V-Flyer

Hi,

Can't seem to find an exact definition either here or on VS website.

I've got a 'Virgin Atlantic Companion Reward Ticket' since renewing my gold status for another year.

On the website I can see it says:

Companion reward flights are available from as little as 20,000 miles when purchasing a qualifying full adult fare. Please call your Flying Club helpline to book a companion reward flight or for more information.

Does this basically mean I pay for a relatively flexible ticket and my companion get's a cheap reward flight (20k miles instead of the normal rate)?

I know about having to pay the relevant surcharges on a reward booking so it is basically saving some miles on a booking but having to buy a possibly more expensive revenue ticket as well so not a great benefit?

Not worth considering unless you were going to buy a flexible ticket anyway (and many do, so companion tickets aren't completely worthless despite what some may say!)

worthless to the average joe public who fly on booked dates & book time from work.

Indeed. But they're of relatively lower value to the airline. It makes business sense to reward customers who spend the most, not those who buy the cheapest tickets.

This is something I'm looking into for a trip to NY. I'm going with a friend who can't really afford her own ticket, whereas I'm happy to fork out for an S class ticket in PE and get her in on a reduced price reward ticket. Plus I get the extra TPs and half the time an S is barely £100 more than an H, it's worth it to me!

SlimpyJones wrote:This is something I'm looking into for a trip to NY. I'm going with a friend who can't really afford her own ticket, whereas I'm happy to fork out for an S class ticket in PE and get her in on a reduced price reward ticket. Plus I get the extra TPs and half the time an S is barely £100 more than an H, it's worth it to me!

Yes, in the main the companion reward tickets aren't easy to use or really offer any saving, but, as you have just pointed out, there are times they do work for people.

Unless you aren't paying for the ticket yourself, then an S PE fare is probably the only time the companion ticket saves you a decent amount of money rather than buying two discounted revenue fares.