Virgin Flying club and credit card

[american idol]

i noticed that Keith had managed to get a good discount on his flight using the points plus miles system. Has anyone else had any experience of this? i'm going to be using ours in the school holidays- is it difficult to use the points for flights- i know sometimes there is little availability for special offers.

really i'm trying to work out if we should get a virgin cc- if so is it worth getting the one with the annual fee?

thanks :thumbs:

[AlecK]

We've had a Virgin card (with fee) for nearly 12 months and with our flight have gathered 130,000 miles. We also get a free companion seat to use with an UC or PE fare because we have spent more than £15,000 in 12 months. I haven't tried to redeem any flights yet but will soon for our May '06 trip so am hoping to get availability on companion and or miles plus money fares. I have read it's best to ring exactly 11 months to the day and there should be availability even at peak times so finger crossed.

[american idol]

sounds like a good idea, we're looking at using them to go to Sydney- no way we could save up enough miles to get upgrades on those flights- its 40000 miles each! and we're not flying before then- we both have 14,000 from last year. Oh well the kids are going to be miserable in economy for 23 hours :rotfl:

[val darnell]

We have upgraded from economy to PE for our flights in October and they were only 20,000 for all 3 of us to upgrade. I don't have a cc but I had just accumulated 40,00 over the last 3 or 4 years going out to Orlando. I didn't book on line, I had to ring Virgin and booked through them. I have only booked flights with them not the hotel, I'm doing that myself.

[MystikPiglit]

Val - did you have to pay the full cost of the flights at the time of booking or a deposit?

[val darnell]

Yes, which was a bit of a shock but my good old cc came in very handy (although I do rather wish it had been a Virgin one).

[MystikPiglit]

Thank you. :)

[ukwdwnut]

the only thing i think is a downer on this is you have to book thru virgin themselves so you can pay £200 more for the same flight then discount it with the miles, so really are you any better off? still umming and r'ing after a chat with aleck about this subject

if you are then i am defo gonna get a virgin CC :)

[MystikPiglit]

the only thing i think is a downer on this is you have to book thru virgin themselves so you can pay £200 more for the same flight then discount it with the miles, so really are you any better off?


That's just what I have been thinking too. :)

This DIY stuff is getting a bit too complicated, maybe I'll just stick with the tried&tested package.

[AlecK]

I can't say for definate exactly what the savings are as I haven't use any miles yet. I hope in June to book for May '05 and get 4 PE/UC seats paying only for 2 of them. I will hopefully use my CC voucher for one BOGOF and 30/40,000 miles to get the other. It depends what fare class is available as to whether we get J class for PE or fingers crossed for some very heavily discounted Z class UC fares.

Keith will be back soon and I'm sure he will be able to tell you what discounts he gets with miles plus money fares

[Whitequeen]

I bought a Miles + Money ticket last year direct with Virgin. It cost me £244 + 2000 miles. :shrug:
This was in November. The cost of a flight in November through a TA or on the internet is usually around £330-£360 so it was definately cheaper even through Virgin Atlantic.

[ukwdwnut]

queenie what would that price be if bought thru virgin direct? :)

[Whitequeen]

If you book it without miles it's coming up as £433 directly through Virgin.

[ukwdwnut]

thats it, i've made me mind up, a virgin CC it is then thanks WQ :)

so if you say 2000 mls =£200 saved then thats :cool:

[Whitequeen]

Well, of course, I can't say it'll definately be that but it's a figure to go on.

Don't forget you won't be earning any points on the discounted flight, so having the Virgin CC is a great way to collect miles that you wouldn't normally have. :thumbs:

[ukwdwnut]

oh i didnt know you dont get any miles on the discounted flights, oh well i dont suppose you can have it all ways :lol: will just have to do what alec said to me use the CC for buying absolutely everything

[JuniorMickey]

So let me see if I read that correctly, you guys don't pay for an airline ticket in full when you book?

[ukwdwnut]

not if you have a with a virgin credit card, no, as you earn 1 mile for every £ spent, so if you have enough miles on your account you can get a free ticket :) or upgrade to pe, as thats what a lot of folks do here like alec and paula

[JuniorMickey]

That's not what I meant. Someone mentioned a shock about having to pay for the tickets when booked. I know about frequent flyer miles :) They're a great thing.

