Virgin America Silver Status Recap for 2015

by Palo · January 11, 2016

Virgin America is still my preferred US domestic airline. During 2015, I was upgraded from Main Cabin to Main Cabin Select on 8 out of 19 of my flights which translates to a 42% upgrade rate. This seems very high for a mid-tier status whereas other airlines would most likely never upgrade me as there are so many elites on those airlines. Virgin America is still small and has limited routes which eliminates many business travelers from using them. One benefit of Silver status is to be able to upgrade to 1st Class as a paid upgrade 12 hours prior to the flight which occurred on 6 out of 19 flights (32%). I was comped 1st Class once for volunteering to give up my seat and then they didn’t end up needing it so for the hassle I was given 1st Class for free.

Note, these stats might be skewed as 13 of 19 flights were on the SFO-SAN-SFO route which was 68% of my travels on Virgin America in 2015.

I hope to see the upgrades continue during 2016 which is why I re-qualified for Silver status. It’s well worth it! Find out more about Silver status here: https://www.palowilltravel.com/2015/03/29/virgin-america-elevate-silver-status/