[Anonymous]

[MarcusUK]

Mighty impressed with my new Virgin Club Membership, which was only taken out in November. I took the Offer of the Silver card, fast tracked to Gold.

-Bonus of 6,000 miles with Virgin’s MBNA Amex, & 4 x miles with any related Virgin group.
-Gold card access to Clubhouse, lounges including Air New Zealand, SQ, MH etc… & all the usual perks of premium membership, regardless of class of travel. But some great partner Airlines.

– Miles for on line purchases /shopping, a HUGE array of retailers, must be the largest in the UK, even including flight agents,hotels as well as everyday finances. Also KLM website to book through, & get 400 miles per booking for my VS account, when buying KLM!

– VS/Amex give you Upgrade vouchers for the first £5,000 you spend then another 2 for increments of £2,500, each year, easy if you put hotel, travel bookings through the Amex card.
Free Regus Gold Membership card worldwide (Same as BT offer).

-Got birthday card, with extra miles as a gift, & really very tailored, informal, relevant, & Meaningful offers with their marketing, so in no time & one return oz trip have over 65,000 miles, which is equal to as return Upper Class to Asia, & upgrade vouchers on way.

So many of the larger FF memberships even at the top levels, you feel part of a machine, & little counts these days.
Pleasantly surprised & impressed with Virgin, like their style & they get much of my travel business through their Companies, regardless of who i fly with in addition.

Have Gold memberships in KLM/ Flying Blue/ Skyteam, who are always tailoring offers n perks, especially with partners, hotel platinum & Gold cards galore.Their lounge is the best at LHR though, & since BA cleared out, T4 is quieter smoother run, & no more endless BA queues to greet you wrapping round the airport for the 1 hr wait for check ins. Such a frequent sad sight for economy travellers, but clogged up the airport, sometimes queuing outside!
Etihad Gold good also, but their scheme tailored more to Middle East based.

I ditched my BMI gold as a fading Airline now, & soon their scheme will be absorbed into Lufthansa, where when they are miles converted will be worth little. The BMI scheme for miles & cash was good to use on other Star carriers for Long haul, but awkward to get seats & the India call centre a hopeless trail to follow.

So hats off for personalised marketing in these tough times to Virgin. Truly a global benefit with all their Companies, especially down here in Australia, where they have really taken a huge share of domestic air travel, & new VAustralia 777-300ER’s running to LAX, Thailand, JNB, very fresh n vibrant brands.

[SimpleDXB]

Mark, do you have a link for details of this offer? Cheers

[ichtop1%]

Been in the scheme for a couple of years and have 120k+, but it’s a rip off. you can only use the points on selected flights and have to pay tax’s etc etc which form the bulk of the ticket price.

Plus, if you want to use part miles etc, you have to pay for an economy ticket in a certain class, and not the published lowest economy fare.

It’s the same for using companion tickets, all is not as it seems on the tin!!!!!!

Like all schemes, other than the ICH priority Club, shich i think is fantastic based on the use i’ve had from it, i’d say the the Virgin FC is no more than a rip off!

And yes, i am having a bad day!!!!!!!!!!!

[thebigseats]

I find that all FF schemes have their +/- but Flying Club is hardly a rip-off IME: I needed (and have booked) a pair of one-way Upper Class tix to CPT for later this year for c£277 and 50,000 miles/each. Cost if booked as revenue tix is over £4,000/each. I’d say that is a redemption that is very good value!

[MarcusUK]

Apologies for the late reply but the offer ended. VK actually posted a link at the time.

I have no faults with FC so far, in even “shopping” on line with hundreds of Companies, even you can book AF / KLM/ BMI & gain miles to your FC account, the miles continue to accrue. I use their Amex Black Card now & so just got 7,000 miles for this months statement alone from there.
In 4 months, I am pending 2 upgrade vouchers, one companion free voucher, & availability on routed in Upper Class seem good on searching yesterday.
I also used my Gold Membership to gain access to Virgin Blue’s lounges in Australia, & the very great Malaysian Airlines lounges that VAustralia use for their long haul.
they are now truly global, & i hear will amalgamate into one truly worldwide global Airline by the end of this year.
VAustralia were impeccable, with a 7ft3 bed & more room & finer dining than on any First class, let alone business service i have taken in the last 10 yrs, including Etihad, SQ Thai, EK, & Malaysian.

They really will be one of the most secure truly global FF cards & Airlines for the future, to be associated with.

[Flyingfemme]

Another fan of Flying Club here………it is the best value program I’ve found and the staff really know the meaning of customer service.
If they have a seat available I’ve always been able to book it with miles.

