Virgin and Flying Club miles complaint

[Julia Ann]

We had enough miles on our Virgin "Flying Club" membership for a one way premium economy upgrade. Fantastic! However, I realised this after booking our package holiday with Virgin because I received the newsletter from Flying Club after and saw what our miles/points were worth. So got intouch with Virgin, "please apply our miles to return flight for premium economy upgrade blah blah". Oh no...because i had booked our holiday with VIRGIN HOLIDAYS the miles are only valid with VIRGIN ATLANTIC!!!! therefore i should have booked my flights with Virgin atlantic and then the accommodation with Virgin holidays... oh my god richard branson, i know you have a finger in many pies and obviously Virgin record store, virgin Phones, Virgin Insurance....are separate companies but i wasn't aware, and who would be cos they are both travel, they were separate companies entirely! They did say we could have a 50 quid voucher towards the upgrade .....hmmm expecting a 200 quid free upgrade and getting 50 quid off, i don't think so. So i am really upset and I am going to send a complaint letter. not sure if it will get me anywhere...Anyway, if we go again i could do what they say but i bet we wouldn't get the free car hire cos not a package holiday. Has anybody else had a similar problem?

 

[gilld]

Sorry, but as they have different names, I wouldn't have expected them to be the same company.

You can of course choose to book any future flight through VA but that would indeed be a flight and not a fly drive.

 

[SEVANS2208]

I do sympathise!

I haven't had a similar problem because I'd noticed that the miles could only be used if booking directly with VH. It is annoying though that you collect the miles and then there are restrictions, especially when VH and VA are part of the same "group".

We're hoping when we can afford to go to Florida again we'll be able to use our miles towards our flights and overall it will be probably be cheaper then to book our car hire and accomodation seperately (do accom. separately now and book virgin flydrive for flight & car) but it's all a bit of a hassle just to be able to use the miles you've collected.

Let us know if/when you get a response and what they say.

 

[magicmouse2]

had same problems here.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

They are different franchises.

You Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles are just that Virgin atlantic.
You booked your holiday through a travel agent, Virgin Holidays. they would have booked your flights segument from Virgin Atlantic and probably at the cheapest class which may not allow you to upgrade anyway.

If you had BA miles, would you expect that you could use them to upgrade a flight on British midland airways?

Because they have Virgin in their names does not mean they are the same company, your miles are accrude with Virgin Atlantic, not Virgin holidays. its the same as we book our flights with VA, and "how dare they! they wont let us have the frequent Virgin holiday discount because we did not book with VH!"

 

[carolfoy]

I agree its a shame Julia Ann, I'm not sure a letter will do a lot of good but write one anyway. Their customer services team may do something else for you.

 

[Frances999]

To be honest, you were lucky to get a £50 voucher - this was just a good will gesture and was not something they were required to do. I don't mean to sound harsh, but the Flying Club terms are very clear. Also, if you mentioned you were planning to use your FC miles when booking, the VH staff would have told you that they were only valid through VA.

 

[mark&sue]

I have looked at this before. But whilst DD12 is still at school we prefer to book over a year in advance and hence have to do a fly drive with either VH or BAHolidays. I have realised that the flights only are with VA or BA and these only come out 11 months prior to the trip. I guess once I feel really safe to book "only" six months in advance I will use BA or VA and book a car separately. We do not need accommodation as are DVC members.

Sorry that you felt it was not clear but hopefully you still have your air miles and can use them next time. Good luck



Susan

 

[Cinderella]

Virgin can be so annoying with things like this. But, honestly - the free car is not really free - I have priced flights and fly drive a lot and each time the flights only come heaps cheaper - you'd be better booking your car through somewhere like airline network.

I got a virgin credit card in December thinking i could use it for frequent flyer miles but have just found out - i need a different virgin credit card - so now i'm going to have to apply for the other one - and although i can transfer my points, I won't be able to have double points, even tho i'm getting a double points card.

Seriously take a look on the discussion boards at www.v-flyer.com for advice - there is actually a flying club section on there that is really worth looking at.

I noticed one post on there where someone had been sitting in premium economy near a famous family who got heaps of preferential treatment - so they complained to virgin and got heaps of freebies - free miles, upgrade on next flight etc - so it is definitely worth it to complain.

 

[susieh]

Last year my sister-in-law's parents booked their trip to Orlando (for her wedding) through VH while her sister booked through VA. The flight they were all on was cancelled due to the Hurricane.

Her sister got put on a flight the next day but her parents didnt get out until 3 days later (just in time for the wedding) because VH had to allow all VA passengers to be rebooked first.

They would have been even later but we got on to the company and explained the situation and that there were 9 other guests all flying with VA for the same wedding. They allowed Mandy's parents to jump the queue a bit but it was touch and go whether they would arrive in time and a horrible time for all of us.

 

[heatherbelle]

Hi

I would go ahead and complain, you've nothing to loose.

Earlier this year, i too had problems with the VA miles. I phoned the call centre and they put my miles onto my card no problem. We had flown earlier in the year and I had only just discovered VA miles.

The next day, I opened an accound for DH and e-mailed asking for his miles to be added. No such luck. We were out of time. I sent an e-mail back and explained that I had had my miles added the previous day and could they pass it to a supervisor to look at with a sympathetic view. I had just booked another flight and that was when I learne about VA.

