Virgin Credit card - MBNA Customer (dis) service.

[Nottingham Nick]

Been trying to sort out the annual non-appearance of my Companion Ticket with Virgin Credit card today [:(!]

Rang the MBNA Virgin Credit Card and the man who answered the phone said he knew nothing about the Virgin Credit card because 'we have thousands of different cards'.

He tried to give me the telephone number of VS to sort it out, I patiently explained that Virgin Atlantic wouldn't be able to help because they can't do anything until it shows up on my account. Then the sneaky person asked me to hold as he would speak to 'someone who knows about it'. He then tranferred me to the Flying Club [:(!]

Sure enough, a very helpful lady there, could do nothing for me, as the companion ticket didn't show on my account. She told me I would have to go back to MBNA and start again [xx(]

I then remembered someone posting here, about how good the Virgin Member's Shop were, so I decided to ring them - What a difference[8D] A VERY helpful member a staff sorted me out with more than commendable speed and efficiency.

The moral is... if you have a 'Virgin' issue with your credit card - don't even bother with the MBNA freephone line - go to the Members Shop. [y]

Rant over [:I]

Nick

Thanks for the advice, Nick. Glad you got it sorted out.

How is the "year" determined for the companion ticket with this card? Does it run from the anniversary of the original issue, is it £15,000 spend in any 12-month period, by calendar year or what?

Many thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Luke

[Nottingham Nick]

Luke

The companion ticket is awarded if you make the qualifying spend by the anniversary of opening your account.

It is awarded on this date if you take two months or twelve months to spend enough.

It is apparent from posts on the board, and my own experience, that you need to chase them up. It should be issued automatically, but clearly isn't.

Nick

Interesting.

How much is the qualifying spend ?

Does it matter which of the 2 VS CC you have for this to apply ?

[Nottingham Nick]

Nitrox

The qualifying spend is £15K details here

I don't think it matters which card you have - as long as it is a VS one.

Nick

Thanks, Nick.

I'd guessed it was that for the first year but wasn't confident that their system would be sophisticated enough to remember everyone's issue date in subsequent years.

Nitrox, the qualifying spend is £15K and I believe it is the same for both versions.

Luke

Thanks people

Does anyone know if there is a VS credit card available for US citizens? I read the disclosures for the two types of VS cards, and it mentioned for UK residents only [:(]. Ultimately, I would like to take advantage of a Companion Ticket, and have not seen any promos for a " 2 For 1" offer. Has VS ever done this type of marketing, or for all practicable purposes, it probably doesn't have to either!
Thank you for any information you might share with me.

Sydny,
It seems AMEX or Diners are your only choices at the moment.
These both offer a FC Mile per $1 (although they have to be converted in batches from amex/Diners miles)

It might be worth an email to Virgin as BA offer a Mile earning visa card in the US and if they do virgin should look into it too!!

i have been lucky enough to get a free companion ticket from my virgin atlantic credit card this year flying into san francisco then out of las vegas the only problem i had was that they would not let me book a cheap flight code ticket i had to pay nearly £100.00 more for a dearer coded ticket but still saved over £350.00 on the 2 tickets so still got a great deal at the end of the day that was my only bug bear that they dont tell you that you have to buy a more expensive ticket to qulify for the free ticket in the first place

[preiffer]

Originally posted by chafford
my only bug bear that they dont tell you that you have to buy a more expensive ticket to qulify for the free ticket in the first place

I think this is made relatively clear in the terms and conditions...?

chafford,
companion ticket t&c's are [url]here[/url]

but to save you going through them all here are the fare types:

Economy

Country of fare origin Qualifying fares Exceptions
UK Y,B,L Flights originating from London to Tokyo exclude L class
Japan Y,B,L,M Flights originating from Tokyo to London include M class
Caribbean Y, B, L
USA Y,B
Hong Kong Y, B, L Flights from/to Sydney from/to Hong Kong exclude L class
China Y, B, L
South Africa Y, B, L, M
Nigeria Y, B, L
India Y, B, L, M
Australia Y, B, L Flights from/to Sydney from/to Hong Kong exclude L class

PE
W,S

Upper
J only (a bit tight in my opinion!!)

thanks guys just thought i would explain myself when i opened my first virgin credit card for flying club miles i did not have a computer so was totaly unawares which flights you could use as they dont post these qulifying flight codes to you so you are a little blind in a way as to what is a qulifying flight this is why i was a little uptight when i found out at the time i had to pay more money just human nature put your stamping boots on before you put your brain in gear
thanks to jonathan i am now clued up on which tickets i need to buy now got all the codes printed off for my next companion ticket im always open to a good forum discusion if i have put my foot in it hope i did not offend anybody sorry if i did

My first anniversary with my Virgin CC arrived in May and after many phone calls to MBNA and being fobbed off back to Flying Club have now booked companion flight to LAX and back from SFO for next July. I have two questions please

Will I qualify for a new companion flight for my second year or is it only a first year promo?

Also will I earn miles on the flight which I have paid for (through the nose I might add)

Originally posted by twirlygal
My first anniversary with my Virgin CC arrived in May and after many phone calls to MBNA and being fobbed off back to Flying Club have now booked companion flight to LAX and back from SFO for next July. I have two questions please

Will I qualify for a new companion flight for my second year or is it only a first year promo?

Also will I earn miles on the flight which I have paid for (through the nose I might add)

In answer to your questions:-

(i) My understanding is you will earn a companion ticket every year if you spend over £15,000.

(ii) You should earn miles and tier points for the flight you actually paid for (not the companion ticket) as it will be one of the higher categories of revenue fare that VA sell

newby

newby

You are spot on with your answers.[y]

But as Nottingham Nick commented at the top of this thread, you have to chase members shop up to get the companion ticket into yout flying club account, assuming that you have qualified with your £15k annual spend.

I am in the process of getting this years ticket sorted, members shop have agreed that I have qualified for the ticket but it hasn't reached VS yet[:(]

Regards

Paul