Are upgrades really this easy?
 

Booked tickets for November yesterday for SYD->PER->SYD in Flexi
Called this morning to apply points to upgrade to the pointy end
I am a base "red" member, call was answered within 2min and upgrades confirmed and tickets re-issued in under 10min

Coming from the world of UA....
This just seams utterly implausible to me and there has to be some form of a catch....

Also on the A332
Any thoughts on which seats are the best seats in the front cabin?

I won't bother re-posting but here's the link to my post on 332 J seating:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/virgi...j-seating.html

These days VA seem to have more award/upgrade availability than many airlines ...

FWIW, upgrade and flight awards come from the same fare bucket (Z), so if you find a flight with Business award availability, you can book a flexi on that flight and upgrade into that award space.

Flexi? You paid over $500 one-way, about 250% of the normal economy fare, you should expect to find it easy to upgrade.

"Flexi" is effectively the new biz class, with the paltry 9900 points to upgrade.

With the work discount... it was quite a bit less then $500 each way.... :D

Regardless though... its only the "new biz class" if the upgrades are available

VA is very easy to upgrade on. Considering in effect that points are a liability for an airline. You could use your points for any offer they have. The more points people burn the less long term liability for the carrier. The cost of your economy flexo covers you being on a plane. Your points effectively only got you extra space and a fancy meal. The 20000 points could have almost been a free Y flight coast to coast plus taxes.

And you just gave them the idea how to make it more difficult/annoying :td:

Flights to Perth ended up going without a hitch
Far better then UA or QF, I'm sold on using VA from now on

Do tell. :)

Need a couple of Flexis to Perth (to use Plat upgrade certs) and the cost seems silly on website.

I'm not allowed to mention the specific rate but its >25% and less then 50% on any domestic Flexi or Business ticket

Even if I had to pay full rate of $1k + 20k points is cheap to me for a round trip considering the aircraft and service provided

I'm going to be doing this again in June for Supernova Perth and am looking forward to trying out the new J product

This time of year very few people are travelling for work, with paid business class tickets. But a lot are flying for personal travel, so VA may have overbooked economy class on the flight. Revenue management is never predictable.

Not VA I know, but a friend checked in on Xmas Eve with EK out of Sydney for Bangkok and was offered an upgrade to Business for $100. Needless to say he took them up on it

I flew MEL-HKG yesterday and economy loadings were very high while Business not so. (J7 D7 I7 Y7 B0...).

I was offered an upgrade to business class for points on check-in. (I declined as it was a day flight and I had a bulkhead). I did not ask how many points.