Half-price Virgin Australia Economy X upgrades
That's a leap day seating bargain I can't resist.
I'm a sucker for a half-price offer.
So when Virgin Australia shot me an email offering a half-price upgrade into Economy X on an upcoming flight, I signed up faster than you can say "what a shame about the Hong Kong service".
First introduced in 2017, Economy X is effectively premium economy for domestic flights. You get extra leg room, priority boarding (at airports which do that) and dedicated luggage lockers. It takes up the first three rows of the Economy cabin.
I've flown Economy X a couple of times before, usually on longer haul flights. I wasn't going to indulge for a couple of short-haul (NSW to Victoria) flights, because the $35 price tag for a single leg seemed a little steep. (What you pay varies by route.) But at $17.50, I persuaded myself it was worthwhile to give my knees a more pleasant flight experience.
Unfortunately, the offer doesn't seem to be broadly available. Virgin is promoting it as a "Leap Day" offer for flights on 29 February, marking the fact that we only get that date once every four years. It ran a sale last year offering half-price flights for that date as well.
I could also have paid with Velocity Points, but that would have been a poor use of points. For this flight, one leg would cost 2,200 Velocity Points. That's an effective value of $7.70 for 1,000 Points, which is well below my target of at least $20. Even at $35, that still wouldn't have made the grade for me.
The actual flights form part of my new Frequent Flyer Little Bucket List series, where I'm knocking off some smaller frequent flyer goals for 2020. More on that tomorrow.
Angus Kidman's Findings column looks at new developments and research that help you save money, make wise decisions and enjoy your life more. It appears regularly on Finder.
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