For anyone who thinks the VS credit card isn't worth the fee

[Nottingham Nick]

I got a Virgin credit card when they first introduced them in 2003 and then converted the points earned to Flying Club points when the VS branded card came out some time later.

Being a bit of an anorak, I keep a spread sheet of my credit card spends and points earned from the various cards. This month sees a bit of a milestone, as I have now passed the 500,000 flying club points earned from my Virgin card on its own!

Okay, so I have paid a a few annual fees, but I haven't paid a penny in interest so the half a million points is almost for nothing, in my rose tinted view!

Factor in the points I have also had from my real Amex cards, my Texaco card and other 'freebie' earnings, (and a bit of flying!) then this miles whoring obsession I have developed has been a very profitable one!!

Thanks a lot V-Flyer / Flyertalk et al, y) y)

Nick

Nick

Fantastic news Nick, great to see that as long as you pay the full outstanding balance each month, you can rack up some serious miles!

Oh and the spreadsheet thing..... I can relate!

Cal

Nice one... I put through all my business expenses on mine and have racked up a cool million in spend (and I have spent them!). Although now I have moved over to the PL Business AMEX card as I wanted to spread the miles across BA and VS as I want... but I still keep the VS one for personal to keep it ticking over, its still worth the annual fee in my opinon and I love the Visa Card that they have brought out.

That's quite a landmark/milestone thingy!! 500k miles.

I'm glad I don't record everything, it'd depress me!

Still, you're right - with click through shopping and use of my VS amex, plus a bit of flying and wining/dining, I must total 125k miles a year on average - and that might be conservative...

Factoring in my wife's card plus various bonuses etc you pick up on the way, that's quite a lot of rewards...

[Neil]

Quite weirdly I actually did a similar thing this morning and worked out that since 2006 we have just racked up nearly 325K miles from our spends on the VS AmEx. Hopefully this will increase with the new Visa meaning we can literally put all our spends on it.

Like you Nick, not paid a penny of interest and it has saved us £1000's on fights, and has meant we can fly in the pointy bit, something that wouldn't be possible on just cash fares alone.

Another bit thumbs up for V-Flyer and it's members without whom I would never have known about all these miles earning ways and tricks.

[buns]

Like you Nick, not paid a penny of interest and it has saved us £1000's on fights, and has meant we can fly in the pointy bit, something that wouldn't be possible on just cash fares alone.

Another bit thumbs up for V-Flyer and it's members without whom I would never have known about all these miles earning ways and tricks.

Mrs Buns completely echos this y) y)

Our experience has been exactly the same

Thanks Nick for guiding us in that direction in the first place

buns

Great one Nick y) .

I too am a bit of a spender on Amex ... putting all my work travel through I'm currently accumulating at the rate of 15,000 to 20,000 FC miles per month!

No spreadsheet here, but just checked my all time history on the VS site and since flying VS for the first time in 2004 I redeemed 850,000 miles up to Dec 2010 - some outright Gs and other L>G upgrades. And that was without work related travel/expenses going through the card (but quite a lot of 1000 miles per Hilton stay). All flying in the pointy end as Nick says and extremely worthwhile y) Only once managed to use the PE upgrade voucher though and NEVER used a companion one.

Managing to get the same (and sometimes better) value out of BA's Executive Club too. Just pays to do your research.

Regards
R3dV

Funnily enough I closed my black vs card a while back, as I have an amex plat card I negotiated 2mr points per £ so now I have the ability to exchange the points to any program I choose plus twice a year amex do a conversion bonus.
I currently earn about 20k/40k a month and have earnt way over a million miles.
The introduction of the shopping area has been a great way to earn since coming online as all my business purchases come from there.

Cheers
Alex

Would echo all these comments.

I've had a black card for 4 years now and its saved us a huge amounts on flights to USA.

Along with Virgin shopping site, petrol with texaco and Hilton it gives us enough miles for UC upgrades (kids with grandma!) and PE flights (with 2 upgrade vouchers) in summer for family of 4 to USA.

I do have two points however.

1. The annual companion reward seems pointless - two Z fares often less than one UC fare valid for companion award.

2. US sites often complain of the high taxes payable for Virgin reward fares. A reward flight is far from 'free'.
Are rewards with the BA amex any better? I'm aware you get less miles per spend (2.0 v 1.5 per mile) although I'm told their companion reward is much better.

Any views?

2. US sites often complain of the high taxes payable for Virgin reward fares. A reward flight is far from 'free'.

The issue is not the 'taxes' per se but the VS fuel surcharge which is far more expensive than the APD.

It is a disgrace that VS (and tbh some other airlines) try and hide the fuel surcharge in the taxes etc of the fare when fuel is a basic part of the flight and is 100% airline imposed unlike 'proper' taxes and airport fees.

Why is it that I can spend 50k CO miles for a one way JFK-LHR flight on a VS plane plus $ 2.50 9/11 fee yet the same reward flight ON THE SAME VS PLANE is 45k VS miles plus $ 268.50 - $266 of that being the VS fuel surcharge.

Why is it that CO can let me off the fuel surcharge but not VS?

I flew to NYC on miles recently on LH and they 'only' charged me the UK and German APD (fair enough) and the small US airport fees. they did not charge the fuel surcharge

2. US sites often complain of the high taxes payable for Virgin reward fares. A reward flight is far from 'free'.

US airlines have their ways of getting you, and people are very good at ignoring comparisons ... for example, to use miles to upgrade on AA without FF status, you pay a 'fee' of $250. Just one of many examples ...

Both Mr Twirlygal and myself have white card accounts and all spends possible go on our cards. Paid off in full each month so no interest. We don't clock up any business miles or spends and fly just once a year to our happy place on our hols.

We have had our Virgin Atlantic cc accounts since 2004 during which time we have clocked up:
2006: 3 Economy reward flight LHR/LAX SFO/LHR
2010: 3 PE reward flights LHR/JFK using miles and PE cc upgrades
2012: 2 PE reward flights LHR/LAX using miles and PE cc upgrades
Also in intervening years we have made us of M+M to take advantage of reasonable fares LGW/MCO.

It's cost us nothing. Flexibility seems to be the key

Fully agree, we have 2 of the Black USA cards in our household, and currently have around 500,000 left, after a good spend.
No idea of lifetime, but must be close to 1 million.

What to spend the 500k on is the question! Suggestions?
Air NZ to AUK in UC equivalent is a great spend. Done that 3 times.

I try to use partners and avoid the rip-off fuel surcharges on UK flights. Plus going home to Blighty from NYC is such poor value 90,000 miles for a flight that is only around 6hrs. But turning right on the plane is just as painful!