Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - going to have to say goodbye to VA.

Firstly, I love virgin, I have always had good service and the food is food one their metal.

But I am going over to BA for the following reasons, the first reson being the most important.

1- BA give you a 241 on reward flights book on any class. So I can book a business class flight for 120000 to bangkok for 2 people once a year.
2 - More destinations.
3 - huge codeshare choice.

If VA done a similar 241 I would stay, but the PE upgrade is not enough, and the companion voucher is not worth a penny.

Am I making a mistake?

If its something you want to do then do it.

Sometimes BA will be best for your needs and sometimes it will be VS. Sometimes it will be a totally different airline alltogether.

Why beat yourself up for doing what is best for you?

Totally agree with UKtravelbear. If the grass is greener on the other side, then jump over the fence and graze away.

VS is a LONG way from perfect, there are lots of things that they seem to do to antagonise and annoy their most loyal customers, but we live in an age where staying in business seems to be their primary consideration.

Maybe things will pick up on the perks and incentive front. If not, then others may follow you to the dark side.

Nick

One thing you might want to be sure about is the rate at which you accrue miles, which will be wholly dependent on your personal circumstances.

Yes you can use the 241 in conjunction with a miles redemption on BA , and I do this once a year - well worth it IMHO.

BUT, the rate of accrual of VS miles can be higher. For example - 1000 miles per night Hilton hotel stay v 500 (fixed) BA miles. 1.5 miles per £1 spend on the BA Amex premium (3 miles per £1 on BA flight) as opposed to Virgin's 2 miles per £1 on the Amex Black (or 4 miles on VS flights)

And on BA you can only upgrade one cabin from a paid fare, whereas VS lets you upgrade with miles from economy to upper - albeit from the more expensive fare buckets.

Miles earned from flying are broadly similar (e.g. a LHR>JFK return for a BA Silver/VS Gold in Club world/Upper is about 17k miles in both programmes).

Flying from the regions, BA gives me more choice - and the new reward flight savers for zone 1-3 are seriously good.

But I am lucky in that maintaining both a BA and a VS FFP is viable for me - if I had to choose I'm not sure VS would win, despite my preference for their business class and PE products over BAs.

Thanks for the info. I only have few more thousand pounds to spend to get my PE upgrade this year. After that, I will give BA a go.
Do I only het Hilton miles when I book through the VA website or do I need to book via Hilton?

Thanks for the info. I only have few more thousand pounds to spend to get my PE upgrade this year. After that, I will give BA a go.
Do I only het Hilton miles when I book through the VA website or do I need to book via Hilton?

Booking online with Hilton will definitely get you the miles. Make sure your Flying club number is set up in your Hilton profile.

There is currently (to end June) a double your points or double your miles promo on too. Set your My Way preference to fixed miles and you'll get 2000 miles per stay until the night of 29 June/check out 30 June.

The third quarter promo hasn't been announced yet.

PS - Virgin Atlantic is VS not VA - VA is Virgin Australia, VX Virgin America

PPS - the companion ticket can be good value when used in conjunction with an S class premium economy fare - can be cheaper than 2 inflexible K fares to some destinations