Using Virgin AMEX voucher with FC miles

Greetings V-Flyers, I'm a long term reader of this site and thought it was about time I got a user name and joined in the fun!

I appreciate this post is in the wrong area but I understand I can't post anywhere else without a paid membership (coming soon) so please forgive me!

Basically I'm pretty irritated with the people at Virgin AMEX and FC because I got a black AMEX recently to speed up my journey to UCS. Before I applied and during the application process I spoke to people at both AMEX (MBNA I think) and FC stating that I wished to use 100k miles for one UC ticket and then once the £7.5k spend companion voucher has been released (hopefully early next year), use that for my gf's ticket on the same flight. Each person I spoke to (3/4 in total) said yes yes yes etc.

Last night I just happened to phone FC to query something else, and happened to mention my plan of using the miles with the voucher. The lady was extremely helpful and apologetic because I apparently need to use the voucher with a qualifying fare (J/D ticket) and cannot use it with miles!

Having checked the T&Cs I can see that she's right, but what is really irritating is that throughout the whole process no-one used the phrase 'qualifying fare' because if they had i'd have questioned them. My parents have a BA AMEX and that allows them to use their voucher (although the annual spend is £10k) in conjunction with miles so I just assumed that the same would apply with VS [B)]

MBNA simply advised me to write to them if i've any grievances with their process and the fact that it wasn't mentioned but i'm still rather irritated.

Have anyone else experienced the same or got any tips on how best to use the 100k miles and voucher (when we get them)? The lady at FC said we could use the miles with a UC sale fare which would be about £1300, but the J or D fare for the voucher could cost up to £4k!




Topic moved to card forum, as OP is now full member.... Nick

[HighFlyer]

Welcome to V-Flyer

Unfortunately, you can only use a companion voucher with a J class UC booking, not D. You wont be able to use it with a sale fare either, as they will likely be Z fares. J fares are full fare. Was it MBNA that advised you could use the voucher with miles? If so, I am not sure what you can do as its not really their product so i guess they are not accountable. As for FC giving you misinformation, certainly write to customer services to express your displeasure.

There are plenty of threads in the Guru and Flying Club forums to advise on how to best spend miles, if you want to use the companion voucher and your miles together, unless you are prepared to buy a J fare, the best you are looking at is a PE return for you both, and you wont be able to upgrade the companion fare, but this is the best use of miles for the cash outlay. Otherwise, perhaps look at purchasing lower class fares for you both and upgrading them with miles.

I know this isnt what you want to hear, but a great many of us on V-Flyer do not often use the Companion vouchers as they are rather restrictive unless you are using them for Economy or PE flights, and even then its not always cheaper than two revenue fares. Pure miles is the better route to go down, and with your Black VS AmEx you should start to be earning lots of them.

Thanks,
Sarah

What we're thinking of doing is using the 100K miles with a discounted Z fare in a UC sale, then using the voucher at a later date with a PE/UC/ECON booking dependent on budget.
As an aside we're thinking of doing South Africa over Xmas '09, how likely is it that we'd be able to get a companion on a flight around then? Unfortunately we're stuck to the school hols [n]

[Decker]

We've seen GREAT usage of a companion ticket and miles in getting two coach tickets to JNB. Total saving was > £1,000 to the individual concerned so they CAN be useful.

[HighFlyer]

Originally posted by clarkeysntfc
What we're thinking of doing is using the 100K miles with a discounted Z fare

Yup, provided there is availabiilty, this is a good way to go. Another stumbling block you might find is that different routes have different availibility for reward fares.

South Africa is a route that can be hard to get availibility on, though it isnt impossible. I'm looking to secure a number of G's and U's next year to South Africa so i have been watching the availiability this year as a guide. There isnt a lot to JNB but i have seen a good spread of G's and a lot of U's to CPT. If you can book early its certainly not impossible. Routes like PVG and NRT often have good reward availibility in Upper, whereas HKG and LAS can be difficult routes to get reward seats but its certainly not impossible, especially if there are only two of you. You just have to be patient and sometimes a tad creative on dates to get it to work for you. Its all worth it when it comes together in the end though.

Thanks,
Sarah

I've spoken to FC about this and the lady confirmed that the companion voucher can be used with a J for Upper, K/W for PE and Y/M/L for Economy. Just thought i'd post that in case anyone else wants to know!

[HighFlyer]

I assume you mean S/W for PE? See the FAQ for upgradeable fares for further information.

If only you could use them with a K fare

Thanks,
Sarah

Yes I think I did mean an S fare... sorry about that! The lady did reel them off at quite a rate of knots and much scribbling was required!

and Y/B/L for economy [}:)]

Just a further update on this, I e-mailed Virgin about 3 weeks ago to highlight the fact that no-one properly informed me (whilst accepting that I should have more thoroughly looked into every single word in the T&C's myself) and got the following reply yesterday. Am slightly disappointed by it's generic nature and lack of a real proactive response. To me it just says 'yes thats the t&c's, don't know why you weren't told. sorry.'

Dear Mr ...
Thank you for your email. Please accept my apologies for the unintentional delayed response. I am sorry to learn of your disappointment with regard to the terms related to the Companion ticket issued by Virgin Atlantic. I can confirm that in order to use the Companion ticket, it is necessary for you to purchase a qualifying revenue fare at the same time. Therefore you are not able to use a Companion ticket alongside a Reward reservation. I noted from your email that you mention you have spoken to several advisors, mentioning this, and have not been given this information. I do apologise if this point was not specifically raised by any of the advisors, and I am at a loss as to why this was not mentioned to you when you advised them of your intentions. However it for this reason that we ensure all the necessary information regarding the terms of these products is also readily available online. Whilst I appreciate your disappointment regarding this matter, when you book a reservation using your Companion ticket, you will be required to purchase the qualifying revenue fare at the same time. This is in accordance with the terms and conditions, which members agree to at the time of enrolment. I thank you for taking the time to contact Virgin Atlantic Airways and for giving me the opportunity to explain.

Kind regards...

Also I phoned MBNA AMEX to complain, the polite man I spoke to was not familar with the voucher at all. He also couldn't connect me to their customer services team 'because his colleague didn't really want to talk to me because it's nearly 9pm and that's when she goes home' and he was left with no other option than to give me an address to write to.

This is pretty shoddy in my view.