There is something very special and magical about getting something for nothing, or for a lot less than you expect, and hearing the words “Upgrade” is something we all long to hear. Air Travel is rife with stories and tales of the mythical Upgrade and how to go about securing one. Spend any time on Message boards or Facebook Travel groups and you will hear triumphant tales of “free” upgrades to Business Class and people traveling in style without ever paying for it. It’s enough to make you ill will jealousy and intensely curious about how they achieved this.
This Article is designed to shed light on this topic, we have spent more than our fair share flying with Virgin, often in the cheap seats, and have tried all possible ways to get ourselves to the front of the plane. Sometimes with success, sometimes without. With this in mind, we want to share our experiences of how to REALLY go about snagging an upgrade. The reality is free upgrades are no longer simply doled out by the airline staff, and on the occasions they are they are a SUPER rare event. So rare, that it’s really not worth considering. Instead, we focus on how to get a Cheap Upgrade on Virgin Atlantic.
Getting cheap upgrades is really not hard to achieve and with a little effort and money, you can be jetting off in absolute style. There really is nothing better than being waited on hand and foot in a luxury cabin knowing how many people are squished up behind you. People consider Upper-Class travel to be beyond the means of normal people, we are here to say it’s not and we are living proof!
Recent Successes
We really want to explain that this article is all about what is realistically possible in bagging an Upgraded flight. So with that in mind here are a few recent examples of our trips that we ended up flying in either Premium or Upper Class
NYC – LHR – Upper Class – £Upgraded With Points – This is the return flight below which we booked in Premium and upgraded to Upper via points – flight not taken yet
LHR-NYC – Upper Class – Deal – £694 (Return In Premium) – For this flight, we booked a return flight for £694 in Upper Class but the return was in Premium, still an incredible bargain – flight not taken yet
LHR-San Francisco – Upper Class – £Booked With Points – We used our points to book a Return flight to San Francisco in Upper Class outbound, and return in Premium. We still had to pay Taxes and fees and these were £643
LAX-LHR – Booked Premium Upgraded Via Bidding – £430 GBP – On the Return leg we put the lowest amount in as we were okay with flying back Premium, but ended up winning and flying back in Upper
LHR-LAX – Booked Premium Upgraded via Bidding – £510 GBP – We used the bidding process for the outbound flight and found out we won 2 days before the flight.
As you can see we have had some excellent successes. The Above flights would have cost Thousands to have just paid for outright. These are anything but Free upgrades but they are luxury flying at very cheap prices.
What to expect from an Upgraded flight
Premium
Premium is a very enjoyable way to travel. You get Priority Check-in, priority Boarding, a 2x23kg checked bag, a Larger Comfy Seat, a more private 2x4x2 Cabin configuration, Upgraded meals on Real Plates, and Upgraded drinks service. It is overall a far more civilized way of traveling, but can be very costly. This guide should help you bag it for £100-200 per person.
Upper Class
Upper Class is Virgin’s Business Class Product, but a bit more laid-back and fun, aimed at leisure travelers not business, but a similar level of product. You get Luxury Lounge Access, including Virgins Clubhouses, Lay flat Bed, High-End Dining, Premium Drinks, and personal in-flight service. It is a wonderful product, but it varies quite a bit depending on which plane you are on and which airport you are flying out of.
Let’s just very quickly touch on what you get if you do get bumped up.
Product Reviews
To fully understand the various products, we have in-depth reviews on all the various Classes and on most of Virgin’s Planes:
Virgin Atlantic Economy Delight
Virgin Atlantic Premium – A350
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – 787 Dreamliner
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – A350
Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – A330Neo – First Flight Nov 2023
Virgin Atlantic Club House London Heathrow
How to Get a Free Upgrade on Virgin Atlantic – Myths
We have stayed away from this topic for a long time because as far as we are concerned: you can’t. At least, there is nothing you can do to actually improve your chances of getting upgraded for free into the Higher Cabins, especially in Upper Class.
That is not to say it doesn’t happen, it does, at least we do hear about it, although we are often unconvinced about the veracity of these claims, it tends to be incredibly random, rare, and not something you can control. We would go as far as to say, your odds are FAR better simply playing the Lottery and hoping to win and use the money to upgrade!