For example, I need to book a flight to go see my grandparents for July 4th weekend. When I book, payment is required then and there. Is that not the case with you guys?

[Whitequeen]

Yeah, mostly JM. If you buy it online it's paid for there and then. If you buy from a TA sometimes you just pay deposit and the balance 8 weeks out.

Deposit is usually required for Package deals through TA's.

[ukwdwnut]

:oops: sorry JM, read your post wrong :lol:

direct thru virgin its full payment up front

[JuniorMickey]

Okay :) Just wondering :) I find little differences like that interesting

[AlecK]

will just have to do what alec said to me use the CC for buying absolutely everything


I even pay my council tax by CC now just to get the miles. :D

[joanne]

I've got the free Virgin CC, no annual charge, 1 mile per £1 spent and wouldn't be without it! Like Alec and Paula I put everything on the card, then pay it off every month. It doesn't cost me anything and I get lots of free miles :D
I've used it the last couple of times I've been to either upgrade free or get a free companion ticket.

[JasonC]

I have just got a Virgin CC - do you get the free miles on balance transfers too? I have just transfered 2 other card balances to this card

[american idol]

so if you spent the minimum amount on the CC £15,000 per year(i've just worked out i can put my business stuff on in too!) can you then by two PE seats and get 2 free or is it just limitted to one per £15,000?

[AlecK]

You get one companion voucher for spending 15k,that's separate to all the miles deals. You then need 30,000 miles to get another, so if you had the 2 miles per pound card you would get the miles needed with the 15k doubling up into 30k miles. :D

[PaulaK]

I have just got a Virgin CC - do you get the free miles on balance transfers too? I have just transfered 2 other card balances to this card

No you can't Jason.

[AlecK]

Sorry, just duplicated P's post

[ukwdwnut]

I even pay my council tax by CC now just to get the miles. :D


:lol:

why not, good thought alec

one more ? i might have already asked, is.

as long as you add, not even use the miles to your account in the 3 yr period, you will not lose your miles?

[american idol]

so paying £80 a year for the 2 miles per £ one is well worth it! thanks Alec!

[AlecK]

as long as you add, not even use the miles to your account in the 3 yr period, you will not lose your miles?


That's right. ANY activity on your account resets the 3 year expiry. Mine resets the 16th of every month when my CC statement automatically counts my miles earned for the month and adds them to my flying club account.

:Plane:

[ukwdwnut]

thanks alec :)

[ukwdwnut]

i have been on the VA site earlier today and you can now book a flight using your airmiles i looked at a flight when we normally go in october, normal price £613 with 2000 airmiles against the same flight £377i did post this in shazzboo's thread also

[ukwdwnut]

ordered mine and denise card today :D

brit did you know with the £80 annual card, you get 4000 bonus miles on your 1st transaction :woohoo:

[american idol]

would you believe nut that because we have been out of the country and had two addresses in a year since we got back they won't give us a flipping card :rolleyes: this is despite Virgin offering us an offset mortgage two months ago!!! we rang them and said ok just give us £100 for a couple of months and then increase it gradually but they won't - they want us to have an address for a year. Gone right off virgin at teh moment- told them i would be using Emirates for Australia!!

[ukwdwnut]

do you have a cc at the mo with someone else? cant see the problem then :tut: :tut:

[PaulaK]

The Virgin Credit Card is issued through MBNA so it's up to them whether you get a card or not. It looks like Virgin mortgages are done through RBS, which is why one may say yes and the other no. I would have thought that banks had some kind of special policy for armed forces etc. who obviously move round quite a lot. :)

[ukwdwnut]

yeah i know i phoned them this morning to get my limit sorted out from my other mbna card swapped over, but they said do it when you get the new card thru :D

phone mbna up and explain brit to see if they would change their mind, its worth a go :)

[american idol]

you wouldn't believe our credit limit- in fact i just lowered it- was worried about identity theft and we pay off the bills every month too. Never had a card with MBNA though- got sainsburys and barclaycard. :shrug:

Jon spoke to the card company Nut.

Paula- they have policies when they want to charge us more :rolleyes: