Miles More Unfriendly

Another thing I've been meaning to comment on for a while...

I love VS and the FC in particular. I keep raving about both to friends. So I was particularly pleased when the Miles More Friends program started up.

I was particularly unimpressed after recommending several people through the program and learning that I wouldn't qualify for the bonus mileage as my friends hadn't booked in the appropriate fare classes.

I exchanged various emails and written letters with VS / FC about this, to no effect.

So, here's the thing. From my point of view, VS asks me to recommend friends. My friends sign up to FC and take VS flights. VS acquired a new FC member and a new VS traveler. I should get rewarded for this recommendation. I'm not with my friends when they make their reservations and I'm in no position to ensure that bookings are made in particular fare classes.

I've done the recruiting service as a goodwill gesture for VS. They should give the miles and not be so stuck on the fare class - or at the very least offer some level of mileage even when the friend takes a discounted fare class.

Moan, gripe, moan.

[I can't believe I'm going on about this one again ... you wouldn't believe the number of correspondence I've had with VS over the subject!]

[fozzyo]

I'm with you on this one! Anyone I recommend is going to fly a restricted Economy ticket so no bonus for me. So don't really see the point in my recommending them.

Foz xxx

Looked at with my hard nosed business hat on, I guess VS would want you to recomend good margin pax. From VS's POV until they fly a good margin fare, they are just another all-so-ran pax they could have recruited themselves, and probably they will stay red - so why pay to recruit them. Hard, but IMHO a fact of life.

99

[Scrooge]

have to agree as well,kind of stupid to make a VS flyer un happy for giving them more pax.

[Nottingham Nick]

Unfortunately, I am with 99 on this one. The main raison d'etre of the FC is to reward regular premium class passengers, they are the people that VS really want to recruit into their frequent flier scheme, because they are the ones that bring the most revenue to the airline.

The fact that the rest of us can greatly benefit from the FC scheme, even using all but the cheapest Y fares, is IMHO a huge bonus.

Nick

Originally posted by sailor99
Looked at with my hard nosed business hat on, I guess VS would want you to recomend good margin pax. From VS's POV until they fly a good margin fare, they are just another all-so-ran pax they could have recruited themselves, and probably they will stay red - so why pay to recruit them. Hard, but IMHO a fact of life.

99

I certainly agree - which is why I say they should give a nominal reward to the introducer - say 1,000 miles or something. It's a gesture if nothing else!

[preiffer]

Also remember - that FC member is connected to your account number (technically) forever. So, at the point that they DO fly a premium fare class, you'll still get your miles. (albeit in the future...)

Originally posted by preiffer
Also remember - that FC member is connected to your account number (technically) forever. So, at the point that they DO fly a premium fare class, you'll still get your miles. (albeit in the future...)

How long in the future is this link kept? And if they first fly on a PE and then an UC fare do you get an additional bonus for that UC fare?

Cheers
sky

[preiffer]

Originally posted by sky

How long in the future is this link kept? And if they first fly on a PE and then an UC fare do you get an additional bonus for that UC fare?

Honestly don't know how long the link is kept - but I'm pretty sure it stays as long as both of you are active.

You only get the sign up miles for the first, qualifying fare flown. ie, if their travel was:

Flight 1 = N (Eco)
Flight 2 = S (Premium)
Flight 3 = J (Upper)

You'd only get your referral bonus on flight 2, for a PE flight.

[fozzyo]

Originally posted by preiffer
Also remember - that FC member is connected to your account number (technically) forever. So, at the point that they DO fly a premium fare class, you'll still get your miles. (albeit in the future...)

I didn't realise that.

How much would 1000 miles cost VS? almost nothing, but on my standard algorythm they are worth between £10 & £15. Any business whether low rev or high rev is worth having as remember there are generally only a certain number of cheap seats per flight. So I agree, there should be a sign up bonus for any referred business. In fact maybe there should be more of a link between you and your referrels and maybe you should get some miles everytime they fly.

Hey, have I just invented pyramid selling for Virgin Flights? Maybe I can give inspirational talks about how I became a mileage millionaire in a year or two

Come on VS, your FC shows you want to reward loyaly, show us you want to reward our referral business as well, even if only with 500 or 1000 points, after all you give us this for a car hire or hotel stay.

Paul

[preiffer]

Hmm... Rather incredible timing but has anyone seen the top of today's "Flying Hub" page? (needs login to see)

They seem to have taken the initiative from v-flyer and introduced a Poll option [y]

This week's question?

Have you sent a Miles More Friends e-card?" [:0][:p]:D

At the time of posting, the result was:

Yes 39.51% 160 Votes
No 60.49% 245 Votes


Unfortunately, they haven't written it in such a way as to prevent you voting twice. Pete - wanna help 'em out?

This has actually been here for a week or more now. Doesn't really seem to be a question that needed answering. What do you think they are trying to find out? Are people referring new customers to Virgin? Maybe the direct question would have been a better question to ask.

Once they have confirmed the response to the current question what do you think they will do about it. Put a larger banner to the e-cards. Still may not increase the amount of referels, where as giving the referee 500 or 1000 miles irrespective of class travelled would.:D:D

Paul

Originally posted by preiffer

You only get the sign up miles for the first, qualifying fare flown. ie, if their travel was:

Flight 1 = N (Eco)
Flight 2 = S (Premium)
Flight 3 = J (Upper)

You'd only get your referral bonus on flight 2, for a PE flight.

I checked this with FC last year and they told me the same (but couldn't comment as to how long the accounts remain linked..

For 1K though any referal should do as 1K wont cost VS anything and you'd need to refer 40 pax to get one reward flight!!

I agree that there should be a reward (1000 points?) for a referral when the first flight is made, irrespective of the class/fare. The rest of the points get awarded when the qualifying flight is taken.
It is up to VS as to whether they are prepared to open a new FC account for someone who does not yet even have a booking. Anyone have an idea of the cost of opening and maintaining a FC account?

I'd imagine to cost is fairly low per FC member as most activities are automated or online, obviously those who request postal corespondance push up costs a bit..

I have to agree with Bostonbrit for the following reasons:

1) Travel Agent bookings - I've asked for fares in a particular fare class and they've been unable to do anything other than just the class i.e. only Economy, PE, UC. They cannot select a fare bucket that qualifies for MilesMoreFriends.

2) Even if the friend books via the Virgin web site, if they choose the "Lowest" category for a class, the fare bucket can be quite random - they may get a qualifying class, they may not. Same also applies for sites like eBookers, Expedia.

3) The only guaranteed way to get a qualifying ticket is to phone Virgin direct and know your fare codes - something most people don't ask.

It does seem that a more flexible policy would be useful, as I've been caught out by this restriction before. Perhaps it should cover all fares but paid out only after the 2nd flight.

David.

Slightly OT I know..but other airlines websites give you the option to book other fares other than cheapest & most flexable

I did a recent trip on SQ (booked through their site) and the cheapest fare was a V (not points earning) seeing their cheapest/most ristricted fare first was what I'd expect.
They had an option for selecting other fares though and the W (points earning fare) as available and the same price!

I realise that most people wouldn't care about the code and long as they get the class they want..but adding the functionality doesnt cost much or change the default behavour that most people would want.

It does allow the more savy to book what they want online which is easier/cheaper than calling FC!

Is this still on going? I can't seem to find a link on virgin's website?

Thanks

[preiffer]

Originally posted by penlanspice
Is this still on going? I can't seem to find a link on virgin's website?

Try here, but you have to log into your FC account.

(It's located in the left hand side menu, under "Frequent Flyer")

Thanks