Do you get a 1st time bonus in Upper

Hello

I should know this but.... I am flying VS Upper for the first time. Do they still offer the 1st time bonus MR's in Upper Class. I remember when I 1st joined Flying Club - a few years ago - that they offered a one off bonus of something like 10K miles. Any ideas. Also - but it might be for another thread - what freebies are there that they do not automatically offer. i recall that Carlos was given out on request (but I know that is history) but are there other bits that are not obvious?

Originally posted by DC10 Fan
Hello

I should know this but.... I am flying VS Upper for the first time. Do they still offer the 1st time bonus MR's in Upper Class. I remember when I 1st joined Flying Club - a few years ago - that they offered a one off bonus of something like 10K miles. Any ideas. Also - but it might be for another thread - what freebies are there that they do not automatically offer. i recall that Carlos was given out on request (but I know that is history) but are there other bits that are not obvious?

Wow that's an age ago, Carlos ...

I may be wrong, but I don't think you get a bonus just for your first UC flight nowadays ... if you did, I don't know when and mine was in 1999!

If, however, you are not a FC member then if this is your first flight and if in UC then get a friend to recommend FC to you: your friend gets 10k miles and I think you get 3k bonus miles.

[Nottingham Nick]

Other than the Miles More Friends, that Slinky09 has already mentioned, the only current bonus I am aware of is the OLCI Duty Free offer, which ends at the end of April.

Offers come and go - be it for online booking, online check-in. first time flying, or whatever the current push is.

Given the apparent clamour by the bean counters to rid the airline of anything that could be considered wasteful, I wouldn't hold my breath for any great giveaways in the near future. [;)]

Just make sure you enjoy the full UC experience by maximising your time in the CH, and pre-booking treatments - also don't forget Revivals, if you are returning to LHR, and landing at the right time.

Nick

Nick

[honey lamb]

I checked my statement going back to the beginning and there was a 1000 mile bonus for my first flight as an FC member in August 2000. I was flying in PE on that occasion. There was also a 5000 mile promotion for flying in UC in Jan 2003 which, IIRC was only for the month of January.

As Nick says, bonuses come and go but don't hold your breath

[Pete]

I just checked my old statements - I had a 'First Freeway Bonus' for my first Upper flight (back when you had to fly Upper to join Freeway), 13 Jan 1996. It was 12,500 miles, and I got another 12,500 'First Freeway Bonus' for the return on the 15th Jan too, followed by a 'Freeway Welcome Bonus' of 2,000 miles on 31 Jan. A total of 48,432 miles for my first round trip in Upper. Not bad mileage!

I don't remember getting any miles but for a while every time I flew UC they handed me a voucher during the flight for a free economy ticket for the same destination . We would regularly take off for a fun girlie weekend in NY on the back of them! It was great marketing because the more we drunk the more we told anyone who would listen how grateful we were to SRB (just RB then) for getting us there!!!

[mitchja]

When I did my frst UC flight back in 2001 I seem to have got 6000 bonus miles & 5 bonus TP's (although back then the TP system was different wasn't it) [:)]

18 Aug 2001 Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Flight YYZ-LGW 7106 5
18 Aug 2001 Virgin Atlantic First Upper Class Flight Bonus 6000 5

There was also this one back from 2002 as well (not a first time bonus though):

14 Oct 2002 Virgin Atlantic, SFO-LHR Upper Class 10716 5
14 Oct 2002 Bonus Miles on us. See virgin.com/flyingclub/ifly for details. 5000 0

There was also the John Lewis £100 voucher promo too when flying on a D or J fare in Upper. I upgraded at the airport from a K for about £600 and they put me on a D fare so I got the £100 voucher [8D]

Promos do happen for Upper but not that often these days, but they are usually only for D and J fares.

Regards

Ah yes, then back in 2001 there was the one big offer bonus - I can't recall but it was something like do any 2 returns in a cabin and get a bonus ... or was it just PE - I know I got 60,000 bonus miles then anyway looking back through my history.

It's true though, all the big offers are now long in the past ...

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by slinky09
Ah yes, then back in 2001 there was the one big offer bonus - I can't recall but it was something like do any 2 returns in a cabin and get a bonus ... or was it just PE - I know I got 60,000 bonus miles then anyway looking back through my history.

It's true though, all the big offers are now long in the past ...

One big offer! There was a one for flying (or booking in) PE, and one for UC.

[ChuckC]

Good question. Apart from the experience of flying UC I've never actually thought that much about the miles.
I think Nick's point about the bean counters is likely accurate.

Chuck-

Originally posted by Pete
I just checked my old statements - I had a 'First Freeway Bonus' for my first Upper flight (back when you had to fly Upper to join Freeway), 13 Jan 1996. It was 12,500 miles, and I got another 12,500 'First Freeway Bonus' for the return on the 15th Jan too, followed by a 'Freeway Welcome Bonus' of 2,000 miles on 31 Jan. A total of 48,432 miles for my first round trip in Upper. Not bad mileage!

Followed by 'Freeway We Really Meant That Welcome Bonus,' 'Freeway One More Time Bonus,' 'Hello, It's Us Again Freeway Bonus' and, finally, 'Erm, Sorry to Disturb. I Know It's Annoying, But, Here's Your Freeway Bonus Bonus.'

Those were the days... [:p]

GJ

There was once, back in 2001 we took our first upper via VH and for just flying upper one way we jumped up to silver. Plus we found later that we had obviosuly been put in D or J with VH as we got £400 in John Lewis vouchers. Those were the days....

Originally posted by ade99
There was once, back in 2001 we took our first upper via VH and for just flying upper one way we jumped up to silver. Plus we found later that we had obviosuly been put in D or J with VH as we got £400 in John Lewis vouchers. Those were the days....

Ahh yes, the John Lewis vouchers ... remember those too ... another example of good stuff in the old days.