Originally Posted by dotben

I had to pick up on this because I am in the same situation but with the opposite conclusion. I am UA elite who flies both domestically and regularly to LHR (which is where I rack up the UA miles). I'm SFO-based and would LOVE to fly a VS/VX combo where my miles (read:loyalty) was federated between carriers.

As it happens I get WAY more out of sticking to UA because every flight I get an upgrade to economy plus and domestically, I usually get an upgrade to first. (I also have had no problems redeeming miles, even internationally and at short notice due to bereavement - but maybe that's just my route).

I just read for the first time that if I was a Virgin Velocity Miles member I can earn on both VS and VX and redeem on VS... but it seems crazy that I have to be a member of Virgin's Australian program to do this.

If they are going to let people into the federated world via the backdoor, they might as well just create a pan-Virgin network (yes, even though they all have separate ownership... this is already happening when I can earn miles on UA and redeem on Lufthansa or Air Canada).

For me, this is why VX's program is such poor value... it doesn't consider that many (most profitable?) customers take international trips as well as domestic - and their loyalty isn't remunerated.