wymetyme

I'm also a little disappointed that reward points won't count towards status points (e.g. Amex MR Transfers, Visa card usage, etc). I have over 150,000 miles earned/transfered with the hope they'd eventually roll out a tiered status program. I use my transfer points to book award tickets which don't count towards status points. If I knew this would end up the case I'd have transfered the miles elsewhere where they'd count towards status.

ethanwa

EXACTLY. At least let the points count up until Silver level. Cutting annual fee cardholders off at the half-way point (10,000) is lame. Maybe have the first $25k go for 10,000 and the next $25k another 10,000 and stop there.... so at least $50k in spend = Silver.

I can understand why they wouldn't want to do that for Gold though. They want people to actually fly on the planes to get that top tier status.

What programs allow your spend to count towards status??

blitzkriegs

I agree, which will be a nice 'benefit' for business travelers if, and only if, they hold these as part of the 'at-airport' seat assignment bucket.

On late booked short routes using VX, I can get an EE seat b/c of status on AA w/Priority Access vs. the often times random 'at-airport' selection on VX. The latter drives me to AA to know where I am sitting in advance and I can move through the PA security lanes.

If I get a crappy old AA plane, I wish VX had something to offer to put me in a better 'mood' after such decision...

wymetyme

Well specifically I'm thinking of AAdvantage which although card spend doesn't count towards EQMs, it does (or did, I'm not 100% sure on the changes since last year) count towards life-time elite status. I'm not aware of any that give you yearly status qualification for point spend.

flyingcat

AA MasterCard spend for million miler is being phased out. Only working through the end of this year for cards acquired 2011 and earlier.

olouie

You read that wrong. I like VA, but the new tier program is not that impressive. Its the start of them charging for more things for regular fliers. Nothing is free so the perks they give out will be paid for by the costs to those without tiers. I would guess the entertainment options go down too and more and more of it will be pay per use, then you will have to pay to get assigned seats, then extra fees for other small things too.

I fly both VA and SWA a lot and while VA planes are nicer, SWA has a better rewards program for me (Esp since I have CP and am almost A+).

Carfield

Not sure if I like this program much, but as a non-status member, MCS will definitely be 100% full in the future, as there are only two rows of seats. For those who pay for MCS, you will get a higher chance with middle seat filled. It decreases the value of MCS, unless VX decides to increase the amount of MCS seats (which I doubt).

I am also not sure about the calculation of status points... currently, if you fly Virgin Atlantic upper class, the points are calculated based on 60% of the actual miles of the segment. But the description of the new website, you will receive the amount of status points based on the actual miles of the flight (with no mention of any class of service bonus to Premium Economy and Upper class passengers).

The elite status seems extremely difficult to reach unless you use your VX Visa card like crazy. Not sure if it is totally worth it. With its current financial situation, I am not sure if I am willing to invest so much money on this program.

MC Express seats sound suspicious... I don't see much benefit, unless it includes extra legroom (comparable to Economy Comfort on DL, Main Cabin Select in AA, and Economy Plus on UA) and priority boarding.

I guess with the elite program, VX will sink even lower on my list of airlines to fly, as upgrading to MCS and F will be difficult. I don't think VX is mature enough to have an elite program.

Carfield

UA900

No legacy can compete with VX in at least one area, Fly With Benefits tab:


Get Galactic status.

Earn the most Elevate status points by
August 7, 2013 to win the ultimate getaway—a suborbital space flight on Virgin Galactic


Nice marketing idea. I could see a mileage run in some people's future. The ultimate FT bragging rights, what's a DO compared to that?

GoAmtrak

Here's lucky's analysis.

Looks like Cush and co. made the levels fairly tough to attain by design:

grt2106

2% of today's customers- but once you have a FF program that actually is worth a lick, I imagine they may see an increase in high rev. customers who now see VX as a viable choice.

Still though, unless you're based out of LAX or SFO- the rewards travel is pretty limited in destination.

TakeTheATrain

Never have been impressed with VX's program. I abandoned VX in 2009 for United and let my EleVAte points expire since it took forever to get a free trip with their ticket price-based point system. Yes, UA has crappier service, older planes, and lacks IFE, but the pre-merger United elite program at the time was a huge incentive.

VX's elite program doesn't seem like a good value at all. For 20,000 points for Silver, that would cost $4000. And the benefits aren't great: Main Cabin Select at T-12 hours, 1 free bag, but no free upgrades to First. Last year I spent about $4000 on United, and got Premier Gold / Star Gold. With that, the benefits are far better than even EleVAte Gold with the Star Alliance lounge access, Economy Plus, 3 bags at 70 lbs, and the occasional upgrade to First (I've cleared only on 2 flights this year, but were on transcons).

I think the main problem, at least to me, is how the points are based off of ticket price. I probably won't be moving back to VX anytime soon.

wymetyme

The one thing I've concluded is that price-based points systems are beneficial when redeeming for short-haul flights. With an award chart you only maximize your value on expensive (read long) flights. With eleVAte I can redeem for first class flights SFO-LAS for less points that I would need to do so on a chart-based award.

Also, with the ability to redeem against an award chart on VS and VA, there is decent potential for "aspirational" awards, specifically UC on VS (although the fuel surcharges aren't great). For 50k miles and $1,200 you get UC from SFO->LHR RT. On the lower end you can buy that fare outright at $3,340. This leaves us at a redemption rate of 4.3cpm ((3340-1200)/50000).

Finally, with $25k spend on the card you are halfway to tier 1 which isn't superb but could be great for cheap upgrades. It's not for everyone but those are the trade-offs I've come up with. I plan to shoot for the tier 1 status and then collection credit card bonuses on good offers for legacy airlines to balance out the poor redemption on trans-con flights on VX.

Mike_K

As someone who already flies a fair amount with VX and almost always pays to upgrade to MCS or F within the 24 hour check-in time, the program is a bonus to me. It probably means we won't have that empty seat in the center of MCS any more but such is life. Either way though, my ORD - LAX round trip costs me $600 + at least another $280 per trip for upgrades. So the potential to save some money is there.

I can't seem to find an answer to my question though. Currently I have about 10k points. Do I need to earn points by purchasing flights or can I just dump 20k points (2:1 points transfer) from my AMEX Membership Rewards points to make up the difference and call it a day?

Virgin's literature keeps talking about "earning" points so I'm thinking they're only going to give me status on the points I earn by purchasing flights or if I decide to use their credit card (which isn't a great deal).

If I can just dump some of my AMEX MR points into my Elevate account it becomes a much better deal and I don't have to wait another couple months to make status.

cringle

The webpage elaborates on what "status" points are. No Dumping, apparently.

http://www.virginamerica.com/vx/elevatebenefits

wazzuFreddo

If VX starts flying SFO-OGG and SFO-HNL I might consider switching as they have BOS, LAS and ORD covered.

Don't know how I would get to GEG though? I doubt that will ever be a VX destination