# Ep.85- A Serendipitous Way of Saving 60% on Seat Upgrades from Virgin Australia

### 📸 IG handle: _DollarSenseLA_

**Read Time: 3 Minutes**

This is a story about how an inconvenient problem led to an unexpected outcome that saved us $500 on seat upgrades with Virgin Australia.

# **THE SEAT SITUATION**

My wife and I purchased 2 round-trip economy-class seats from Los Angeles to Sydney with Virgin Australia. All is good, except that when we tried to select our seats after the purchase, **there were no two seats next to each available anymore**. Since these were long flights, I was not happy to sit away from my wife for 30 hours both ways. So I did the only rational thing in this situation. I called Virgin Australia.

# **THE ONLY SOLUTION: ECONOMY X**

I called Virgin Australia. **Unfortunately, the representative told me that he could not find two adjacent seats for me, because all regular economy seats were sold out except for one.** I felt discouraged so I was about to thank him and hang up.

Before I hung up, he proposed an alternative solution, **upgrade to something called** [**Economy X**](https://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/experience/on-board-the-flight/economyx/). I immediately said no, because my instinct told me they were going to cost me an arm and a leg, especially because these were long haul international flights with 15 hours each way.

Then something serendipitous and amazing happened. **He said his colleague can help me save 50%- 60% from the upgrade**, and asked if I’d like to be transferred. I thought about it. I wonder why was I so lucky with a slight sense of suspicion But in the end, I said, “sure, why not?"

He started transferring me. **But the transfer took too long, so I hung up. I know….** The story does not end here.

# **A PERSISTENT OFFER**

**A couple of minutes later, my phone rang. I picked up and it turned out to be a different person from Virgin Australia calling me about the offer to upgrade me to Economy X with a 60% discount**. I was suspicious because I didn’t know if this person was really from Virgin Australia. So I asked some questions, and the person seemed to know the details of the call I had minutes before, and she has all of my existing reservation information. It made me feel better.

# **THE 60% DISCOUNT DETAIL**

**The representative offered me $72.5 for a one-way upgrade to Economy X for each person.** While on the call, I wanted to understand how good this deal was. So I looked up Economy X on Virgin Australia’s website. Fortunately, they listed a specific example of $199 from Los Angeles to Australia. **Based on this face value, I am saving 64%. That’s not bad at all!**

While being on the call, I skimmed this [Youtube review video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFDeC31E2HA) on what flying Economy X gets you. **Apparently I get 7 things (listed below)**. What got me quite excited was not only the extra legroom, but also the fact that Economy X on long haul international flights was in its own section behind Premium Economy. On top of that, Economy X passengers share the toilets with Premium Economy.

**After doing the math of upgrades, flying round trips for two people with $72.5 each would cost me $290. It’s $506 cheaper than a normal upgrade with $199 each**. So I went with it.

# **AN EERIE FEELING UNTIL THE CONFIRMATION EMAIL**

**I was still skeptical about the offer during my payment because it seemed too good to be true**, and I still could not 100% confirm the representative was a true Virgin Australia employee. Well… she knew our names and existing reservations. So I took a leap of faith and gave her the credit information for payment.

I patiently and nervously waited for the next few minutes, just in case she hung up on me and yelled “Psych”.

**Well… the upgrade went through perfectly.** For about $5 per hour in the air, my wife and I got to sit next to each other, had more leg rooms and enjoyed some additional amenities. What a pleasant surprise!

# **THE MORAL OF THE STORY**

As the title suggests, it’s a very serendipitous way for me to save 60% on seat upgrades in this particular case. If there’s a personal finance lesson from it at all, it would be this:

Just because an amazing deal has not been written about on the Internet, it does not mean it can’t exist. Sometimes, you may be the first one to discover such a deal to share with the rest of the world. :)

### 📸 IG handle: _DollarSenseLA_