We have flown in Upper Class and Premium, many times, and seen empty seats. There is no Automatic Bumping up of Passengers just to fill seats. The only time it happens is if it is advantageous for the Airline, as in they have messed up, overbooked, or had to use a smaller plane. Sometimes on these occasions, they will move some passengers up a category or two, but it’s incredibly rare on Virgin. The only thing that really can help your chances in these rare circumstances is being a higher-tier member of Virgin’s Flying Club, they often turn to these loyal members first, but it’s still such a rare event it’s not worth considering, and you are going to need to be Gold Elite to get this and the cost of getting that status means you are not getting anything free really!
We have flown with Virgin an incredible amount of times, and with many many other Airlines, on literally hundreds of flights. We know all the “tricks”, we have family and friends in the industry, even flown on flights where we have known the pilot, do you know how many times we have had a FREE upgrade…ZERO!
What we are going to discuss in this Article is the Reason for this. Airlines have realized they are missing out on valuable revenue by giving away Upgrades. And they have found a way to monetize it instead and that is Bidding. There are also huge issues with Taxes. Most governments charge a huge amount of Tax on travelers who fly in Premium or Upper-Class seats. This means if you got upgraded for free it’s going to cost the airline quite a significant fee!
Two more Points on Free Upgrades…
The Past – Historically this was not the Case. We have family members who worked for decades in the airline industry. They will wax lyrical about the upgrades they have had and the ones they have given out. They talk about how they would choose people based simply on how much they liked the look of them and would deny people because they didn’t. It was a case of they had a little power and loved wielding it over the Public. But these days are over. This is a case of yet another little bit of magic being sucked out of the Flying.
Tik-Tok – We have recently seen a large number of Viral Videos telling people how to go about getting a FREE upgrade. These are usually just clickbait. Giving a Cabin Crew Member a Starbucks Gift Card is not going to get you an upgrade, it can’t hurt and it’s always nice to be nice, and it may even get you more attentive service, but it’s not getting you to the front of the plane.
So What Will? Money Obviously…
How to Get a Cheap Upgrade on Virgin Atlantic
Yep, the days of free upgrades are over, but that is no reason to abandon all hope. Instead of hoping for a freebie, there are now ways to bag that upgrade for a lot less than you might think. Upper Class seats on Virgin can go for £5000+ return and are usually in the £2-3000 price point. That’s a lot of money. We certainly cannot justify it, and no matter how good Upper Class is, that money could be used a lot better on the ground at our destination.
However, there are at least 3 ways to get a cheap upgrade to Upper Class and Premium.
1 – Pay for it
Hurray for Captain Obvious! We know this seems a silly option, but honestly, it’s worth pointing out. Some of the BEST deals we have found on Upper Class were at booking. At the time of writing, we were 30 days out of jumping on board a Return Flight to NYC in Upper Class that cost us £750 per person (see above)!
These deals do pop up regularly but they are a bit limited to Off-Peak times and we are very fortunate to be able to travel whenever we want as opposed to having set dates meaning we can jump at these deals. This also applies to Premium and we often see some incredible deals on this upgraded Economy Service. Even while researching this article, one of our searches showed a Price for Premium that was LOWER than Economy!
You can usually get paid upgrades at any point after you have booked as well. This is shown on your Booking page and you can easily pay to have your seats bumped up to Economy Delight, Premium, or Upper-Class. If you did not get a good deal when booking, these prices sometimes drop down and can be fantastic Value, not always but it’s always worth checking to see if an offer comes online and the upgrade becomes good value. We regularly see guaranteed paid upgrades cheaper than the lowest amount available for bidding.
How Much do we consider is cheap for Upper Class? £300-500 above the regular Economy Fare is very cheap. Anything around £1000 return is an absolute bargain. For Premium, we consider £100-200 above Economy to be a great deal but up towards £400 Extra and it’s getting pricy.
2 – Play the Points Game
Another great way to bag an upgrade is through Points or Airmiles. These can be some of the best value ways to use up your points. 15,000 points can get you an off-peak Season Upgrade from Economy to Premium for an East Coast Flight, and 75,000 gets you from Economy to Upper on the same routes. If you are heading over to the West Coast, it’s 25,000 Economy to Premium and 105,000 for Economy to Upper.
