Virgin Air Miles - useless?

Derek_Mott

Hi
We have been trying to use our air miles at Virgin for an upgrade. All throughout Virgin site it boasts and brags about air miles and their use but when you try to use them its a no. The site says you can get an upgrade subject to availability. In normal English ine would understand that to mean that if seats are available then you could upgrade to one.They use this subject availability term all over the site - BUT tucked away in the small print it says that mileage seats availability is at the sole discretion of Virgin. In other words you do not get to upgrade unless we say so and that will usually be towards the fight date when we know we cant sell the seat.
Frankly we the customers are being misled to believe we can use our air miles easily which is frankly wrong. How many of us have not been able to use our air miles ?
On top of all this one must question the whole system of air miles. Presumably once the miles are issued they become a liability in the company accounts which means they reduce the company profit which means the airline pays less tax. Over the years this liability must get to a very high figure which will never in fact be expended because we cant get to use our miles in the first place because the airline stops us and controls that expenditure. In other words it is a massive tax saving to the airline.
Perhaps the |Government should investigate these schemes where we are it seems given a gift that cannot be used whilst they get tax saving on that same gift that will probably never be used.
I have found that frankly I have been misled by the iste and I am sure thousands more have too.
The travel industry should investigate this too!
Kind regards to all - Derek Mott

tomtontom

It comes across that you're throwing your toys out the pram - you can't use your miles (because you misunderstood how reward seats work) so you want the airlines investigated for tax avoidance.

Welcome to MSE Derek - and next time, read the terms and conditions to understand what you're entering into.

jpsartre

Derek_Mott wrote: »

They use this subject availability term all over the site - BUT tucked away in the small print it says that mileage seats availability is at the sole discretion of Virgin.

This is how every frequent flyer scheme works. TBH I think the Virgin site makes it reasonably clear that using miles requires reward seat availability.

blindman

Derek_Mott wrote: »

Hi
We have been trying to use our air miles at Virgin for an upgrade. ......

Kind regards to all - Derek Mott

After you've calmed down :cool:

Tell us:

How many miles you have
Route\date and what are you trying to upgrade from

And we maybe able to help

other resources are

V-flyer (ask for load checks)

Flyertalk-Tends to be answered by the Mod from V-flyer TBHO

And Yes FF miles scheme can be devious-so you have to know how to be more devious to get good value from them.

phatbear

I have a feeling you wont see this, or any other reply, as you seem to be someone who was a tad bored and have signed up to MSE for a rant and will probably never be seen again, shame!

Derek_Mott wrote: »

How many of us have not been able to use our air miles ?

Just incase you do see the replies surely a more relevant question would be "how many HAVE been able to use our air miles"

Well i have for one a couple of years ago i bought an economy return ticket to New York and upgraded, using my miles to upper on the way out and premium economy on the way back.

All upgrades, for cash or miles, are subject to availabilty if there isnt a seat free how do you expect to be able to upgrade?

Caz3121

I am not aware of which airline programs allow you to use miles to upgrade to any revenue seat. BA is exactly the same - there are 3 main requirements
1) you hold a ticket that can be upgraded with miles (not all can)
2) you have sufficient miles/points for the upgrade
3) there is redemption availability on your flight in the class you are looking to upgrade to

Just because you misunderstood the rules does not make them wrong

Winter_Jasmine

I've had no trouble at all with the scheme. We started collecting seriously in 2013 and we used miles to buy flights to Las Vegas last summer and have flights booked again this summer. Each time we've been able to book dates that suited us, during reward seat sales, and have just paid the taxes (£203 each this year). We already have enough miles for next year's flights and are working on building up our Tesco Clubcard points and Amex reward points ready to convert for for 2018!

I'm genuinely sorry that you've had a poor experience but my experience with Virgin Atlantic - both as a money paying customer and a points paying one - have honestly been faultless over the years

ferf1223

last year we got 4 PE seats to Vegas (on the same flight) in a reward seat sale.

steve1500

We got 4 return flights to Orlando last August using our miles. Went out economy & back PE. Total hard cash cost £1,000.


You'd be lucky to get one seat for that price in the Summer Hols


You just need to look on Virgin's website for seat availability & personally I think it is miles better than BA / Avios

theonlywayisup

I agree you won't be back, but for others who think they may be a waste of time, here's a screenshot of my club miles in the last 30 days.



I've redeemed miles for 7 UC flights in the last year. The key is to be flexible on dates and keep checking the flight stats. Virgin area actually very transparent in showing what reward availability is like and if you check a route you can see availability in all classes on the screen.

pmramsay

Me and the wife flew UC to South Africa for christmas and will be doing the same to and from Hong Kong later this year, certainly not useless and have saved us a lot of money.

As with all Mileage schemes you have got to know how to play the game and how to build an appropriate amount of miles. A low amount of miles can be used to upgrade a relevant fare bucket. Its all in the Ts & Cs.

I think there is a preconception that you can just spend miles on any flight, that is certainly not the case. Airlines only have a certain number of reward seats on each flight. You either have to be flexible or quick when they are released to get them.

As for useless, definitely not and I will be enjoying my bubbly in the clubhouse later this year!