First time post!

Hi all,

I've lurked for a while and have found this site to be a great source of information, so you might be able to help me with these two questions:

1. Assigning partner miles to the FC card. As well as flying to the US with Virgin, I'll be flying up to Manchester soon and will probably use BMI for the partner miles. How do you get these miles assigned to your FC card? Is it a matter of handing it over at check in or do you need to be a member of BMI's own scheme first and then you have to get the miles transferred across at some point?

2. I've noticed the adverts on this site for places that will allow you to buy airmiles for, say, Delta airlines' FF program. Again, could these miles be bought on a DA flying club card and then transferred over? And any thoughts on their value for money?

Thanks!

Darryl

[mitchja]

Hi Darryl

1. When booking the BMI flight you just need to add your Flying Club number to the booking - you will need to ring them if making the booking online as they dont include FC details in their online booking engine, again if you have already booked the BMI tickets just give them a ring and add your FC number, then simply show your FC card at the BMI check-in. Then wait but be patient as BMI flights do take their time to be credited to your FC account - keep the ticket recipts and boarding card tabs just in case.

2. Not sure as I have never tried buying FC miles - most of the purchase schemes are only usually for US airlines.

[Pete]

mitchja's already covered the first question pretty well, so no need to expand on that one.

As far as buying miles, best only to do it if it's an official airline programme. As mitchja says, this is normally only a US-thing, and I can't think of any UK airlines who let you top up your miles with cash. However, once you've bought US ones, as long as their programme allows you to transfer, then those purchased miles are no different from normal miles in your account. You should check the transfer policies with those partner airlines though, since the rules & gotcha's will be down to them.

It's worth noting that VirginFlyer doesn't have much control over the advert content. Google have some complex calculations that try and match the advert with the site content with the advertiser. Most of the time they are at least in the same industry, and sometimes they can be way off. Do feel free to click an advertiser link if it looks interesting, though, as every click helps towards the hosting fees of the site. I'd rather have Google paying for the site than make it subscription-only!

Pix

Thanks for the replies guys - both very useful information