V-Flyer

My account statement shows:

18 Jul 2011 Congratulations! You have reached Flying Club Gold status!

and also:

Total Tier Points earned within Current Membership Year. 35

At the top it says:

If your tier membership year ends on or before 31 August 2012, you will require 30 tier points to retain gold membership

How come I haven't had a "Congratulations, your gold membership has been renewed." yet?

Also, assuming this is just some kind of bug, are any tier points I accumulate between now and 18 July basically worthless?

Mark

You will only see the 'Congratulations, your gold membership has been renewed' when your account resets/renews on your 12 monthly account anniversary date.

Yep, it's been discussed at length before, any tier points you earn over and above your renewal level are basically worthless (unless you earn a serious amount of TP's over and above the threshold which should get your account noticed by VS)

Next stop 100 - then they'll start taking notice of you...

mitchja wrote:You will only see the 'Congratulations, your gold membership has been renewed' when your account resets/renews on your 12 monthly account anniversary date.

Thirteen months .

On the topic of getting your account noticed by Virgin, does VS offer any special recognition for very valued customers such as if you do accumulate 100 tier points.

E.g BA has the 'Premier' invitation only level above Gold.

I'm presuming Virgin don't but I was curious incase there was some unofficial 'extra' level of status.

Yes, they do.

coolflyer wrote:On the topic of getting your account noticed by Virgin, does VS offer any special recognition for very valued customers such as if you do accumulate 100 tier points.

E.g BA has the 'Premier' invitation only level above Gold.

I'm presuming Virgin don't but I was curious incase there was some unofficial 'extra' level of status.

It does, are you heading for such a level perchance?

If you have that in your sights bear in mind that TP earned on partner fights (even other Virgin airlines) do not count.

It's (unfortunately!) not something I'm likely to achieve anytime soon, I was just curious really. Does anyone know what extra benefits this extra level includes?

e.g

AU get CH access for themselves and a guest even if travelling Y or PE. Can also check in at the UC desks too

Access to LHR revivals even if not in UC

Can use Priority Boarding in flying Econ

Extra bag allowance

Miles Bonus

More info here

C

Errrr - No Chris, I think coolflyer was asking about the >100TP area.

You listed the standard Gold benefits.

The answer, coolflyer, is that they are very subtle "benefits". In days of old, invites to special days (not so much now) but other bits and pieces that SHOULD make you feel more "special" when travelling. The application of those nice touches in recent years, however, seems to be patchy at best.
Basically, you won't find any detail until you hit that level - at which point you'll know

preiffer wrote:The application of those nice touches in recent years, however, seems to be patchy at best.

Not so quick Mr P. I've been to three this year and have a possibile super duper one coming up!

slinky09 wrote:

preiffer wrote:The application of those nice touches in recent years, however, seems to be patchy at best.

Not so quick Mr P. I've been to three this year and have a possibile super duper one coming up!

...was referring more to the onboard "nice touches" to be honest - which even you've missed recently

preiffer wrote:...was referring more to the onboard "nice touches" to be honest - which even you've missed recently

On my last flight, yes, but that was, I hope, an anomaly ... hopefully not to be repeated. I do generally agree with your point of view.

preiffer wrote:Next stop 100 - then they'll start taking notice of you...

I was on a United Airlines (sorry) internal flight from Denver I think which had been delayed by weather and we were due to miss our connection back to LHR. We were in First class and an american lady was on the phone for half of the flight saying that she was one of their highest mileage customers and that if they didn't hold the connecting flight she was not going to be a happy bunny. The whole cabin was listening to the telephone conversation, with her saying that a flight the next day was a definite non-starter.

Amazingly, whoever was on the other end DID get them to hold the flight (which was fantastic news for the few of us also on it) and we took off what felt like seconds after we boarded but about an hour late.

Now THAT'S what I call being taken notice of! 8D

Same happened to me on UA. I used to be Global Services (invitation level) and due to late connection the ORD-LHR was held. They met me at the door of the connecting plane to whisk me to the next. I had not asked and , being British, felt rather awkward about it (there were some pretty evil stares when I boarded). That happened on more than one occasion - they do know how to make your custom feel appreciated on the US carriers.

2 years ago they did not renew my Global status so I switched to VS which brings me to here ! I have never regretted the move - everything about VS is a much more pleasant experience.

Thanks for all the comments, so it seems like there definitely is life after Gold at Virgin then!