or weird but I think a middle seat MCS > aisle MC. The room in front of you (especially row 3) is almost essential I want to try to get some real laptop work in. The window and middle seats can also usually squeeze by with just closing the tray table rather than having the entire row stand up when someone needs the bathroom.

This :-:
Anyone who says "MCS is basically an exit row seat" clearly hasn't sat in Row 3, which has a ton of space.

And the free alc in MCS makes it worth it alone -- thats a huge benefit for a free upgrade. Free food is nice, but whatever who cares. Alcohol is the true item of value on a plane.

"but whatever who cares?" Me. Some of the VX snacks are quite good.