Virgin Atlantic/MBNA Free upgrade problem

Tomwil

I’d like to share my current situation with Virgin Atlantic and MBNA. In August 2015 we as a family agreed to take a holiday to San Fran in July 2017. At that time Virgin/MBNA were offering 2 credit cards, Amex and Visa at a cost of £140 a year. For this you would receive airmiles plus up to 2 free upgrades and a companion flight per year depending on spend. We spent a lot of money with the cards and at the end of the first year we received an email regarding the 2 free upgrades plus the companion flight. We called Virgin Atlantic in September 2016 and were told we had to wait until all the seats on the flight were released, we called back virtually daily and on the 30 September we were told we could not use any of the rewards as our flights were on the 22 July 2017 and they assumed it would be busy then as it was school holidays. We had to book and pay as normal and forget the benefits. We complained to Virgin Atlantic who said they were very sorry and looked forward to servicing us on our next flight. We then spoke to the Financial Ombudsman who said we had to ask Virgin Atlantic for a full and final response which we got by the beginning of November with no change. The Financial Ombudsman then took up our case. I stated to them I was aware they were bound to have something in their terms and conditions that allowed them to disallow these benefits. I also asked the Financial Ombudsman how many of these cards were they allowed to sell as there simply wouldn’t be enough planes in the sky to grant all the upgrades. I have not had answers to these questions. Virgin Atlantic took 6 weeks to respond to the Financial Ombudsman stating it was nothing to do with them and I was to be referred to MBNA as it was their card. They have now replied saying the seating plan is to do with Virgin Atlantic and provided me with Virgins address. They went on to say all seats are subject to availability. I have also complained that MBNA took the second years fee from our account and if I’d known getting an upgraded seat was like a lottery or a gamble and we were going to be refused I would not of wanted the first year let alone the second. I have 2 children in full time education. MBNA also stated they would not refund the 2nd year and why would I want to as the card is great as you get up to 2 free upgrades and a companion flight!!!!.(She really missed the point)
My points are

• Why would anyone want a card for £140 if they could just decline the upgrade in the first place?
• It does state subject to availability but this booking was made in September for a flight 11 months away.
• There were seats available in premium economy then and as of 30 January 2017 there still are.
• We were not given the option to not renew are card and would certainly not had, after being cheated in the first year. Another £140 was taken from our card.

The Financial Ombudsmen have indicated they will rule in favour of Virgin/MBNA as it states “subject to availability” and does not want to recognise that seats were available at the time of booking and now. My argument is that is it not reasonable to expect, if you are booking when the seats first open 11 months in advance that the flight would not be full!
I feel disgusted that Virgin would want to rip off customers, we fly every year with them and if we had known they could just refuse the upgrade why would anyone want to purchase the card.
I want to proceed to small claims court but would like advice, my heart says it’s a rip off and I’d like other family’s to be made aware and not let Virgin away with it but my head says all the court will do is agree with the Financial Ombudsman and side with them. Does anyone have any experience of this? I also don’t know who I would have to take to court, both MBNA and Virgin as they are trying to blame each other?
I had suggested Virgin/MBNA have some sort of tick box to make customers with children aware its very unlikely they will let you have the upgrades during school holiday, you can only use the upgrades to somewhere you don’t want to go and when you can’t go. We have benefited from some airmiles from the card but this was not the headline, the headline being the 2 free upgrades and a companion flight

We used to get Tesco Clubcard vouchers and when we spent them we were never told it’s a bit busy so you can’t spend them today or you can’t spend them on beans as someone else might want them.
Please remember this is a flight booking 11 months in advance and seats in premium economy are still available, would they have to justify to a judge why we can’t have them. There are 4 of us traveling and we would have had to have purchased 2 upgrades anyway.
I trusted a brand name like Virgin but have to except unless you read the terms and conditions line by line they are allowed to rip us off. Is there not something about unfair terms and conditions because if they made it clear no one would buy the card.?
If you have any further questions please ask and any opinions advice greatly received.

