Virgin flying club membership?

[Sid74]

I have just booked to go back to WDW for next year, and for the first time, I am flying with Virgin.

I have seen posts about the Flying club and was wondering if it was worth joining?

Do I have to join for all the members of my family, kids included, or is one membership good for the four of us?

Thanks.

[meryll83]

If you fly with Virgin a lot it's good as you build up airmiles to spend on future flights.

You used to get 10% off V Hols as well, but now it's been reduced down to 5%, the same as the online discount, and you can only use one or the other, so unfortunately this part isn't really a worthwhile perk anymore.

However, there's no harm in it :thumbsup2 After just one flight you'll have enough miles to look at the miles + money discounted fares, even if you don't have enough miles to pay for a flight outright.

I've just registered myself, but with others on my booking, their flight miles go on to my account too.

Also, if you get someone to refer you to the Flying Club via email, you and they get bonus miles on your first registered flight - that's what PM's are for! ;)

[islandmum]

Only adults can be Virgin flying club members and only adult fare tickets bought under that card will add to the miles on your card.

Even though the kids pay almost full fare now their miles are ineligible.

Flying club s only really worth the money if you fly more than once a year transtalantic at least in terms of distance and improves the higher up the ladder you go - Red,Silver and Gold.

we are now Gold card holders as we fly alot and dh flies ALOT! this gives us lounge access, bonus miles, upgrades, bigger discounts etc

but we have to keep frequently flying to keep the card or else we drop back to silver.

The Red card doesnt really give you much at all unless you save up miles for things like companion flights.

[wilma-bride]

Actually, anyone over the age of 12 is eligible to join. It is certainly worth everyone in your family who is eligible joining. You cannot get anyone else's miles on your account (unless you are a gold member - not the Austin Powers version ;)) so make sure you each have your own accounts. There is no cost to join and, even if you don't fly regularly, the miles stay valid for 2 years (I think) and you can book miles plus money flights using as little as 2000 miles (a return flight to Orlando will net you over 8000 miles each) so it's well worth it, in my opinion.

[wayneg]

even if you don't fly regularly, the miles stay valid for 2 years (I think) and you can book miles plus money flights using as little as 2000 miles (a return flight to Orlando will net you over 8000 miles each) so it's well worth it, in my opinion.

Its 3 years, mine says "miles will expire on 01 AUG 2011" 3 years from our flight this month but you don't have to fly to keep you miles valid, you can order wine or use a Virgin Credit card take a BMI flight (plus other airlines) they have lots of partners where you can add miles to your account and then they are valid 3 years from the last activity.
Make sure you register yourself then send a miles more friends link to your partner, you then both get a bonus.
I have saved approx £5,000 in 3 years with Frequent flyer scheme, its been brilliant for us, unfortunately the deals over the past few months have dried up. Maybe it will improve again.
Nothing to lose join ASAP.

[WiganTony]

As an alternative, you could join the bmi diamond club.

I was already a member due to flying with Star Alliance airlines through work, but DW joined, opened a bmi Amex account and after spending £295 on it, received 20,000 bmi miles. Following our recent holiday to Orlando on Virgin, we both had around 8,500 miles credited to our bmi accounts.

It is possible to use bmi miles to pay for a VA return flight (50,000 miles plus taxes), but if you book to fly with bmi/Star Alliance, you can have a return trip to the US for 25,000 miles plus £115 plus taxes (or 45,000 miles plus taxes).

(Incidentally, I also have VA Flying Club Membership but have only used this to get the previous 10% discount on VH prices).

[meryll83]

You cannot get anyone else's miles on your account (unless you are a gold member - not the Austin Powers version ;)) so make sure you each have your own accounts.
I thought that after last time we flew (first time registered with flying club) that my partners miles went on my account as well as my own?
Is this wrong?
I have booked for myself, partner and my parents using my flying club number for our next flights, so I presumed their miles would go on my account too??

