Frustrated with Flying Club

I called Flying club over a week ago since the expiration date of my wifes 30000 miles is the beginning of December.

Since we have a ticket for a flight in December I was told they would extend the expiration date since the flight is in the expiration month.

As this didn't happen, I called again, to be informed that this won't happen and that the miles will expire unless we make a transaction on the account.

To do this, I could donate 1000 miles to extend the expiration date only to be told that even if I did that today, I couldn't be guaranteed that the expiration date would be extended as it can take "virgin" up to a week to process this.

Now, if someone had told me the correct information on my first call I would have had plenty of time to donate miles to extend the expiration date.

Now, because of the misinformation given by staff at the call center my wife stands to lose her miles despite holding a ticket for only two weeks after the expiration date...unless we purchase miles!

Am I right to be frustrated?

Im afraid to say that my blood would be boiling now if I was in your shoes. This is another example of inconsistent answers fom VS customer service v(

[honey lamb]

When my son's expiration date was coming up earlier this year, I simply gifted him the minimum amount of miles I could via the VS website. They were posted almost simultaneously and he was good for another three years.

They want $38 to transfer 1000 miles....plus I see a $25 transaction fee

A MILEAGE FEE IS CHARGED DEPENDANT ON THE NUMBER OF MILES TRANSFERRED. A TRANSACTION FEE OF $25 APPLIES TO EVERY TRANSFER MILES TRANSACTION.

The alternate is that they want $52 for me to buy 1000 miles.

I wouldn't be happy at all, poor service and inconsistency.

I would just buy an early christmas present for someone using the flying club shopping links - they have 100's of retailers you can use so there must be something you could get

I called Flying club over a week ago since the expiration date of my wifes 30000 miles is the beginning of December.

Since we have a ticket for a flight in December I was told they would extend the expiration date since the flight is in the expiration month.

As this didn't happen, I called again, to be informed that this won't happen and that the miles will expire unless we make a transaction on the account.

What didn't happen?

Flight miles are only credited once you have taken the flight.

Whilst it may niggle it is worth buying just 1000 miles and spending 30 quid or whatever it is to protect 30,000 miles which have a value of several thousand if used as a Y to UC upgrade.

I called Flying club over a week ago since the expiration date of my wifes 30000 miles is the beginning of December.

Since we have a ticket for a flight in December I was told they would extend the expiration date since the flight is in the expiration month.

As this didn't happen, I called again, to be informed that this won't happen and that the miles will expire unless we make a transaction on the account.

What didn't happen?

Flight miles are only credited once you have taken the flight.

I'm reading this as though he was told that his wifes miles expiration date would be moved/changed.

That is what didn't happen.

Whilst I have some sympathy for the OP for the misinformation on the call, by offering to extend the expiration date (and failing to deliver), I also see the VS point of view that someone who has had no activity on their account for 3 years can hardly be called a frequent flyer. Flying Club is a loyalty programme after all.

One piece of information that VS are very consistent about is the 3 year expiry time. It is very clearly indicated every time you log in to your account and it is shown on all FC emails too. I presume it is on paper statements if they still exist.

As has been noted above, it is very easy to collect a few miles, shopping, buying, transferring etc, which could have been done over the last three years if these miles were considered valuable.

As HL says, a gift of miles appears "almost simultaneously", so there's still time....
Movember doesn't end until midnight.

IMHO

I'm reading this as though he was told that his wifes miles expiration date would be moved/changed.

That is what didn't happen.

That is correct.

Incidentally, I also arranged for them to change my wifes name to her, now, married name and faxed in all the documentation necessary to do so.

That, to, didn't happen.

Whilst I have some sympathy for the OP for the misinformation on the call, by offering to extend the expiration date (and failing to deliver), I also see the VS point of view that someone who has had no activity on their account for 3 years can hardly be called a frequent flyer. Flying Club is a loyalty programme after all.

One piece of information that VS are very consistent about is the 3 year expiry time. It is very clearly indicated every time you log in to your account and it is shown on all FC emails too. I presume it is on paper statements if they still exist.

As has been noted above, it is very easy to collect a few miles, shopping, buying, transferring etc, which could have been done over the last three years if these miles were considered valuable.

As HL says, a gift of miles appears "almost simultaneously", so there's still time....
Movember doesn't end until midnight.

IMHO

Whilst I disagree with Virgins 3 year policy I wasn't really annoyed with that. It's more due to the fact that I called in plenty of time to affect the expiration of the miles without it costing me additional money. Now it will cost me money to keep those miles, simply due to poor information from the call center.

[honey lamb]

Whilst I disagree with Virgins 3 year policy I wasn't really annoyed with that. It's more due to the fact that I called in plenty of time to affect the expiration of the miles without it costing me additional money. Now it will cost me money to keep those miles, simply due to poor information from the call center.

Ducky, I really have a problem with what you are saying. There has been no activity in your wife's account for nearly three years (and incidentally the 3 year policy is not exclusive to Virgin Atlantic) and you expect them to extend the expiration date at no extra cost? ?| We ALL have to spend money to extend the time frame be it by flying with VS or a partner airline, buying or gifting miles, or any other miles earning ways available to us. Why should you be any different?

many airlines have an 18 month 'no activity' rule so VS is quite generous.
With no activity for 3years why should they even be interested ?

"Donating" miles doesn't "cost" money....and that is what I would have done if the call center would have given me the correct information when I called.....many days before the expiration.

As I said, policy is as it is.....call center staff should be knowledgeable and that is my issue

Appreciate the comments, always interesting

[Neil]

What do you mean 'donate' miles - you can't just give some to your wife. There is no way to transfer miles for free, yes you can transfer them from your account to hers but there is a fee for that, which is slightly cheaper than buying but still has a cost to it.

I don't think there is any way to get miles in to an account without spending money (maybe erewards points)

many airlines have an 18 month 'no activity' rule so VS is quite generous.
With no activity for 3years why should they even be interested ?

For my UA account it is 18 months of inactivity and they are starting to strictly apply this now - I think its due to the merger with CO - and deactivating accounts.

What do you mean 'donate' miles - you can't just give some to your wife. There is no way to transfer miles for free, yes you can transfer them from your account to hers but there is a fee for that, which is slightly cheaper than buying but still has a cost to it.

I don't think there is any way to get miles in to an account without spending money (maybe erewards points)

Donate to charity I believe.

You can donate miles to the Free the Children charity, from 1000 miles minimum

The donated miles are then used to fly volunteers to destinations where VS operate

many airlines have an 18 month 'no activity' rule so VS is quite generous.
With no activity for 3years why should they even be interested ?

For my UA account it is 18 months of inactivity and they are starting to strictly apply this now - I think its due to the merger with CO - and deactivating accounts.

agree - I was specifically thinking of UA.

Got a response from VA within two days apologizing for the misinformation provided in my first call and that they would extend the expiration date to cover the upcoming flight as a result.

The customer service rep also noted that the names didn't match on the account and ticket too (which as I said I'd tried to change) and provided me with a UK fax number to try instead of the US one that I had done previously.

I am impressed, firstly by the response time to this email, secondly by the outcome and thirdly that she noticed the different name.

^)

Massive thumbs up to the VA rep on handling this impeccably.

I'm pleased to hear this turned out well in the end.

Can one of the Mods change the name of the thread from "Frustrated with..." to "Impressed by..."