Virgin Atlantic Card - flying club miles

charleyroo

Hi all

I took out a Virgin Atlantic card a few months ago with one eye on my Flying Club balance (in Eutopia, i can see my wedding flights being paid for - I wish!)

I've now had two statements from Virgin (or MBNA) and no Flying Club miles have been added to my FC account! I've accumulated over 10,000 in those two months and I really want to see them in my account

Does anyone know how long it takes for the miles to get from MBNA to Flying Club account?

Ta

Charl

[Deleted User]

Did you have a VFC account before you opened the credit card and is this the one that you have been checking?

I know that with some airline credit cards there can be problems with linking an existing frequent flyer account with the credit account (bear in mind that it relies on two different companies, probably using different software etc). In this case the card issuer will open another frequent flyer account on your behalf and the points will be sent there. This happened with me and my American Airlines card (MBNA).

Call the card issuer and ask them to confirm the frequent flyer account number that is associated with your credit card. If it's different from the one you have been checking you'll have to call Virgin and have them merge the accounts into one.

In my experience (MBNA American Airlines and Amex British Airways) the points accumulated should be sent over in bulk on a monthly basis a few days after your statement is generated.

[Deleted User]

Incidentally, if you're interested, MBNA are offering a bonus of up to 35,000 miles on their American Airlines credit card for sign ups by the end of May. The cards come as a set (1 x VISA and 1 x Amex) but both use the same PIN and feed into the same statement. You get, off the top of my head, 5,000 bonus points on the first purchase, 10,000 after spending £1,500 within the first three months and another 20,000 if you spend £5,000 in the first six months.

When you factor in the points made from the £5k spend you'll have over 40,000 miles (assuming you put most of your spend on the Amex which has a better earning rate) - enough for a return flight from London to pretty much anywhere in the US. Of course you'll pay a bit of taxes but very little compared to BA or Virgin etc, maybe £100ish.

If anyone is interested, to get this offer you need to sign up via a special page that is a bit tricky to find. Link is:

http://www.americanairlines.co.uk/i18n/specialOffers/exclusiveMbnaOffer.jsp?locale=en_GB

There is no annual fee on this card so this is a no-brainer for people interested in collecting air miles. Gives you an Amex for foursquare offers too!

InsideInsurance

Lazyloki wrote: »

Of course you'll pay a bit of taxes but very little compared to BA or Virgin etc, maybe £100ish.

Why would you pay any less tax given it is the UK government that sets it and evidently not the airlines? What are AA excluded from? Does the exclusion apply to code share flights with BA?

zerog

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Why would you pay any less tax given it is the UK government that sets it and evidently not the airlines? What are AA excluded from? Does the exclusion apply to code share flights with BA?

Tax is a shorthand for saying "fuel surcharge, airport surcharge and government tax"

The last 2 won't change, and UK APD only applise to flights leaving the UK.

BA charges a hefty fuel surcharge on everything, even if you use BA avios to fly on AA, or if you use AAmiles to fly on BA.

AA doesn't charge a fuel surcharge for a reward flight on AA, i.e. they have included it in the price of the ticket (which is paid in miles for a reward flight)

[Deleted User]

What zerog said. It can also be sometimes worth taking a budget flight to somewhere like Dublin if you are going to the states as taxes can be considerably lower. Or if you're using BA miles (avios) if can be worth transferring them to Iberia (they use the same reward currency) and leaving from Madrid.

StevenDr

I have a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card. My May statement was produced on the 15th of May and the points were credited to my account on the 18th of May. So that's three days.

Personally, I'm thinking of getting rid of the card. Fuel surcharges and taxes mean that flying across the Atlantic and using your points isn't that rewarding anymore.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

StevenDr wrote: »

I have a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card. My May statement was produced on the 15th of May and the points were credited to my account on the 18th of May. So that's three days.

Personally, I'm thinking of getting rid of the card. Fuel surcharges and taxes mean that flying across the Atlantic and using your points isn't that rewarding anymore.

I think it's really only worthwhile if you can get reward seats in Premium Economy or (if pigs are also flying) in Upper Class. There is so much "tax" charged that the saving is miniscule in Economy.

[Deleted User]

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

I think it's really only worthwhile if you can get reward seats in Premium Economy or (if pigs are also flying) in Upper Class. There is so much "tax" charged that the saving is miniscule in Economy.

This is correct, you should really only use airmiles (Avios/VFC points or whatever currency) to either pay for or upgrade to business on long haul flights. Generally speaking you won't 'save' money doing this but often you'll be able to fly business class for around the same price as economy.

The other best use is to pay for short haul economy. Using BA's reward flight saver scheme (I assume Virgin has similar) you can fly return to most parts of western europe for 9000 points plus £30 in fees. This can be a very good deal, especially if you're flying during peak season and you can probably save £100 - 200 per flight.

Roger1

Lazyloki wrote: »

... BA's reward flight saver scheme (I assume Virgin has similar) ...

Correct, Virgin has similar offers but only on the 3 Little Red domestic routes they acquired after bmi went out of business. Nothing in the rest of Europe so far as I can see.