[Sid74]

Thanks for the replies.:thumbsup2

I am a little confused about whether I can put all the miles on one membership, like meryll83 says, or if everyone needs their own account?

My kids are 15 and 16 when we fly, and we have paid teen prices for them, do they get points? We will definately be going back in 2010, so it sounds like it might be worth having if it gets me discounts for the next lot of flights.

So, if I get an email referral, I get extra points, and then I can get more by sending the referral link to my DH as well? What about the kids accounts?

I don't mean to sound dim, I just want to make sure I get this right.:goodvibes

[meryll83]

Just checked my account, and both of our miles went on with our flights last year, and only I'm a member.

The Earnings Calculator says you get 4224 for a round trip to Orlando, and my account has 8448...

[wayneg]

Just checked my account, and both of our miles went on with our flights last year, and only I'm a member.

The Earnings Calculator says you get 4224 for a round trip to Orlando, and my account has 8448...

Its 8448 for a round trip, thats what they credit me. You can't get other members miles credited, they have to have their own account, they will get 8448 each trip.

[wayneg]

Just had a look at the calc.
You have looked at economy lowest fare which is for N class fares only, you only get hlaf miles and half tier points.
Cabin/Fare type Economy Lowest (N class)
Tier Points 2
4224 miles


I have always been given this
Cabin/Fare type Economy (Y, B, L, M, Q, V, X classes)
Tier Points 4
8448 miles

[meryll83]

Its 8448 for a round trip, thats what they credit me. You can't get other members miles credited, they have to have their own account, they will get 8448 each trip.
The earnings calculator says 2112 miles for one way Orlando, 4224 round trip. So I have been credited with miles for 2 people (total balance 8448), or is the calculator on the website wrong? :confused:

My partner hasn't been registered as a member, I didn't think this was necessary as according to the calculator I have assumed that I already received 2 peoples miles.

Dammit if I should have registered him seperately though, we're past the 6 month add on period!!

[meryll83]

Just had a look at the calc.
You have looked at economy lowest fare which is for N class fares only, you only get hlaf miles and half tier points.
Cabin/Fare type Economy Lowest (N class)
Tier Points 2
4224 miles


I have always been givenCabin/Fare type Economy (Y, B, L, M, Q, V, X classes)
Tier Points 4
8448 miles
Oh I see,
Is there any way to tell which economy class we were in?

Darnit it then, I HAVE missed out on miles!! :mad:


Apologies Sid, it seems you do have to have a seperate account for everyone then! I've misunderstood that all this time and subsequently lost out on miles...
The website says - You must be at least twelve years of age to join Flying Club and members under eighteen years need consent from a parent or guardian to join Flying Club and spend miles - how you quite provide this consent I don't know, and whether or not the teen fares count I can't discover either, but it does mention somewhere that discounted fares don't count, so they could class as this I suppose.....


So, do I need to call Virgin and add another membership on to the booking if I get my partner to join?
That's a total pain in the butt!!!!!

[wayneg]

The earnings calculator says 2112 miles for one way Orlando, 4224 round trip. So I have been credited with miles for 2 people (total balance 8448), or is the calculator on the website wrong? :confused:

My partner hasn't been registered as a member, I didn't think this was necessary as according to the calculator I have assumed that I already received 2 peoples miles.

Dammit if I should have registered him seperately though, we're past the 6 month add on period!!

Yes you would have got 8448 each unless it was a N class fare, highly unlikely.
Explanation of codes here http://www.v-flyer.com/codes.asp reads like majority of N class are given thru Miles and Money fares(officially no miles can be earned on these anyway) and VH megadeals, although I believe our VH package for Xmas is N fare which is not a Megadeal, I will have to check that.

[wayneg]

The website says - You must be at least twelve years of age to join Flying Club and members under eighteen years need consent from a parent or guardian to join Flying Club and spend miles - how you quite provide this consent I don't know, and whether or not the teen fares count I can't discover either, but it does mention somewhere that discounted fares don't count, so they could class as this I suppose.....


