Flying Club Competitive Status Upgrades

Right now, there's a fair bit of "status matching" going on amongst the airlines. Star Alliance have a pretty aggressive scheme on at the moment.

I'm a Star Gold (United) member, and FC Silver.

I'm going to be making a fair few business trips this year, and some of them will be in the back of the bus (or at least mid-way, I'll be on fully/semi-flex tickets, so PE on VS). On the trips down the back, I'll be far more tempted to use a Star airline rather than VS (even if VS has a direct flight when Star doesn't), so that I get lounge access, etc.

Anyone got any experience of Virgin doing competitive FC status upgrades?

Cheers,
Mike

[RichardMannion]

Hi,

Yes I know that the status matching is on at the moment as my VS Au status is in the proces sof being matched now. Remember VS is no part of the Star or OneWorld alliances (which is a ggod thing, otherwise the Clubhouses would be congested). All you can do is phone and ask, but I would expect them to ask to see a good history of flying in Premium Classes over the last year or two.

So basically all you can do is ask, but if they say no then its not too difficult to attain.

Thanks,
Richard

Thanks Richard,

I'd already dropped an email to the FC Helpdesk to see if there is any chance of matching my *G status on VS. Guess I can only live in hope! I certainly won't be offended if they said "No, you need to earn it", but I thought I'd give VS the chance of winning the business which could go either way.

Cheers,
Mike

The answer from VS is "No, we are not doing any competitive status matching at the moment, but thanks for asking."

I don't know whether it's a sign of being comfortable or complacent, in the current environment .

Cheers,
Mike

[Pete]

I guess it's at least interesting to know what their position is, as the question does come up.

I suppose the biggest obstacle Virgin would have in doing Status Matching is that they are a small airline compared to the size of *G or OW, so inviting a flood of new members would certainly dilute their product.

Pix