Tafflyer

Look BA!

VS have cut miles required for Y awards as well as reducing fuel surcharges on Y reward tickets.

LHR-SFO for 35,000 miles and £240

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/eu...S-_-May%202013

Now, since currently nobody, but nobody redeems for Y TATL, I think this changes things! I make it a redemption rate of about 1.25p per mile, that's about par with the BA RFS.

Prospero

There is a Flying Club redemption sale running at the moment. The fuel surcharge reduction coincided with the launch of this sale.

BA may match its own YQ with VS's but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

fripperies

I thought BA did have a Y redemption sale on. If not, it won't be long. BA & VS seem to mirror each other obsessively. As a result, beneath the much-hyped but superficial brand differences, their offerings to customers are pretty much identical. Every time I read the (fully justified) complaints on this forum about how lousy redemption has become on certain BA routes, I think about my 200k+ Flying Club miles. They've been sitting in my account for FOUR years because I can't get Upper Class rewards to the East Coast. VS and BA are as bad as each in this respect. They also seem to match their fares down to the last few pennies on the routes/dates I'm interested in. If life were not so short I'd try to find out why this isn't in breach of rules about anti-competitive business practices rules.

Prospero

The Exec Club has indeed run economy class redemptions sales before. Incidentally, I see Avios.com members are currently being offered discounted rates with its Shrink The World promo.

http://www.avios.com/gb/en_gb/spend/cp/shrink-the-world

ian001

The cut in the surcharge is noteworthy in the context of a significant change of management at VS (new CEO from AA, and DL due to place two directors on the board) and the forthcoming TATL joint-venture with DL.

Skipcool3

Prospero- The AVIOS shrinks the world promo is not open to all, apparently!!

I have in the hundred thousand AVIOS and have been in the scheme since 1989 and have not received an invite.

Whilst many may not consider a Y redemption, there are some destinations such as Bermuda, where it can be a very good use of miles / AVIOS

Exclusive High Fliers Offer
"All bookings are strictly subject to availability which may be very limited or not available on some routes at certain times especially during peak periods. Bookings cannot be upgraded using Avios once confirmed. Offer is applicable to "SELECTED" customers only. The total number of seats available for Avios bookings will vary.

Skipcool3

Extract from live chat with AVIOS this morning. You couldn't make it up.......

[****]"The shrink the world offer is on an invitation only basis. I can check to see if we have provided you an invitation. Can I please take your membership number?
[Visitor] Well I havn't received an invitation. As an AVIOS / AIRMILES account holder since 1989 I think that is poor.
[******] I can have a quick look at this for you, can I please take your membership number? It is done as a lottery basis and is irrelavent on length of time or amount of points you spend/collect.
[Visitor] Really? why would it be done on a lottery basis? surely it should be sent to long standing customers with healthy AVIOS balances (I have 240k) that can take advantage of the offer, not to random customers. Please feed this back as I am sure that this will annoy a lot of long term collectors."

irishguy28

If you had just given your number as requested, you would have received an invitation most likely.

BingBongBoy

You could give me a completely free ticket on VS and I still would not fly with them.

Can I help you

I would love to fly with them to see if all the hype was true.

dubbin

Why? With all due respect, that sounds a bit crackers!

trueblu

Really? Is their safety record worse than BA's? Do they fly to undesirable locations? Will they poison you with their catering?

Those are three reasons I would perhaps choose not to take up a free flight of my choice -- but can't think that they apply to VS?

Given that you are in the industry, perhaps it is more personal? Did you apply for a job with them and not get it? Are their pilots bigoted?

I don't mean these as jibes, but the statement comes across as a little extreme BBB.

tb

choosethedrew

It's not all true but they are not so offensive that even a free ticket should be turned down (IMO!)

Dave_C

I think this is a genuinely interesting move by VS. Hopefully it will bring some further competition to the Executive Club. I'll be very interested to see how this pans out, and if other carriers follow suit, but I'm not holding my breath.

BA has certainly taken the initiative in recent years, especially with the introduction of RFS's which are an excellent product. Given VS are primarily a long-haul airline, perhaps this is their response?

Either way, it can only be good for passengers.

Tafflyer

VS used to be better, I admit. But BA used to be much better. I was VS Gold before I was even BA Silver and got attracted by a BA one-way first upgrade offer. I saw the GF and CCR could compete with the clubhouse and that BA's less-hyped J product was as good as VS UC. So, I accumulated a shed-load of Avios and fly around 2500TP with BA annually. Now, I have hassle trying to spend the Avios and my loyalty is being repaid first by rubbish catering on board and now by penny-pinching in lounges. GF LHR is IMO no longer even worthy of a flag carrier's J lounge let alone first class. GF LGW has long only been decent for breakfast.

VS offering better redemption availability and now value, a comparable on-board product and significantly better ground services makes my next TATL carrier choice a no-brainier. No way BA.