So, do I need to call Virgin and add another membership on to the booking if I get my partner to join?
That's a total pain in the butt!!!!!

For consent you print off a form and sign, you can either fax or post it to Virgin. Over 12's then earn miles at same rate as Adults but each booking needs to be looked at, check the code on the ticket.
I would register thru Miles more friends link rather than ringing, that way you both get a bonus after your next qualifying flight.

[meryll83]

I would register thru Miles more friends link rather than ringing, that way you both get a bonus after your next qualifying flight.
We're already booked, so will they be able to link it to him if we now open a new membership?
Or will we have to add his miles on after travel??

Gar, why does it have to be so complicated!!? I liked my original version better :rotfl:

Going slightly off topic here, but Sid, what dates are you at WDW? Just noticed you might be there when we are? 17th October 09 for a fortnight....

[wayneg]

We're already booked, so will they be able to link it to him if we now open a new membership?
Or will we have to add his miles on after travel??

Gar, why does it have to be so complicated!!? I liked my original version better :rotfl:

You should be able to add his number to you booking but you can add after if not.
I wish Orlando was only 2,112 miles away.:) Would be like going to Canaries, about 4 hours away.

[meryll83]

I wish Orlando was only 2,112 miles away.:) Would be like going to Canaries, about 4 hours away.
I never really thought about it like that before :lmao:

I must have just presumed they'd be tight and have us in the lowest category!!

[Sid74]

We will be there from 22nd October for a fortnight, it is a week later than last years dates, so we get the beginning of Jersey week as well as Halloween, so I'm guessing it might be a bit busier than last time, but we'll have to wait and see.:confused3

It will be our first trip as DVC owners, so I'm looking forward to that.:woohoo:

[meryll83]

We will be there from 22nd October for a fortnight, it is a week later than last years dates, so we get the beginning of Jersey week as well as Halloween, so I'm guessing it might be a bit busier than last time, but we'll have to wait and see.:confused3

It will be our first trip as DVC owners, so I'm looking forward to that.:woohoo:

We may bump into you out there then :goodvibes

The kids half term holidays are then I think too, so there might be a British invasion!!

What's Jersey week?

Good for you for getting DVC, I'd love to do that, maybe one day.


How was your trip Wayne, haven't you just come back?

Hmm, better get back on topic somehow, so..... how about that Flying Club eh? :rotfl:

[islandmum]

we've always got the miles for seats we've paid for (adult ones) so if I booked and paid for us and our friends I've always got all those miles on our card.

Gold card also gets the "family" miles put on, so then the kids miles do count which they dont do normally.

Miles+money was a great deal in the last few years but this year seems to be very hard to find a decent deal.

[wayneg]

.
How was your trip Wayne, haven't you just come back?

Hmm, better get back on topic somehow, so..... how about that Flying Club eh? :rotfl:

Great trip thanks got back on Tuesday, fastest 24 nights of my life. thread here with link to pics if anyone missed it. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1915426

We fly 23rd Oct next until 31st, I think its only 7 weeks today:)

[meryll83]

we've always got the miles for seats we've paid for (adult ones) so if I booked and paid for us and our friends I've always got all those miles on our card.

Uh oh, we're back to discrepancy city! :lmao:

Great trip thanks got back on Tuesday, fastest 24 nights of my life. thread here with link to pics if anyone missed it. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1915426

We fly 23rd Oct next until 31st, I think its only 7 weeks today:)
Wow, I'm so jealous! I need to find a way to make more money!
Hopefully right about as you're leaving we should be finding out if we get our preferred wedding date with DFTW :goodvibes

[tashasmum]

Thanks for the replies.:thumbsup2

I am a little confused about whether I can put all the miles on one membership, like meryll83 says, or if everyone needs their own account?

My kids are 15 and 16 when we fly, and we have paid teen prices for them, do they get points? We will definately be going back in 2010, so it sounds like it might be worth having if it gets me discounts for the next lot of flights.