WillyWonga

The Virgin credit cards are a package of 2 cards - it comes as a Visa and Amex. You can earn so much miles per £1 on Amex and a slightly less rate on Visa at stores where Amex is not accepted. The Amex has a fee like many other Amex cards. This charge is levied by Amex and pays for the perks you get with having an Amex card like worldwide customer support, medical help etc etc.

The "free" ticket is always subject to availability. Not sure how Virgin operate but with Avios and BA they release 4 premium seats and 9 standard seats per flight to be used for Avios air miles/ BA Amex card free vouchers. People will phone up on midnight 11 months before to secure travel. Mind you anything school holidays is hit and miss.

Westin

Like I expect all mileage redemption programmes with airlines the availability will always be based on seat availability and reward seats released at various times with limited availability.

I have both MBNA VAA Amex/Visa cards and am a VAA FFC member with silver status.

I have yet to redeem miles for upgrades or free flights but currently accrued in excess of 200,000 miles. When I do redeem I know that I will have to plan my travels carefully as seats are likely to be limited. I certainly wouldn't be expecting to get free reward travel availability on peak travel periods as I realise that the airline will be looking to sell those. They may be available when you search general flight availability but the reward seats need to come from a particular fare bucket and in peak times they simply won't be there.

I'm sorry that you feel disappointed but I think you also need to have a good read of the T&C's and be realistic. For £140 per year did you really expect two open upgrades and a companion seat free of charge without an availability clause?

WillyWonga

Complimentary companion reward flight

Spend £15,000 on card purchases on the Virgin Atlantic White American Express® Credit Card, or £7,500 on the Virgin Atlantic Black American Express® Credit Card, by the end of any year and you will be eligible to receive a complimentary companion return flight reward the next time you book a qualifying flight with Virgin Atlantic. The main cardmember can only earn one companion return flight reward per card account in any one year. A companion reward is valid for 12 months from the date it is added to your Flying Club account. Card purchases exclude cash advances, money transfers and balance transfers. A year is defined by the 12 month period starting from the date your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card account was opened. MBNA will notify Virgin Atlantic of your eligibility within 30 days of you becoming eligible. The reward will be added to your account within a week of Virgin Atlantic being advised by MBNA. The member and companion must travel with Virgin Atlantic, on the same flight and date, be in the same cabin class, and the Flying Club member's ticket must be purchased at a qualifying adult fare. Cardmembers must pay related taxes, fees and charges relating to the complimentary companion return flight reward. These will vary according to the destination, and are subject to change as a result of fluctuations in taxes, airport levies and exchange rates. Companion rewards are not valid for flights purchased through Virgin Holidays, Virgin Atlantic Vacations or any other tour operator. Other exemptions include flights purchased at promotional rates, group fares or other selected discount levels. All Virgin Atlantic reward seat travel is strictly subject to availability. The number of redemption seats available on each flight is restricted and it is possible that the seats allocated on a particular flight may be fully booked, even though seats are still available in other booking classes. Some flights may have no availability on certain routes, and popular dates will fill quickly (i.e. weekends, school holidays and public holidays) and Virgin Atlantic cannot guarantee availability. More seats for a particular flight may become available closer to departure. Information online regarding our latest redemption seat availability is a guide only and is correct at time of publication. This offer may be withdrawn or amended at any time. Flying Club Terms & Conditions apply, please visit https://www.virginatlantic.com/content/vaa/gb/en/footer/terms-and-conditions/flying-club-spending-miles.html link opens in a new window. You will not earn this incentive if you have not provided MBNA with a valid Flying Club membership number. For bookings please contact the Flying Club Helpline on 03444 122 414*.

System

WillyWonga wrote: »

The Amex has a fee like many other Amex cards. This charge is levied by Amex and pays for the perks you get with having an Amex card like worldwide customer support, medical help etc etc.

The card is issued by MBNA not Amex - You are getting mixed up with this a card issued directly by American Express.

Ben8282

Firstly, airmiles are now called Avios and have been for several years.
Secondly, what you need to do is call Virgin, ask them on which dates/flights they can offer what you want then plan your holiday dates around the availability.
You cannot simply expect this availability on every flight.
You have no valid grounds for complaint whatsoever.

No_6

@ t..l

do any of these posts make sense,
they are to long to read ?