Two days later a reply came back, they had added the miles and to please make sure in future that we claimed our miles within the 6 months time limit. Fantastic result.

So if you don't try, you don't get.

Good luck.

 

[Red-Snapper]

Cant see you have much to complain about tbh.

VH are a package holiday company who no doubt get their seats off VA at a discounted rate. The small print of any flying club has so many restrictions and ifs & buts and they are after all, separate companys.

 

[Claire L]

Cant see you have much to complain about tbh.

VH are a package holiday company who no doubt get their seats off VA at a discounted rate. The small print of any flying club has so many restrictions and ifs & buts and they are after all, separate companys.

Yes that is my view on things and to be honest when you booked you must of been happy with what you booked or you wouldn't have booked it. Just save the points for your next visit and use them with a booking through VA.

Claire

 

[Julia Ann]

Thanks for the constructive responses - i was just wondering if anybody else had experienced the same. Sorry that the "obvious they are 2 different companies!" was not that obvious to me although "obviously" i had found this out before i posted the thread. I'm not stupid just sometimes really haven't got time to read all the small print for every company i deal with...but thanks a lot to those who sympathised and gave me some useful information.

cheers - happy and safe travelling!

 

[Red-Snapper]

Actually cant see that anyone said "obviously" but I am wondering why if you are flying club members you booked via VH anyway ?

I have been considering joining the flying club and booking flights with VA but is there something I should know ?

 

[Julia Ann]

We have never booked through VA in our lives. We have always booked through VH and asked them to swipe our Virgin Flying Club cards when we checked in (or contacted the helpdesk by email afterwards and they have always added the mile on to the card) So....... it seems funny that i can collect miles when i have booked through VH but can only spend/use them through VA...maybe it's me that's funny. and we are not big travellers either it only took 3 trips to the USA over the last 4 years to accumlate enough miles to claim a premium economy upgrade (or not as my case may be cos i didn't read the Terms and conditions) hopefully will use them next time if i do it right. Ho hum.

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

We have never booked through VA in our lives. We have always booked through VH and asked them to swipe our Virgin Flying Club cards when we checked in (or contacted the helpdesk by email afterwards and they have always added the mile on to the card) So....... it seems funny that i can collect miles when i have booked through VH but can only spend/use them through VA...maybe it's me that's funny. and we are not big travellers either it only took 3 trips to the USA over the last 4 years to accumlate enough miles to claim a premium economy upgrade (or not as my case may be cos i didn't read the Terms and conditions) hopefully will use them next time if i do it right. Ho hum.

If you have a flying club card you have a flying club guidebook that tells you where you can earn miles and where you can spend them.
As you quite rightly call it, its a Flying club card, not a Virgin Holidays club card.
We book always flights only, does that mean I should be moaning that I cannot bacome a frequent Virgin mamber of VH??
If you do not have your guide book, downlaod a copy here
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/downloadableform/index.jsp

 

[Julia Ann]

Yes, Obi-One, I DO know the name of the card but as I have never booked through VA they still give me miles when i have booked through VH....anyway after reading your reply to "how do we (us economy cattle that is) get through 9 hour flights" i'm sure you are not really too bothered about a free upgrade to premium economy when you are sipping your champers in club class.

Happy Travelling...

 

[Obi Wan Kenobi]

Yes, Obi-One, I DO know the name of the card but as I have never booked through VA they still give me miles when i have booked through VH....anyway after reading your reply to "how do we (us economy cattle that is) get through 9 hour flights" i'm sure you are not really too bothered about a free upgrade to premium economy when you are sipping your champers in club class.

Happy Travelling...

Again, you seem to be blaming both Virgin Holidays and Virgin Atlantic for your failure to read either the terms and conditions of your bookings or your Flying Club card brochure.
If you fly with any of these airlines
Air Jamaica
Air New Zealand
Air Seychelles
All Nippon Airways
America West Airlines
Austrian Airlines Group
bmi
Caribbean Star Airlines
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Frontier Airlines
Gulf Air
Hawaiian Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
SAS
Singapore Airlines
South African Airways
You can get Flying club miles. On some of them, heaven forbid, you can get upgrades.
if you have a Virgin credit card wich is a Flying Club card you get miles, but guess what? you don't get free money!
You get miles with every Hertz car hire you do, but you don't get a free class upgrade, naughty Hertz! How dare they not tell me that when I book with them, oh wait its in the guidebook and on the Virgin Atlantic web page.
You Do get a £100 voucher towards your Virgin holiday costs for 20,000 miles,
but again;
IF YOU READ YOUR FLYING CLUB GUIDEBOOK you would have seen this, or even just gone to the Virgin Atlantic Flying club portion of their web site!

Oh, and guess what? I actually earn Flying club miles with every Upper Class flight I pay for at a rate of 225% of every mile I fly, naughty me! Why can't I get a free flight, oh wait, I do as does everyone else who reads their guidebook!

I should tell you that you could try for a miles upgrade at the airport, again avialable in your guidebook, but I can't be bothered, especially as you have failed to do any reasearch yourself by opening that little book or looking on Virgin's web site....

everybody elses fault but your own, the compensation culture of the UK today.

 

[jen_uk]

Thats a bit harsh!