Your kids can get the airmiles as well. We have just claimed ours from our July trip.

[RachaelC]

Hi guys,

You can only earn miles on flights flown by you. Taken from the FC T&Cs:

3.1.4 Miles and tier points will be issued only for flights actually flown by you and will be based on the class of ticket you have paid for and will not reflect any complimentary or reward upgrades.

Like others have said you can recommend the rest of your family join via Miles More Friends and you both get bonus miles at the point in time when they take their flights.

The FC number can be added into the booking at any point up to departure, and miles can be retro-claimed up to 6 months after the flight if you forgot to claim them at the time.

Hope this helps clarify the situation re earning miles for flights taken by other people.

Rach

[Lisash]

I'd definitely recommend joining. At least then you get e-mailed with the offers they are running. The only trouble is it's hard to resist a bargain ;) Also try claiming the points even if it says a flight doesn't qualify. We got return flights to New York over Easter for £239pp on m+m which were not supposed to qualify for miles but I thought I'd try anyway and hey presto I got 4000 odd miles each credited to our accounts :thumbsup2

[stoneyloon]

I've got the AMEX card to go with it and stick just about eveything I can on to it and pay it off every month, I've got 20,000 miles :thumbsup2 before I've even taken a flight......

[islandmum]

I've got the AMEX card to go with it and stick just about eveything I can on to it and pay it off every month, I've got 20,000 miles :thumbsup2 before I've even taken a flight......

the black card they do is a fantastic deal, something like 2 miles per pound spent and then 4 miles for each pound spent on buying a flight ticket.

we tried getting it last year but you have to be resident in the UK. :guilty:

[PaulaSB12]

If you fly with Virgin a lot it's good as you build up airmiles to spend on future flights.

You used to get 10% off V Hols as well, but now it's been reduced down to 5%, the same as the online discount, and you can only use one or the other, so unfortunately this part isn't really a worthwhile perk anymore.

However, there's no harm in it :thumbsup2 After just one flight you'll have enough miles to look at the miles + money discounted fares, even if you don't have enough miles to pay for a flight outright.

I've just registered myself, but with others on my booking, their flight miles go on to my account too.

Also, if you get someone to refer you to the Flying Club via email, you and they get bonus miles on your first registered flight - that's what PM's are for! ;)


How do you get their airmiles on your account? I brought 5 flights to Orlando and they told me I can't use their airmiles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[meryll83]

How do you get their airmiles on your account? I brought 5 flights to Orlando and they told me I can't use their airmiles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you read on, it looks like I didn't actually have 2 sets of miles, just 1 set at a higher economy rate, however islandmum seems to have been credited with miles for all seats she bought..........

we've always got the miles for seats we've paid for (adult ones) so if I booked and paid for us and our friends I've always got all those miles on our card.

Tell us how, oh wise one! ;)

[islandmum]

If you read on, it looks like I didn't actually have 2 sets of miles, just 1 set at a higher economy rate, however islandmum seems to have been credited with miles for all seats she bought..........



Tell us how, oh wise one! ;)

yep - I book direct through Barbados Virgin and I paid for all the seats of people travelling with us (we were all flying together), she linked my card number and I received 52,000 miles - 13,000 per person.

may be a mistake that Barbados Virgin keep making but for the flights before dh and my flight miles always go on the same card.

[meryll83]

yep - I book direct through Barbados Virgin and I paid for all the seats of people travelling with us (we were all flying together), she linked my card number and I received 52,000 miles - 13,000 per person.

may be a mistake that Barbados Virgin keep making but for the flights before dh and my flight miles always go on the same card.
Are Barbados Virgin a seperate part of the company then??

[islandmum]

Are Barbados Virgin a seperate part of the company then??

not a clue I'm afraid, all I know is that we book through them and I always book with the same lady.

although next year we're flying BA for the first time :headache: as the company is flying us back but wants us to use their miles so they dont have to give us money to buy our own flights, stingy buggers!:rolleyes: