Link Here: http://www.virginamerica.com/vx/elevatebenefits?cid=sm_social_72312_830a_elevate_FB This page has all the benefits...looks like our chances of a paid upgrade to UCS might be hard to come by soon. Separately mentioned is: "Main Cabin Express" seating but the page has a broken link. i'll guess it will be the first few rows of MC. Queue Marketing Copy: "As a Virgin America flyer, you’ve already come to expect certain things. And we’re about to make the perks of traveling with us quite a bit perkier. Learn more about how to reach Elevate® Silver or Elevate® Gold Status and experience flight in the fast lane. The new Elevate Status benefits reward flyers with more exclusive perks than ever before. As an Elevate member, you’ll earn status points toward Elevate Silver or Elevate Gold Status when you fly with Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia. Or, earn an additional 10,000 status points by spending $25,000 or more a year with your low annual fee Virgin America Visa Signature Card.* It’s simple. The more you fly, the higher the fare class, and the more you use your card, the more status points you earn. Your Elevate Silver or Elevate Gold Status is calculated daily based on the number of Elevate status points you’ve earned in a calendar year. Once you earn your status, you’ll enjoy benefits for the rest of the year, and the next year too. It’s a pretty sweet deal. Starting August 8, you can sign into your Elevate account to view your status points balance."
High spend requirement and space available upgrades only to MCS rather than F. The good news is that buying day-of F upgrades will be easier with early access to them but that still costs more money. Galactic is cute but it is for one person who spends the most cash. Not so sure it should be a huge draw for basically everyone flying with them.
If I'm reading things right, isn't it much easier to get Silver on VS instead of VX? 15 tier points for VS could very well be cheaper than $4000 of spend. 15 segments of VX from SAN-SFO (example) would run less than $2000. Which brings up another question: Will VX now recognize VS status? I doubt it, but if they did it would make it pretty clear which program to sign up with.
I feel like they really missed an opportunity to draw in some F spenders. Gold on an F tix should have gotten complimentary lounge access. I think that would be a nice perk for those who fly week in and week out and bring a lot of cash. Can't really give them more free food/drink in the air or other priority access as they already have it to start with.
I keep hearing how much better the experience is on VX. I'm willing to give them a try with the recent status match and MCE seating (and day of flight MCS upgrade potential), but I'm interested in the purchased F upgrades, too. Cheaper than F when booking? Significant difference in service? It is, after all, still domestic flying...
The paid upgrades are cheaper than buying it outright IME but also still cost extra and are hard to come by.
I have never sat in the regular part of the Y cabin, but I've found service generally to be unremarkable in attitude (in MCS) but prompt (when ordering on the screen) and the IFE does really pass the time. I suppose the service would be similar (with less legroom) in the rest of the Y cabin if you don't mind swiping your CC from time to time.
That's exactly what I needed to know. Should have checked your reply before I put a thread in the AA forums. Was trying to decide between AA domestic F as an EXP vs. VX MCS (potentially) as a VX Gold.
