Virgin Flying Club Miles

[Disney Frenhines]

Has anyone else tried to use their VA flying club miles to book flights to and/or from Orlando. I have been trying to do it for either March or May and despite being on the site at midnight and getting the message that there are no available seats. They don't seem to be releasing seats for miles only purchases anymore for Orlando, not a problem to do it for other destinations.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I tried to get for the beginning of December this year and there was absolutely nothing so we are going via New York.

Since Delta bought a bigger share of VS their entire policy of reward flights, the ability to earn miles and in fact their entire loyalty model seem to have significantly changed for the worse in my opinion.

 

[Scillycruisers]

We managed for the first time to use miles plus money to buy our tickets to MCO for Feb next year. In the past it has either not been offered or has worked out more expensive than just using money!

 

[AcrossthePondNic]

We managed for the first time to use miles plus money to buy our tickets to MCO for Feb next year. In the past it has either not been offered or has worked out more expensive than just using money!

That's what we'd like to do. Can you explain it a little for me. We're completely new to it. We've signed up and been earning miles through Tesco etc but not tried to use them yet. We figured our best bet would be miles plus money. How does it work if my husband and I both have points? We can't combine them but we'd be looking to book tickets for us and the kids.

 

[Elise79]

Haven't been able to see hardly any rewards and certainly nothing useful for a return!

It's annoying as we have a couple of PE upgrade vouchers to use but there are no seats

 

[Scillycruisers]

That's what we'd like to do. Can you explain it a little for me. We're completely new to it. We've signed up and been earning miles through Tesco etc but not tried to use them yet. We figured our best bet would be miles plus money. How does it work if my husband and I both have points? We can't combine them but we'd be looking to book tickets for us and the kids.

When I looked for flights on the VA site there was an option to select pay with points and money which I ticked. Going through the booking process, after picking flights it gave me the chance to choose how many points to use and deducted the relevant amount from the total. At this stage it required a login to the rewards program to show the points. I just logged in to one of ours (my husbands I think) and it showed our combined total points.
Not sure whether I had previously linked the cards, but you could check if this is possible on the site. If you haven't already set up a log in to the rewards program you will need to using your reward card numbers.
This is the first time I had done this and am by no means an expert, but it was very simple to follow on screen and we saved quite a bit each.

 

[flortlebap]

Miles plus money fares are easy to come by but the saving is so minimal that it just isn't worth it.

I haven't managed to upgrade or flight purchase for the last 3 years with VA

 

[Scillycruisers]

We saved about 20% which I was delighted with, especially as the only time it was offered before it worked out more expensive than cash only!

The way we book things we have no flexibility at all in flights and it was great to get the reduction on the flights I was going to book anyway! And as we only collect points on our one flight abroad a year - and we don't always book VA anyway - I never really expected to collect enough to claim anything.

 

[pickers1982]

We saved about 20% which I was delighted with, especially as the only time it was offered before it worked out more expensive than cash only!

The way we book things we have no flexibility at all in flights and it was great to get the reduction on the flights I was going to book anyway! And as we only collect points on our one flight abroad a year - and we don't always book VA anyway - I never really expected to collect enough to claim anything.

Wow more expensive with miles, that's ridiculous. Got 4 premium return flights just before the changes. Now I ve given up up and have started on avios! Hope they are better

 

[saintrob]

I use miles all the time but unfortunately are finding that we need to fly more often via Atlanta. We were able to upgrade to UC at Easter quite easily as VA were flying daily from MAN to ATL. This will be reduced to four days per week during the winter but we've still managed to bag 3 x UC seats - out to Orlando and back from Atlanta. I stalk the Virgin site - the miles flights are usually released about three/four days after the flights first come online however there's no hard and fast rule. The option of Atlanta is well worth it, the airport is easy to navigate and it's far easier to get the miles seats.

 

[wayneg]

I managed to get a couple of Upper class seats using miles last September from MCO to MAN. 50k each plus about £300pp in cash. Wished I had stuck to PE, not the best experience, got 12.5k each refunded after complaining.

 

[DomTheHodge]

I've just cancelled my Virgin Atlantic credit card for this very reason, the points were useless, No flights that I could use my points for in a 2 month period NEXT YEAR.. just a joke, we managed to use some to get money off a flight but no upgrades at all, Switched to a cashback credit card and a normal AMEX

 

[pickers1982]

I managed to get a couple of Upper class seats using miles last September from MCO to MAN. 50k each plus about £300pp in cash. Wished I had stuck to PE, not the best experience, got 12.5k each refunded after complaining.

Never done uc, what was wrong with it? Sorry being nosey!

 

[DomTheHodge]

Never done uc, what was wrong with it? Sorry being nosey!

Sorry to jump in but I agree with the poster about UC with Virgin, it's certainly not worth the money, I'd much rather stick with PE for the price. I was expecting a bit more.. luxury and service for the money but I left feeling a bit disappointed, the menu wasn't amazing and the tv / entertainment selection was exactly the same.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I've just cancelled my Virgin Atlantic credit card for this very reason, the points were useless, No flights that I could use my points for in a 2 month period NEXT YEAR.. just a joke, we managed to use some to get money off a flight but no upgrades at all, Switched to a cashback credit card and a normal AMEX

From what I've read on another message board the days of the VS Amex card are numbered anyway as Amex have cancelled all their licensing deals with other credit cards

 

[wayneg]

Never done uc, what was wrong with it? Sorry being nosey!

They blamed most of the problems on staff shortage due to it being the first flight after the hurricane, airport had been shut for 2 days.
There is an arm rest that is supposed to go down and stay down when you turn seat into a bed, wouldn't stay down on either our seats.
Zero personal attention, they did the absolute minimum they had to.
Breakfast served in the dark, all food together so you had a choice of soggy cornflakes while you ate hot food or eat crispy flakes and cold food.
Something else but I can't remember.
I can only compare to Delta business class which I have done a couple of times. They addressed us by our names the whole flight, as soon as we opened our eyes they were asking if they could help, outstanding service. Service on Virgin just wasn't there.

 

[DomTheHodge]

From what I've read on another message board the days of the VS Amex card are numbered anyway as Amex have cancelled all their licensing deals with other credit cards

Yeah I had a long conversation with AMEX about applying for the UK Dollar Card with them arguing that I didn't have an AMEX when I had the virgin one but apparently that doesn't count.

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Same problem, never been able to find a "free" seat, despite having enough miles to use. The last couple of years I've used miles plus money which is a help but not as satisfying!

 

[gismo1554]

Orlando was always a hard route to get reward flights on and recently appears to have become impossible. I did manage to get a JFK-LHR reward earlier in the year where I blew all of my airmiles just to use them. Although miles plus money isn't a great saving its better than nothing.

 

[Wakey]

Bloody useless, had 90000 mikes they took off me without warning me it was coming because I could never use the things in school holiday. I now avoid Virgin.