V-Flyer

I am now 9+ calendar years AU with more than 300 Virgin earned TPs. My current membership year ends May 2017. I will ensure I renew AU even if a TP run is needed. I will be 10 calendar years AU in August 2017. Question: will I automatically get AU for life come August 2017, on the anniversary of first becoming AU, or will it be at the end of the next membership year, so May/June 2017?

Not that I'm expecting any additional benefits for gaining AU for life, but has anyone had any when reaching that milestone?

Many thanks!

Will you have completed 10 full years in August 17 or just started the 10th

Will have done 10 years. Turned AU August 2007.

Based on Mrs Buns' experience, this arrived on the Anniversary of her first achieving Gold (i.e. she achieved Gold in May 2006 and it flipped over in 2016 - no fanfare).

One thing to remember is the 300 Tier Points over the 10 years must have been earned on VS Metal - so if a TP Run is needed, keep that in mind and do not look to go via Delta or other airline.

buns

I am not aware of any additional benefits for life time AU members other than of course that you can always use Clubhouse & DTCI whatever VS class you travel in.

My 10 (full) years came up 10 days ago - nothing yet...did you receive something in the post/online? Whilst I have remained Gold for 10 years (and well over 300 TP, all on VS), my membership number did change when I left the PAMS programme after a couple of years... wonder if I don't show as being 10 years...

I've got 400+ TP on VS metal, so based on buns reply will be hopeful of lifetime gold next Aug. Thanks for the replies.

Nexstar wrote:My 10 (full) years came up 10 days ago - nothing yet...did you receive something in the post/online? .

Nope, just happened to check Mrs Buns VS Account page and when I went to see how many Tier Points she needed to renew, it merely stated:

"As one of our most valued Flying Club Gold members you do not need to earn any tier points to retain your Gold membership. "

buns

hmmmm..thanks for that. I'll give them a call!

Whilst it's true that there are no explicit new benefits for being AU for Life, i have noticed a lot of subtle differences over the last few flights. Twice I have been upgraded at the gate (once Y-UC, once PE-UC) after having gone for years without an OpUp. I have been greeted by the FSM either as I boarded the plane or soon after. At JFK, the Clubhouse manager came over personally to say hello and when I mentioned that I couldn't get a treatment, the manager gave me their card and said I should email her next time I am flying through so she could reserve me a space.

I have to say I have been massively impressed with how I have been treated by VS. Even though I am now free to try to gain status on other airlines knowing my status with VS is safe, I find I still go out of my way to fly Virgin.

There must be some sort of notation on my record now that markets me as GFL since it only started about 6 months ago although I have had the status for a couple of years.

I think the main benefit of gold for life is you can use the lounge even when you can no longer remember where it is .

So, having spoken to VA last week they confirmed that they had rectified a system issue that was ignoring the 10 years Gold membership. Next day, on logging in, it simply stated "As one of our most valued Flying Club Gold members you do not need to earn any tier points to retain your Gold membership.

Fast forward to today...new member number...and telling me I need to earn tier points to retain gold

on the phone again tomorrow..

Nexstar wrote:
Fast forward to today...new member number...and telling me I need to earn tier points to retain gold

on the phone again tomorrow..

I logged in to the new system today and it boldly says:

"Hello, Martin!

1 years consecutive Gold member" [sic]

So have my previous 7 been wiped clean?

Mine said 1 year also. Hoping it's part of a phased system upgrade

It is 10 calendar years, for GfL, isn't it?

With the new website declaring "years as gold", it makes me wonder if there will be a switch/misunderstanding and it becomes 10 gold 13-month years, rather than calendar years. So actually almost 11 years..

Seems like I'm also stuck on 1 year :P

As the OP, thought I'd provide an update. My 10 year calendar anniversary was actually last week. No status changes within my account. Left it to Monday and contacted (online) customer services. Had a note back that everything looked like I was good for lifetime gold and that the systems should automatically make the change. They escalated it to their support department and today two emails (the same email though) arrived confirming I'm now lifetime gold. Still no update in my online account though.

So if you are expecting lifetime, make sure you contact customer services as it looks like the automatic entitlement is not working.