[MarcusUK]

If you do fly down to Australia, you will now earn miles with VirginBlue, as well as tier points, & all the perks as if travelling VA.
Their lounges are great complimentary regardless of economy or Premium travel, & they have built up the most extensive domestic, & chosen International network.
VAustralia, plan to run via Phuket to LGW end of the year. You can also now fly to Australia via LAX to MEL, via HKG to SYD, or down to South Africa then across with VAustralia to MEL.
If you make an international flight generally you get yr Australian domestic add on to almost anywhere for the same price, in PE.

If not truly Global already, they will be joining up at the end o the year, as One Global Airline.
The Virgin Gold will be worth very much to have at this time.

[ichtop1%]

Ok, been a while but here’s my point on this ‘rip off’ scheme.

I’ve looked several times to using my ‘Complimentary’ Companion Ticket or 2 Upgrades, and the answer has always been the same. it costs you more to use them.

So, example:

London to Havanah – 23rd Jan 2011 to 6th Feb 2011 for 2 pax.

2 x Lowest Economy = £1098.40 (i’ll leave the .40 off every other option from now, as they all have .40!!!!)

1 x Econ + 1 ‘Complimentary’ Companion = £2243

2 x Lowest Prem Econ = £1908

1 x Prem Econ + 1 ‘Complimentary’ Companion = £2623

So………it’s cheaper, by more than the cost of 2 Lowest Economy fares, to buy 2 Lower Economy fares than it is to use a ‘Complimentary’ Companion ticket.

It’s also cheaper to buy 2 Lowest Premium Economy fares than use a ‘Complimentary’ Companion ticket.

The same principles applies upgrades etc.

I’m making the horrible assumption that ‘Complimentary’ is usually used when something is free. Even accepting that taxes etc need to be paid, the fact is you cant use the ‘Complimentary’ ticket on a fixed ticket.

Over the time i’ve been in the scheme i’ve had 6 of these applied to my account, and 12 upgrade vouchers, non of which i’ve been able to use without it costing me more than i could have had the tickets for.

I’ve no doubt that the miles can be used to good effect sometimes, but the ‘Complimentary’ stuff is not as it should be. It’s misleading.

Yes, i fell for it at the start….and should have abandoned it, but i’m stubborn and i want my sweets!

I’m whinging on behalf of the average punter who’s having a bad day…..again……and wants what the label says on the tin.

[MartynSinclair]

ichtop1% – trying to use airmiles/upgrade vouchers/free companion tickets is becoming increasingly frustrating, but one solution i have used recently, is calling the airlines call centres in the States. My last rewards ticket was through LH points and wanting to use them on a Thai First ticket LHR-BKK. The UK LH ticket office was unable to confirm without speaking to the UK Thai office to have the seats released and in the end I gave up due to the length of time it was taking.

One call from London to an unknown city in the States and within 5 minutes all was booked, confirmed and seats allocated.

I am not suggesting that this will be the answer for your companion ticket dilema, but it may be worth a try.

Calling a USA ticket office is very easy and very cheap, unlike trying to call the same airlines European ticket office which is either blocked or is a premium rate number.

[Bullfrog]

I am UK based & have both the BA (1.5 miles per £ spent) and the Amex Virgin credit card.

I like both airlines. I find booking an Upper Class miles better by phone as staff are great, and I find booking a BA First with miles easy on line.

However, the perks with Amex BA match exactly what is offered. The Virgin Amex (previously MBNA & maybe still managed by MBNA) perks have never been great. There was talk of a companion voucher but that NEVER appeared.

The terms for cancellation on a BA Miles is better than Virgin ! by far.

[MarcusUK]

Hi.

Interesting development now the Virgin Airlines have been globally linked, even better now Etihad is in close partnership, with reciprocal benefits for Virgin Gold card holders on the Etihad network. I have found Etihad a superb Airline in Business /Pearl class, & economy very comfortable, but unsure as to the extra seat across on the 773!

The MBNS Amex Companion ticxket award, is placed there electronically on yr account. It is listed on the Flying Club statement i found.
I redeemed my first year’s one a few days ago, booking a friend onto the Dubai flight, for which i purchased my own ticket, to try out their Premium Economy for a leisure trip.
there were no problems, though there was no notification as such it was there.

The Premium economy upgrades, likewise sit there.

FC informed me they award a Companion award on renewal each year also now, so that will mean one from the FC as well as MBNA Amex each year, worth a good deal with prices high at the moment.

The Companion ticket was awardable on the S Fare, for which i paid ££957 (the lowest PE fare on line was £720), plus the usual charges tax etc of £225. It is a fare higher but still well worth redeeming.

With the £25,000 travel budget i run with each year, going through my Amex now. It gives me 3 one way Upper Class flights a year, to say Asia or South Africa as miles seats, plus the usual miles i earn when flying.
Often the double dip of using the Amex, through the FC “shop on line” facility, can give you 7-9 miles per £ spent, plus any hotel & flying miles added on top.
This works very favourably.

[Author]

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