You will need to pay the Taxes and Fees as well, but this is always the case when Booking Flights With Points, and the value gained by using the points is very high, however, it needs to be weighed against the cost of the upgrade with Cash. If the upgrade is cheap, you would be better off paying for it rather than using your points.
This is especially true for Economy to Premium. It’s very often far cheaper to just pay for that upgrade due to the taxes and fees. The Taxes and Fees can often be more than a paid upgrade even before you consider the points, so for us, we tend to use points on Upper-Class upgrades as they just offer better value.
While these are a great way to use your points, the high points amounts needed will take a long time to acquire, even with our high level of flying we rarely get enough points from travel to pay for an Upper-Class Upgrade. Instead, our points usually come from Credit Card offers and playing the whole points situation as a Game. We have received many fantastic upgrades this way, but you really need to know how to use the Credit Cards to get the most points.
3 – Last Chance Saloon – Bidding
If you have not got enough points and the Cash Price of an Upgrade never gets low enough to make sense for your trip there is one final shot at getting yourself in that upper-Class Cabin or Premium Seat. And that is Bidding.
It is from Bidding that the Airline Industry finally drove the Nail into the Coffin for Free Upgrades. What is Bidding? Simple, You book your flight in one of the Lower Cabins, and the Airline then gives you the option of Putting a Bid in for the chance to upgrade, shortly before the flight, the person with the highest bid gets the Upgrade and pays the amount they bid for the privilege.
This offers you the chance to snag those precious Upper-Class upgrades for a fraction of the price of the normal full-fare Ticket. You will find this on the “Manage My Booking” Page, there will be an option, “Bid For Upgrade”. The Bidding System is not totally open and there will usually be a range of prices that you can choose from, this is so the Airline does not give seats away too cheaply.
This is usually around £150+ for Premium and £400 for Upper Class. This is per flight. You simply select the Cabin you wish to Bid for and then adjust the Slider to your max bid amount. Then you just wait. If the Bid is successful you are automatically upgraded and the Card Deatial you entered is charged the amount you bid.
Issues With Bidding for Upgrades
While bidding for a flight is a great way to get an upgrade nice and cheap, there are a few issues with doing it this way and this is why we see it as a last resort.
Planning
You will not know if your Bid has been accepted until around 48 hours before your flight. Some of the fun with flying in the Upgraded Cabins is knowing that you are and looking forward to the flight. Without knowing you are going to be upgraded, you can’t do much of anything as far as planning goes and while this is counter a bit by the excitement of winning something, there are a few practical issues too.
Luggage Allowance
Flying in Upper Class allows you to take 3x32kg Cases, and flying in Premium allows 2x23kg Cases. That’s a lot of luggage and really nice perk of the Upgrades. But with a Bid, you are not always able to make use of this, especially if you have bid on both legs as you will not know if your Bid is successful until 2 days before the flight home!
Really with a bid, you are stuck with the luggage allowance of whichever class is the lowest, or you may have to pay pretty steep Excess Luggage Fees.
Seat Selection
You also get minimal access to Seat Selection. As you are mopping up whatever seats are left, you do not get the pick of the litter and have to make do with whatever is remaining. This is especially problematic if you are wanting seats together.
While there are definitely better and worse seats in Upper Class, the worst tend to be pretty awesome anyway, so the biggest issue is the seats together element, especially with families but you still may end up in a less-than-ideal seat. Make sure you log on and reserve whatever seats are left as soon as the bid is accepted.
Gambling
There is a whole Pseudo-Gambling element to the Bidding process and this can make you overspend if you are not careful. It’s easy to put a speculative bid in, half expecting it not to be successful, and then find out it is, this can then lead to some hefty charges being added to your Credit Card Bill that you may not really have budgeted for, it is very easy to get carried away. We have often bid the minimum amount…and won.
How Much to BID?
The amount you can bid changes with the flight and sometimes the Minimum bid is WAY higher than we would consider paying for Upper-Class in the range of £1000’s so in these instances we just assume bidding is not an option. The Cabin is probably nearly sold out (you can easily check this on the Seat Selection Page).
