Buying Miles

I dont think this has been mentioned before. But Virgin now let you buy miles.

Link to VS Website.

You can also buy them as a gift for others. Very usefull, if only I had known about this yesterday when I exchanged some HH Points for 1,500 miles so that I was no longer in a negative balance.

Steven






Edit by mod to shorten link.......Nick

Originally posted by stevendq
I dont think this has been mentioned before. But Virgin now let you buy miles.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/milesformoney/index.jsp

You can also buy them as a gift for others. Very usefull, if only I had known about this yesterday when I exchanged some HH Points for 1,500 miles so that I was no longer in a negative balance.

Steven

Wow! That's extremely [8D] though not quite sure how cost effective it is!

[preiffer]

Wow - that's definitely new.

They must have got the hint from the amount of people selling them on eBay - there's a market out there... [:0]


So - 20k miles = £315. Cheaper than 2 x £199 "on the day special" PE upgrades, but doesn't factor in the additional cost of a Y/B/L ticket. Not really attractive enough to consider bulk-buying, but I guess for the odd 1-2,000 it'd be useful.

Interesting that VS have teamed up with points.com to do it. I wonder if that opens the door to more "swapping" opportunities in the future... [:?]

A welcome scheme and not bad value really:
1k miles = £30
25k miles = £390

Cheers

Michael

[mcmbenjamin]

Is transfering miles between accounts next? a la UA?

[preiffer]

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
Is transfering miles between accounts next? a la UA?

Golds can already do this for one person through their SSA + the kids through the FA system.

Would that count as an account transaction that will extend the life of your existing miles?

[Bazz]

I wonder whether this will mean VS will be less inclined to let people overdraw their mileage account? Something many of us have benefited from in the past, myself included.

As Michael says "A welcome scheme" and very handy for topping up when you find yourself a little stretched.

[Bazz]

Just noticed there is also a GBP15 transaction fee! And the T&Cs state

002 Flying Club accounts and 004 Flying Co accounts may not purchase or be gifted miles.

[preiffer]

Knew about the £15 transaction fee. It's £15/1,000 miles + £15/transaction.


What's a 00200 account? 6x = Red, 8x = Silver, 9x = Gold, 4x = FlyingCo. So.... 2x = [?]

[mcmbenjamin]

Kiddies as there miles are auto transfered?

[RichardMannion]

Isn't 002 an infants accoutn (as part of Gold family account?)

It is a welcome addition and new as of this afternoon; Works out at 1.5p per mile, so useful if a top up is needed.

20,000 is £300+£15 fee, which is not too bad for an upgrade from W to J. Cheaper than an on the day upgrade.

Thanks,
Richard

[Nottingham Nick]

Wow, that's great, and a complete about face on previous policy.

Thanks for the heads up, Steven. [y][y]

Nick

upto 25K in one year

I suppose you and someone else could gift each other (to get upto 100K (75k in gifts and 25 self purchase)

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Jonathan
upto 25K in one year

I suppose you and someone else could gift each other (to get upto 100K (75k in gifts and 25 self purchase)

Hmm. Good point Jonathan [y]

4 x £390 = £1,560 = 100k miles = Upper Class return on the cheap... [:?][i]

I guess mileage swaps will start appearing in the Swaps/Sales and Wanted forum!

Surely they are going to cotton onto this - especially if someone from the VS marketing team is reading this??

Mark, I'd be surprised if VS hadn't already considered this possibility - after all other airlines have sold miles for years so im sure this goes on all the time (amongst friends)

Wow, got home today and thought I was dreaming. What a superb scheme, I'm just looking for the catch now[:?]...

£1600 is not all that cheap for an UC return. Mileage fares do not get a limo so are akin to Z. Z class to MCO is only around £1500 inc taxes, plus G seats are limited. I guess you could save a few quid to LAX, SFO or LAS but can you bag the G Seats?

Paul

[preiffer]

I was referring to a 100k seat, Paul (as opposed to an East Coast option).

One of those (to SFO, for instance) goes for a MINIMUM of £2,285 + tax (and that's off-season in November).

Not sure I'd classify £725 as a few quid (IF you weren't worried about collecting miles, that is)

The equivalent on BA is £31 per 1000+ £15 per transaction with a max of 15k miles @ £240 so VS is better value.

As I've just booked a One Way Z and return in Econ from JNB for £1700 this is bloody good value. I wish I had waited [:#]

[Scrooge]

To me a better way to do it would be to take advantage of the Starwood points,then transfer them across,you also gain an extra 5k points if you transfer 20k points.

However this only beats the VS offer when they run their 2 for 1 specials that they run every now and again which brings the price down to .12 cents per point

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by jetwet1
To me a better way to do it would be to take advantage of the Starwood points,then transfer them across,you also gain an extra 5k points if you transfer 20k points.

The problem is that the ability to buy Starwood points isn't OFFICIALLY available to UK card holders. There is a way round it if you are an Amex cardholder, but I assume that could close at any time. [:I]

AFAIK, this is a first for us in the UK.

Nick

[preiffer]

Yup, and without the 2-for-1 offer, those same 25k miles will cost you £600 (even with today's good exchange rate & an Amex card....) through SPG.

Compare that to £390... [n]

(The 2-for-1's are somewhat few and far between)