Virgin Atlantic Airmiles Joke

tuhpeegee

Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get some advice. I have been saving my airmiles on my Virgin Atlantic credit card for a trip to the Caribbean. I had intended to pay in cash and then use my miles (I have 24K presently) to upgrade to first class.

Currently, a regular return in economy is £577 for the dates I want to go, which is a good price. So I called up to find out about upgrading with my miles which is when the dropped the joke: I can only upgrade from a flexible economy ticket, not a regular economy ticket.

I went back and checked the prices:

flexible economy: £1,921.86
first class: £2,018.86

Are they even for real??? :rotfl:What is the point of offering a rewards card which doesn't actually offer anything? To upgrade one way, I'd have to spend 22.5K miles so that means each mile is worth 0.004p. LOL.

Is this the case with all airmile cards? Is there another one I can use which is actually meaningful?

Many thanks,

TPG.

MallyGirl

I have never had any problem with BA Avios. You have to plan ahead if you want a popular destination or time but you can strike it lucky. Mind you 24k air miles isn't very much (unless they aren't a 1 to 1 equivalent with Avios).
We splashed out on 3 club tickets to New York in Oct half term and paid for a very nice hotel on Broadway for 3 nights - all with Avios points. We did have to pay the taxes but they are unavoidable. And it was a LOT of Avios points!!

steve1500

Much faster way of boosting Virgin Miles is via Tesco clubcard points. Check out www.headforpoints.co.uk


Personally we gave up on Avios ages ago. London Airways surcharges are ridiculous

chattychappy

I'm afraid you really must understand the rules and know how they are implemented... www.flyertalk.com (look at the forums) was built around trying to get the most out of these programmes.

A few pitfalls include:

1) You're saving up miles to reach some kind of target only for the scheme to change - meaning you need more miles, can't get the class of travel you want, the route you want or exceptionally the scheme closes down.

2) You get enough miles for your flight/upgrade but then simply cannot get availability for when you want it. Airlines often prioritise full revenue tickets over upgraders. They also prioritise their "elite" flyers, ie those that fly alot over flyers "without status".

3) Miles expire before you can use them.

4) Conversion ratios change if you are saving via credit card spend.

I am speaking from years of personal experience. First time I was stung by (1) was when I had some Star Alliance miles with SAS. I had an American Express Platinum Chargecard and put spend through that because I could convert membership rewards to SAS points. Then, at short notice, Amex partnered with BMI and I could no longer put miles onto SAS. In the case of (2) I had a enough Air France points for a business return London to Saigon. It took me 2 years to get availability when I could use it. I WASN'T fussy - it was a trip I would make every 3 or 4 months on paid tickets (with other airlines) so could be very flexible. Whenever I called them, they might just have just one seat available on one or two flights over the following 12 months. In the end I did the trip in reverse and open jaw - Saigon to London City, LHR back to Hanoi. Saigon to CDG I took a code-share with Vietnam Airlines and a voluntary downgrade to economy (knowing that I would get upgraded on boarding - my gf was the purser, but that's another story.)

These schemes are not what they are cracked up to be, but if you do the research they can work for you.

tuhpeegee

that flyertalk forum is basically maintained by :A angels :A (albeit it tremendously snide ones) who will help you access the ludicrously secret secret society that is how to spend your airmiles properly.

i shall now be going to the upper class ball thanks to someone on that forum and with absolutely NO THANKS to virgin's customer service people who effectively told me a 1/4 truth.

than_prutt

VA are generally more expensive than other airlines in my experience. However, I do collect their airmiles and I find them to be better used for booking flights than upgrading, as tuhpeegee had already found out.