No Miles on VS?!
 

So here I am trying to decide between flying CO or VS to LON, and I notice in reviewing their current partner listing that VS is nowhere to be found. I've now been transferred to four different agents who have all confirmed that VS isn't on any of their lists either, and it's highly questionable whether one would actually earn mileage even when flying as a CO codeshare. One agent even said specifically that there was no way I could earn mileage if they weren't on "her" list. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

Since I don't have access to those magic Elite phone numbers (though hopefully that will change soon...), does anyone who does feel like calling to see what answer you get? My assumption is that they're in the process of eliminating all references to VS to replace with KL, but it seems a bit ridiculous that you couldn't earn miles even when the flights are CO-coded. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

You will definitely earn miles, so long as it is a CO codeshare. Your ticket will indicate CO as the carrier, the flight number will be in the xxxx series range, and this will be, for terms of OnePass, a Continental flight.

If it's a Continental flight number then as far as onepass is concerned you're flying Continental.

To qualify my above comment:

Any given VS flight that is a Co codeshare has X% seats as VS stock of seats and Y% of seats as CO stock of seats, where X+Y=100.

Just MAKE SURE to get a CO seat on the VS flight - just because it is a codeshare of you call VS and get a VS seat and your airline ticket has VS as the carrier, you will NOT get miles.

I certainly agree that this should be the case whenever flying on a codeshare flight, but that second woman I spoke with insisted that this would not be the case because the flight is not operated by CO or one of the qualified partners on their new magic list.

At any rate, I have now booked my return flight on VS (as CO4417) due to scheduling issues, and I certainly have my fingers crossed that this will work the way it's supposed to. I just find the whole thing to be a bit bizarre.

I have flown a number of times on Virgin, but with ticket issued by CO on CO ticket stock with a CO flight designator. If this is the case, you will definately earn miles, as I have never had a problem.

(If it is a VS flight # on your ticket, there is no way you can earn one-pass miles.)

Another way to tell if it is a Virgin flight is by what airport it is to.

Continental only flies into Gatwick, while the flights on Virgin fly into Heathrow.

Tute:

Not all VS flights go to Heathrow,

4417 and 4418 go to Gatwick.

CO needs to do some refresher training for ticket office & res. ctr. employees on what a "codeshare" is.

Last week, I booked on some CO/VS codeshare flts for March (CO 4410 JFK-LHR; CO 4403 LHR-JFK), thru the elite line. Since I had to cash in a voucher to pay for it, I had to go to a ticket office.

When I got to the office at the Port Authority Bus Terminal early Friday morning, I gave the agent a piece of paper with the itinerary written on it: locator #, dates, flights, airports, seats I had reserved, fare (OK, I can be a bit anal about my travel plans). He said "You can't use this voucher on that flight - it's not a Continental flight." I told him that it was a codeshare, and that for voucher purposes it was considered CO. He replied "No, we don't serve Heathrow, and we don't serve JFK" (someone tell the man about 2x/day to CLE).

I said, "Well, please pull up the record, and if the computer won't take the voucher, we can make a phone call about it. I booked the reservation through the Elite Line reservations desk, and told them I was using a voucher - that's why I didn't just get e-tickets." He didn't say another word until it was time to ask for my credit card, and of course the voucher was just fine...

Thanks for the correction Boomer! Therefore, nix what I said above.

Carl: Yes, it is bizarre. The best way to describe the situation is that Virgin has never been a OnePass partner. They are a codeshare partner only. In other words, CO and VS have a marketing arrangement to sell each other's seats, but have not connected the FF plans. Therefore, the only determining factor for mileage credit is the carrier as shown on the ticket.

Here's a second question regarding VS & CO's relationship. If I purchase a ticket to LHR on the CO/VS flights, and that fare is eligible for upgrades, can I cash in miles to fly in Upper Class on VS? Anyone have experience doing this?

Regards,
RChavez

Yes, you can upgrade. I have done it.

CO controls some percentage of the upperclass seats on the codeshares, which they both sell and use a (presumably smaller percentage thereof) to upgrade.

What is NICE is that if you do have an eligible fare basis for upgrade, they take you all the way up to upperclass (Doesn't vs have 3 class int'l service - I think so).