Flying Club Membership Changes

How do you actually find out your membership year end date now? It's been removed from the "Your Account" section, i've had no emails to confirm this!

Anyone know?

I have been a gold card holder for many years, but the gradual deterioration of service in the club house along with other diminished benefits makes it unsound to consider maintaining my so called status. Virgin Atlantic has become increasingly hit and miss regarding their service over past 18 months. On a plus side I feel people like myself who fly purely for pleasure, and have to remain loyal in order to maintain a gold card, have been set free to enjoy other airlines which, I feel, have surpassed the service provided by VA

I have been reading this thread with interest but not commented on previously. I just lost silver because I didn't fly VS at all in the last year - not because of lack of willing just that there were better deals elsewhere. Even my getting silver was a complete fluke.

I was not particularly bothered about loosing Slver either (though the new red card is awful) though I know it exercises some people.

What seams to be annoying people is the change from 30 to 40 TPs to renew Gold

To get 30 TPs = 3 return flights in UC or 5 in PE.

Even under the 40 TP scheme it is 4/7

Now the upsetting bit so please turn away, and send the children and pets out of the room, if easily offended ...

Now does travelling 4 return UC trips a year make you a frequent and I mean truly frequent flyer?.

I would say not.

Even 7 PE return flights is not even one a month.

Is that frequent? Again, I would say not.

And I bet a fair few people would agree with me on that.

Now does travelling 4 return UC trips a year make you a frequent and I mean truly frequent flyer?.

I would say not.

Even 7 PE return flights is not even one a month.

Is that frequent? Again, I would say not.

And I bet a fair few people would agree with me on that.

Four UC returns may not make you a 'frequent' flyer but it is on par with status on other airlines - e.g. Ag on BA has similar benefits for similar flying. VS being only long haul makes it a smaller number, I don't recall how many BA short haul flights you need to make BA EC Ag - but it's a lot for example.

Then again, if you fly like me - two or more VS returns a month, VS does look after you with a higher level of service y) .

[honey lamb]

On a plus side I feel people like myself who fly purely for pleasure, and have to remain loyal in order to maintain a gold card, have been set free to enjoy other airlines which, I feel, have surpassed the service provided by VA

I had itineraries planned but not booked before this change was announced and I know I'm not going to be able to renew this year, so like you I have been set free. It doesn't necessarily mean I am going to join the stampede to the dark side that others referred to at the beginning of this thread but I shall make my decisions based on price, service and other factors. Sometimes VS will win, other times they will lose

Four UC returns may not make you a 'frequent' flyer but it is on par with status on other airlines - e.g. Ag on BA has similar benefits for similar flying.

In fact you can get to AG on BA with just 5 transatlantic sectors in J, compared to 8 with VS.

Plus, if you fly internally in the States on AA in J or F (and there are some quite good instant-upgrade fares) you can earn a lot of extra tier points. It wouldn't be at all inconceivable to get from zero to BA Silver in basically two transatlantic round trips. That would be quite an ask with VS and VX.

As you say, the benefits of BA Silver are pretty much the same as VS AU -- except I think you don't get arrivals lounge access with BA Silver if you're flying PE or Y.

It's interesting reading the VS responses on FB, one which caught my eye includes the following paragraph:

"The change in required tier points was considered the best option. I'm sorry you're unhappy with this decision and we recognise this change may cause disappointment to some of our members, the renewal process has been done in such a way that everyone will have a full membership year to achieve the required 40/15 tier points. No-one will be expected to change midyear and find that extra flight. Greg"

I'm specifically focusing on the point i've highlighted in bold, is this not what is happening?

Quote from http://www.facebook.com/virginatlantic

It's interesting reading the VS responses on FB, one which caught my eye includes the following paragraph:

"The change in required tier points was considered the best option. I'm sorry you're unhappy with this decision and we recognise this change may cause disappointment to some of our members, the renewal process has been done in such a way that everyone will have a full membership year to achieve the required 40/15 tier points. No-one will be expected to change midyear and find that extra flight. Greg"

I'm specifically focusing on the point i've highlighted in bold, is this not what is happening?

Quote from http://www.facebook.com/virginatlantic

Seems like the standard resply as it's more less the same response that I received by email (quoted on the previous page on here).

I have, as yet, received no answer or explanation to that particular statement from Customer Services but will post when I do.

Jilly

I thought I had this clear - my membership year renew's in November 2011 though I will achieve Gold again in July, so does that mean I will secure Gold for 2011/12 at 30TPs and then from next year it will be 40TPs.

As everyone has said, a very confused picture and I can find no information on the website to guide me. I am assuming as the changes are effective from 1st September, that I will secure Gold at 30 TPs in July and will have to reach 30TPs in the next membership year before the switch to 40TPs?

Have I this right?

Like you, my gold membership renews in November, and I have already gained 30 TP's beginning of May. Had the "congratulations on renewing Gold" message on my account, and now that message has gone.

Have emailed FC regarding whether they are honouring my next year at gold, but no reply as yet.

I have today received a reply from Executive Office -

"You have already achieved the minimum 30 tier points needed in this membership year to retain Gold status and do not need to earn any more before 31st October 2011.
In your following membership year which begins from 1st November 2011, that is when you will need to earn a minimum 40 tier points to remain at Gold level"

Thanks for posting Penny. The VS reply seems to imply a fair process which is that the new TP renewal levels only apply from your next membership year.

