quick poll....

am I the only person on these boards who can only afford to fly economy on the very rare occasions they get to fly at all? i was looking at the trip reports, over 3 pages I didnt find a single report from economy lol im not a frequent flyer like most of you though,(interesting question how many of you actully pay full price for uc? i bet a lot just use miles to get cheap upgrades if you fly regualy?) ive only flown for holiday purposes so far,this is the 3rd time ive flown virgin in 10 years(once in 95 to orlando florida on a family holday, once in 2000 for a college trip to new york(im only 20 pleanty of time to get miles yet;)) and once this wensday when I jet off to antigua with my gf for our first holiday together) though I have joined the flying club for future use(hey in another 20 years i may have enough miles to actully buy something with em lol:))

I have to say though this site has been very useful for me since i found it, I only joined in by chance when I was looking up info on virgin but its very useful to find out interesting info on the company and thier planes good job site owners!:)

There should be a relatively recent trip report from me that was in an economy. I work in the voluntary sector, so have neither the business travel budget nor the salary to fly PE or UC as a general rule. When I have flown in the higher classes, it's been as a result of bargain fares or using miles.

I have flown often in VS Economy; just not since joining here!
Are you flying VS soon or just doing some research?

quote:Originally posted by Jonathan
I have flown often in VS Economy; just not since joining here!
Are you flying VS soon or just doing some research?

im flying with vs this wensday actully going to antigua on vs033 coming back 14th july vs034 just out of intersest ive been wondering..- what does vs stand for? i thought it would be va for virgin atlantic?

VS is the Virgin flight prefix allocated by IATA or ICAO ( I forget which). They are the 'governing bodies'and trade associations for civil aviation - for want of better terms!

They also have a 3 litter code VIR which is allocated by one of the above.

VA is Volare Airlines of Italy.

Hope this helps

quote:i was looking at the trip reports, over 3 pages I didnt find a single report from economy lol

I did a couple of trip reports recently in Economy as i ever only been in Y.

I have been flying VS since 1994 but only last year that I joined FC. All those missed miles [:(]. Like yourself, I only used to fly on holiday once in a couple of years but alot more recently. So yes trying to save enough miles to upgrade to UC. It will come eventually!

Happy Flying [8D]

[Nottingham Nick]

quote:Originally posted by omslemming
i was looking at the trip reports, over 3 pages I didnt find a single report from economy lol

If you look again, you will see several- including one from me on my trip to MIA last month.

Nick

Its a bit like an apprenticship, you do your Economy flights first and gradually claw your way up to Uc.
In my job I fly to various places in Europe, but always in Economy and not with a VS partner (BM FAR too expensive!!!)

So when I have (what i think anyway) my well deserved long haul vacation once a year I go for the best my credit card can afford
That's why I am not an exhaulted Gold card holder like a lot on this site :D

Virgin DO have special offers though!
All flights dont have to be expensive!!
The only reason I made Gold last year was that VS lowered the number of trips needed
Unfortunately the bar has risen to for older levels again[:(]

Silver is useful
Gold is the daddies!!

hmm a spandau ballet song comes to mind!!:D

Seriously though its not too hard to hit Silver and that does inspire you to get to all things golden!!

every journey starts with a single step
in VSFC terms you get 4 TP for every economy round trip!
so that IS ten flights a year, but if you stretch to Premium that number decreases rapidly!

I never thought I would never even get to PE. Now I tend to fly that by default. But I only flew PE for the first time this year and have been flying VS since 97.

Now I'm doing PE to HKG later in the year and then using miles to do UC to JFK next. My next paid trip after that if I'm feeling flush will be out PE and return UC.

My philosophy is that I don't drink loads, pay my mortgage every month, put some in savings, don't run a car - might aswell spend it on what I enjoy. Scared to do UC, really won't want to go back.

Have fun in Antigua!!

Dean

quote:Originally posted by Wolves27
Scared to do UC, really won't want to go back.

Don't do it!!!

Boo

[Bazz]

That really is a problem, after UC - PE is as far "back" as you want to go, after our coach trip to MIA we really vowed not to travel in anything less than PE ever again

Hey omslemming see my TR

http://www.v-flyer.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1631

yes it was coach

If you treat PE as the baseline and fly a few times a year you should hit silver

I have only once booked a UC flight I needed the tier points for gold

I need to do the same this year to keep Gold

UC isnt that expensive if you get a Z class ticket

Also when you hit gold the number of times you get op upgrades increases as the order goes Au Ag Red
and on most flights there are enough Au/Ag to bump up when overbooked
For example I've flown UC 5 times last year all but 1 of those was on PE ticket with an op upgrade[8D]

[Bazz]

Jonathan, that's a bloody good ratio! Hope you keep it up

I think A degree of luck is involved to also picking the right routes/days/times!!

I fly LGW MCO a lot so know the general likelyhood of upgrades based on overbooking

On this route theres too much UC and not enough PE (this will not be the case after the UCS refit[:(])

so my ratio might drop a bit!

Hi omslemming

No, I don't think you're the only one by a long way .

Luckily for me, when I fly on business on a VS flight, the company I work for books me in PE straight off as policy for the department.
Generally, though, I can't afford to book more than PE or Economy for personal flights, so I try to use miles to upgrade whatever fare I buy (if I can). Of course, this then begs the question "How do you earn the miles?" - answer is, by flying a few times a year, having a FC-earning credit/charge card, buying wine, staying in hotels that earn miles, etc, etc, etc.....

Cheers

Michael