When the prices are reasonable then the issue is more complex. There are really two approaches. Just bid the minimum, or maybe 1-2 notches above, and then assume you will not win, and be ecstatic if you do, or put in a more edgy bid and increase your odds of getting the upgrade.
We never go too crazy as the risk with putting bigger bids in is that it’s very possible No-One else does and you are left paying way more than you needed to. You will never know this, but it’s always a nagging doubt.
Our sweet point is the second segment. Where the score goes from “poor” to “low”. This wording is used specifically to make your bid more, but we rarely bid up toward the “Good” scores and often win the Bids anyway, and have won several bids next to the lowest amount!
Once the bids get too high you are probably bidding way over the odds and were probably just better booking the Cabin in the first place. So we normally move the slider until it hits “Low! then back just a notch or two into the Poor segment. We have had great success with this, but only when the Bid Amounts are Reasonable
And by that, we mean £4-500 as a minimum bid amount for Upper Class and around £100 for a Premium Bid. These are still significant amounts of money, but you get an awful lot for this.
We can Only Afford ONE Upgrade, should we book Outbound or Inbound?
We hear this all the time, and there are definitely two distinct schools of thought… we are not sure how to determine which is right, and they are completely contradictory. We guess it’s simply down to personality and what things you ascribe more weight to.
For us, we are Outbounders. On the Way out everything is better. You are happier, in a better mood, looking forward to your trip, refreshed, eager, and ready to go, to start the trip off this way is amazing, and we value this far more. Also on the return leg, we tend to be in pretty grotty moods and do not appreciate the little things in the same way we do on the outbound leg. Going home sucks and an upgrade is not actually enough to life the mood sufficiently.
This means we just don’t appreciate the upgrade as much as we do on the way out. The flight is going to suck, whether we are in Upper, Premium, or Economy, it doesn’t matter. It is something to be endured not enjoyed.
However, it is that EXACT reason the other school of thought recommends return flights as the best option. The Mood going out means you can put up with a little discomfort. You are in such a good mood, it doesn’t matter you are cramped and the person in front has stuffed their seat right into your lap. Whatever! You are on your way to something AMAZING!
Whereas coming back, the low mood means you need all the help you can get to make it through the flight. Being cramped up in the back is just intolerable when you are this grumpy, and tired and don’t want to go home. The thought of laying back in a lie flatbed is just heaven and upgrading this leg makes perfect sense.
As we said, we see both sides and while we definitely fall down on the Outbound leg school of thought, we absolutely see the other side’s point.
There are a couple of other issues, but these only apply to Upper. We hate the thought of sleeping through the flight. Which is often the case when you fly Uper on the return leg. Most flights are overnight and getting some proper rest is one of the big upsides of flying Business and Upper Class. But as this is such a treat for us, we just see that as a waste. We want to be awake, alert, and really enjoying the experience.
Also, you are not going to get “proper” rest. Even after a good amount of sleep. You still feel really grotty. It’s not a full night’s sleep in a real bed, no matter how good the cabin is. The Jet Lag is still going to kick, the breakfast will still be forced down, and you will still leave the flight feeling awful.
And Finally if flying from London Heathrow in Upper Class, definitely book the outbound leg. The Airport experience at Heathrow in Upper Class is phenomenal It’s something everyone should experience and you get way more for your money than flying out of any other airport Virgin operates out of.
Virgin Atlantic Club House Experience Heathrow.
Other Airlines
We fly Virgin far more than any other airline so we focussed on them intentionally, but this process is pretty much the same for any Aitline. Free upgrades are gone, and instead, the airlines try and pass off cheaper upgrades so they are at least getting some revenue.
Have Your Say
Let us know if you have any questions about getting Cheap Upgrades on Virgin Flights, or any other flights for that matter. We also would love to hear your recent success stories, have you bagged a bargain bid? Did you get a Steal of a price on an Upgrade or just booked a super cheap flight? Whatever you have to say just fire away in the comments.
You May Also Like
- Virgin Atlantic Economy
- Virgin Atlantic Economy Delight
- Virgin Atlantic Premium – 787
- Virgin Atlantic Premium – A350
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – 787 Dreamliner
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – A350
- Virgin Atlantic Upper Class – A330Neo – First Flight Nov 2023
- Virgin Atlantic Club House London Heathrow
