Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin are a group of companies that you couldn't fail to have heard of in recent years. Richard Branson has the built his companies off the back of being funky and fun, and, most of the time, has done this by poking fun at the more staid British companies you'd have normally thought of.

Virgin have their fingers in many things, from cosmetics to space travel, but one of the most recognisable companies, especially from a global perspective, ...
...single 747 to Newark, USA. Virgin now fly to North America, Carribean, Africa, Asia and Australia, although obvious destinations such as Europe, Canada and South America are still Virgin free.

From the UK, you can fly with Virgin from Glasgow, Manchester, London Gatwick and Virgin's base, London Heathrow.

The basics.
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Like most airlines, Virgin has their own frequent flyer scheme, or Flying ... more

Virgin are a group of companies that you couldn't fail to have heard of in recent years. Richard Branson has the built his companies off the back of being funky and fun, and, most of the time, has done this by poking fun at the more staid British companies you'd have normally thought of.

Virgin have their fingers in many things, from cosmetics to space travel, but one of the most recognisable companies, especially from a global perspective, is that of Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic (or British Atlantic Airways as it was originally called) had it's first flight on the 22nd June 1984 with just a single 747 to Newark, USA. Virgin now fly to North America, Carribean, Africa, Asia and Australia, although obvious destinations such as Europe, Canada and South America are still Virgin free.

From the UK, you can fly with Virgin from Glasgow, Manchester, London Gatwick and Virgin's base, London Heathrow.

The basics.
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Like most airlines, Virgin has their own frequent flyer scheme, or Flying Club, as they like to call it. You can also earn miles with various partners, those being other airlines, hotels, car hire, other companies, and, of course, other Virgin companies.

As for the various levels you can achieve, these are reached by gaining tier points which are gained on most flights. Tier points are the only way of reaching the various status levels, unlike other companies which are done using miles flown, sectors flown, etc.

Each tier level has a number of benefits associated with them, one of those benefits being extra milage!

Earning Miles
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As mentioned, you earn miles on all flights, with the exception of flights bought using previous earnt miles, miles plus money flights (more of these later).

As Virgin have three different cabins in their aircraft, these are the miles that you'd earn:

Economy (N Class): 50% of the distance travelled
Economy (Y,B,L,Q,X,V,N): 100% of the distance travelled
Premium Economy (W,S,K,H): 150% of the distance travelled
Upper Class (J,D,Z): 200% of the distance travelled.

So, exactly how many miles would you earn then? Most people have no idea how far away Dubai is, or Sydney, so here are some example distances:

London to NYC: 6,916 miles
London to San Francisco: 10,716 miles
London to Sydney: 21,110 miles (Phew!)

You also earn miles with other airlines, including: Air China, Air Jamaica, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airlines, BMI, Caribbean Star, Continental Airlines, Delta, Gulf Air, Hawaiian, Malaysia Airlines, SAS, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways and US Airways. Exactly how many miles you earn depends on the airline and class booked, of which there are too many to mention here! More details at: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/fcpartners/airlines/inde x.jsp

You can also earn miles with Hotels, Financial products, car hire, etc.

Any miles earnt won't expire so long as you earn at least some miles every three years.

Tier levels
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There are three different tier levels that you can gain with Virgin's Flying Club: Red, Silver and Gold. There is also a very high tier level, but this is out of reach of most people and isn't detailed everywhere.

The tier level benefits run for between 12-13 months depending on when you reach the tier level. This is normally for the next year. For example:

Between Jan and April 2007, you earn enough tier points to reach Silver status. This mean that you are silver not only for the rest of 2007, but also for 2008 as well!

The various tiers have various benefits associated with them:

Red:
5% off BCP parking
up to 10% of Virgin holidays

Silver:
25% bonus on base (actual) mileage flown
The use of Premium Economy check in regardless of which cabin you are booked in. If you've seen Heathrow terminal three at 11am in the morning, this is a God send!
Priority waitlisting for flights
Complimentary upgrade vouchers on both the Heathrow and Gatwich Express train Service
10% off BCP parking

Gold:
50% bonus on base (actual) mileage flown!!!
Access to Virgin lounges around the world, as well as access to to the Revivals Lounge
Fast track through security at Heathrow and Gatwick
Heathrow and Gatwick Express upgrade vouchers and
One complimentary companion reward ticket on any Virgin Atlantic flight in any cabin when you renew your Gold membership. Yes, that's one completely free flight for a partner!

Tier Points
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Tier points are used to calculate which flying club level you are.

You earn 2 points in Economy, 3 in Premium and 5 in upper class. Again, with partner airlines, these figures vary, so you are best off consulting the link above.

So, how many flights do you need to reach the various levels?

To go from Red to Silver, you need 15 tier points, and from silver to Gold a further 25 points (so, 40 tier points overall).

However, once you've got Gold, you only need 30 tier points the next time to get Gold again. To put that into perspective, that's 10 economy class flights, 6 and a bit premium economy or 4 upper class flights.

Might seem a little unachievable, wouldn't it? There are some tricks you can employ to get more tier points though. Flying to the west coast of the USA? Fly to Newark with Virgin and then Continental. that's 4 points with Virgin and a further 2 with continental. A return to Sydney is 8 tier points just in economy! And lastly, there is what has been termed the Gold Run. With Singapore Airlines, you get 10 tier points for a return in first class under 2000 miles. 1st Class might seem expensive, but between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, a 50 minute flight, it's only £170.... So, it's not as difficult as it seems!

Spending points
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So, you've earnt all these miles. What do you do with them?

Well, you have several options:
Miles for flights, Miles from upgrades, miles to points (transfer miles to other reward schemes such as hotels, etc), hotels, car hire and other Virgin partners.

What does your mileage get you? Well, 45,000 miles gets you a flight from London to New York, 67500 gets you the same flight in premium and 90,000 gets you into upperclass! Might seem a little high, but if you are travelling with someone, for their flights, the miles needed would only be 20,000, 30,000 and 65,000 miles respectively, which isn't too bad.

You can also use your miles to upgrade yourself into the next class, which is what I tend to do. Economy to Premium, for example, is only 20,000 miles, and from Premium to Upper Class is 40,000 miles. I tend to upgrade myself on the flight home into Upper Class so I can get a good nights sleep!

Critique
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Europe really does fall fare behind the USA with regards to benefits gained at the higher levels of frequent flyer status. Most airlines will upgrade you freely if there is space available in the US, and this may happen weeks before you actually take your flight. This doesn't happen with Virgin. I've been upgraded from Premium Economy to Upperclass a few times, once at checkin and the other three times actually on the aircraft. I've also been upgraded once from Economy to Premium. This has nothing to do with what clothes you wear, but more to do with How much you paid for your ticket, your flying club status and sometimes just good old luck!

My second critique is that your 12 months is set. This can be a good thing if you have a few flights one year but none the next year. However, for a frequent traveller like me, I'd like my points to reset every time I earn my 30 tier points.

My last critique is that Virgin aren't a member of an umbrella rewrad scheme, such as Star Alliance, OneWorld or SkyTeam. This would make it easier spending your miles with airlines other than Virgin and would also get you similar benefits when travelling with partner airlines also

Overall, I think I'm treated quite well by Virgin, and being Gold, their premium team look after me! 

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