Virgin Flying Club?

[LisaStockman]

Can anyone comment on their experience of using their air miles with Virgin for reward flights?
I have only ever used air miles to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy or Miles plus Money.
Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I've often used them for PE M+M to and from Orlando but I've also managed a PE to UC upgrade on our last trip home from WDW (to soften the blow of coming home ) and a future PE to UC for DH and I when we come home from Hong Kong later on this year. I'm trying to get the outbound trip upgrade as well but for some reason no upgrade seats have been released for our date yet but I keep checking every day

 

[stoneyloon]

I cashed most of my points in for Virgin Wine as I could never get flights when I wanted them.
I had loads of miles too but at least the wine was good!

 

[wayneg]

I booked reward seats for next month (August 18th) in Premium Economy.
I booked them last September while they had a sale on 25,000 + £231.79 One way. Without a sale it is 35,000 miels one way and cost has now increased to £249.99

Not always the best way to use them considering taxes & fees you have to pay but in the summer hols a return PE flight was £1,200+ so I thought £231 +25K was a fair price.

I then booked a reward seat with Delta to come home, they cost more miles (60,000) but only $3.20 (£2) in cash. I then paid £38 to upgrade to Economy Comfort.

Return journey costing £271, 25k VA miles & 60k Delta miles.

 

[Claire L]

Personally I would only ever use my miles for a full reward UC as that is where you get the biggest savings. Last year I flew to LA and back UC for just the taxes of £360, the full lowest fare was coming out at £2900 So I saved over £2500.

 

[alibeau]

We managed to spend our points on an UC reward a couple of years ago which was brilliant use of the miles

However, we are now tied to school holidays and pretty much have zero flexibillity with our dates and I am always scared to hang on for reward flights etc in case our dates disappear completely

So we currently use our miles for M&M flights, not a great use of them but at least we make a saving . We fly PE (2 ad and 2 ch) and save around £500 (per booking) each time we book and use 30,000 miles. For our Easter trip in 2013 I paid £3k instead of £3.5k for the four of us. We have another decade of having to stick to school hols so if we are still travelling to the US at that time, I will start to save up my points again for UC reward flights (this is on the proviso that we can shake the kids loose at that point as many tell tales on here of the kids tagging along for many more years to come )....

If you are not tied to school hols, I would definitely save up for UC rewards

Ali

 

[higgy66]

I have enough for a reward seat to NY but need to start saving so my DH can come along!

I think it's taken me about 2 years to get those miles but there were some early promotions which helped so I'm hoping I have enough in 3 years. The girls will also be 11 & 12 by then so I might be able to persuade somebody to take them in for a week!!!!

 

[crabbie1]

So how many miles are needed to upgrade 3 people from economy to PE on a return flight?. I have 21345 miles I presume they have to be specific seat classes as well in order to upgrade

 

[LisaStockman]

It is 25,000 miles per return flight to upgrade from Economy to PE with Virgin.

 

[wayneg]

So how many miles are needed to upgrade 3 people from economy to PE on a return flight?. I have 21345 miles I presume they have to be specific seat classes as well in order to upgrade

Details here http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/corporateandtrade/flyingco/spendmiles/spendmiles_upgrades.jsp
Flying Co miles can be spent on upgrades when purchasing a qualifying Economy (Y, B, R, L) or Premium Economy (W,K,S) fare

 

[Dimplenose]

I've got 5300 miles that expire in August and no intention of taking a Virgin holiday or flight in the next few years. (I mainly joined to give my referrer a chance to get some points for free.) Is there anything worthwhile I can do with so few points or should I just let them expire?

 

[wayneg]

I've got 5300 miles that expire in August and no intention of taking a Virgin holiday or flight in the next few years. (I mainly joined to give my referrer a chance to get some points for free.) Is there anything worthwhile I can do with so few points or should I just let them expire?

I wouldn't let them expire myself, you have enough for 2 people to get Miles and Money fares but you would have to find a way to extend, I am not sure of the easiest way anymore, you used to be able to download a 99p music track which would extend your miles 2 years.
I use a VA credit card which every time I use extends my account 2 years nad I also do e-rewards which is loads of surveys for free miles, on Monday I claimed another 2,000 airmiles and again extends my account life.

 

[crabbie1]

I wouldn't let them expire myself, you have enough for 2 people to get Miles and Money fares but you would have to find a way to extend, I am not sure of the easiest way anymore, you used to be able to download a 99p music track which would extend your miles 2 years.
I use a VA credit card which every time I use extends my account 2 years nad I also do e-rewards which is loads of surveys for free miles, on Monday I claimed another 2,000 airmiles and again extends my account life.

Dont u get loads of spam emails though wayne with e-rewards.

 

[wayneg]

Dont u get loads of spam emails though wayne with e-rewards.

Not that I have noticed, been doing it about 2 years now, had about 10,000 VA airmiles.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I wouldn't let them expire myself, you have enough for 2 people to get Miles and Money fares but you would have to find a way to extend, I am not sure of the easiest way anymore, you used to be able to download a 99p music track which would extend your miles 2 years.
I use a VA credit card which every time I use extends my account 2 years nad I also do e-rewards which is loads of surveys for free miles, on Monday I claimed another 2,000 airmiles and again extends my account life.

I signed up for e-rewards but I never got any surveys to take

 

[wayneg]

I signed up for e-rewards but I never got any surveys to take

Myself and Karen were invited to join via VA and I was also invited via Delta airlines so I have 3 accounts running. I also recieved an invite from Delta for Mathew at the same time, filled in his details but never had a survey thru for him so no idea why.

 

[Claire L]

I also do e-rewards and have had no problems, had about 7000 miles so far. Another way to keep an account open is to exchange some Tesco Clubcard vouchers, I think you can do in multiples of £2.50

 

[Rienchen]

Myself and Karen were invited to join via VA and I was also invited via Delta airlines so I have 3 accounts running. I also recieved an invite from Delta for Mathew at the same time, filled in his details but never had a survey thru for him so no idea why.

my partner joined when we had an invitation through virgin flying club and has done several surveys and product tests through them.

I never got around to joining but now it seems that if I join through the website, I only collect avios miles, not virgin miles, which is my preference as that's usually who we fly with.
Is there any way to join and collect virgin miles or do I have to wait for another invitation through Virgin Atlantic?

 

[wayneg]

my partner joined when we had an invitation through virgin flying club and has done several surveys and product tests through them.

I never got around to joining but now it seems that if I join through the website, I only collect avios miles, not virgin miles, which is my preference as that's usually who we fly with.
Is there any way to join and collect virgin miles or do I have to wait for another invitation through Virgin Atlantic?

Once joined I don't think you can change the scheme you are on, I have one account for VA airmiles & one for Delta, can't change either.

 

[chunkster20uk]

I have used my miles for a reward flight, one way from Florida to Gatwick (after a transatlantic cruise), this was a great use of them, it was (from memory) 12,500 miles, as it was a reward flight sale plus the tax, which was about $125. The cost of a one way flight is normally huge, so this was a bargain

At the moment there is a reward flight slae on so a return trip from Gatwick to Orlando is 22,500 (normally 45,000) plus the tax £302, where as miles plus money for the same flight is 2,000 miles plus £460. (To buy 20,000 miles would cost £300).

IMHO unless you have lots and lots of miles or on tight budget, then I would stick to miles plus money, or upgrades. The only exception to this opinion is one way flights.

Hope this helps