Originally Posted by
MikeBOS
Overall I think VX's status program is pretty weak compared to the legacy airlines. It has zero effect on my loyalty to the airline because the benefits are so bad.
The main thing that you get from the status program is free flights.
Silver is not worth much, but if you're Gold, you rack up pts very quickly, and they are very valuable. You are getting 10 pts per dollar spent, and if you use the VX CC, you get another 3 pts on the CC. 13pts is worth 28.6c towards airfare. Buy 4, get one free. I don't believe that any of the zone-based legacy airline rewards programs give you free flights at that rate
If they started giving away free upgrades to F, the F product would inevitably suffer. This is what happened to the legacy airlines. It can either be good, or it can be free. It can't be both. I'm glad that VX hasn't joined the race to the bottom here.