However, this seems TP contradict everything else VS have said.

Thanks Penny. So there's still a contradiction but at least it sounds like we have a precedent to rely on if needed now!

As for me, I'll cross the 30TP threshhold in early July, so will have to see if anything gets said about my renewal at that point...

yeah i guess the acid test is when you hit 30 & you either get the message to say congrats you have renewed gold - or not

yeah i guess the acid test is when you hit 30 & you either get the message to say congrats you have renewed gold - or not

probably not, that message has dissappeared on mine

The cynical side of me is thinking they may only honour those who reached 30 TP's before the announcement - everyone else has to get 40 as per new rules?

Yes, my thought too, which is why it's comforting to have the report of the mails from them above... which will come in useful in arguments!

My year end is 31 Oct 2011 and I'll hit 30 TPs at the end of July. I'll let y'all know whether I renew.....

Hi All
After my post about the everlasting query on TP's and renewal, I finally received this reply earlier today...it does confirm that my current status renews at the end of my membership year not mid year as previous post have queried...so all is good for me as I get another 10 TP's on my November an December trips

"Dear Paul,

Thank you for your email, I apologise for the delayed response.

A lot of the feedback we receive from members has been a request for more miles.  Therefore, we have increased the Gold tier bonus to 100% of base flown miles and Silver to 50% with effect from 1st June 2011.  This is a significant change in the number of miles that can be earned and is a reward for ongoing loyalty.
We are sorry that you are unhappy with the changes to tier renewal.  However to bring in better earning levels and for future programme improvements, we have had to consider how best to achieve this.  For many years we have been the only major airline to allow renewal for less activity than was required to earn it.  Whilst we recognise this change may cause disappointment to some of our members, the renewal process has
been done in such a way that everyone will have a full membership year to achieve the
required 40/15 tier points.  No-one will be expected to change midyear and find that extra flight.
More tier points can also be earned for tickets booked in the following classes J,D,W and S, and there are now more opportunities than ever to earn tier points through our 17 partner airlines.
Overall we believe these are positive changes and will continue to reward our loyal travellers.
In respect to your Flying Club account, I can confirm your current membership year finishes on 31st March 2012 and you will be required to earn a further 7 tier points by that time in order to retain your Silver status for a further year.  After that time the new levels will apply"

So with bit of luck every one should be in the same situation.

Cheers
Paul

As promised I can update my ongoing emails with VS customer service.

I have now received a further email which makes it very clear, so am a 'happy bunny'.


Many thanks for your last email. I apologise for the delayed response.

You are correct in that, as your current membership year ends on the 30th of November 2011, your account details indicate that you will only need to earn a further 10 tier points by this date, in order to renew Gold status for a further year. This will bring you to a total of 30 tier points as under our current renewal requirements.

Seems to concur with Penny's information too.

Jilly

[buns]

Penny & Jenny

Thanks for sharing, what would seem, good news y) y)

Puts me back on the road for re-qualification this year

buns

[honey lamb]

I was scrolling through this thread earlier and I came across this post by Kraken

I can't work this out either - from the updated FC page on the VS website...

If your silver membership year ends on or before 31 August 2011, you will require 10 tier points to retain silver membership.
If your silver membership year starts on or after 01 September 2011, you will require 15 tier points to retain silver membership.

My current silver membership year is 1/2/11 - 29/2/12, which meets neither of the above two criteria. If I log into my FC account, it does say that I need 10 TP's by the end of Feb next year, so are VS letting people "in limbo" renew on the current T&C's this time round?

James

As I suspected, VS made a mistake in their original posting and put August 2011 which has caused all this confusion and angst as well as making what seemed to be contradictory statements both in replies to V-Flyers and on Facebook. At least the queries which V-flyers have raised have caused VS to tweak their website with the correct information and reply with more clarity to those queries

I was scrolling through this thread earlier and I came across this post by Kraken

I can't work this out either - from the updated FC page on the VS website...

If your silver membership year ends on or before 31 August 2011, you will require 10 tier points to retain silver membership.
If your silver membership year starts on or after 01 September 2011, you will require 15 tier points to retain silver membership.

My current silver membership year is 1/2/11 - 29/2/12, which meets neither of the above two criteria. If I log into my FC account, it does say that I need 10 TP's by the end of Feb next year, so are VS letting people "in limbo" renew on the current T&C's this time round?

James

As I suspected, VS made a mistake in their original posting and put August 2011 which has caused all this confusion and angst as well as making what seemed to be contradictory statements both in replies to V-Flyers and on Facebook. At least the queries which V-flyers have raised have caused VS to tweak their website with the correct information and reply with more clarity to those queries

Another IT blunder? This may potentially have lost VS loyal FC members who felt they now had to achieve 40 TP to renew and may have looked to jump ship! Of course, once clarified they had no need but VS need someone new completing website/email sign off!

A head of comms role needed!!

Hmm. I am personally disappointed with the changes.

I fly LHR to EWR/JFK for work and used to do the trip on UA collecting miles on a BMI star alliance card, and earned star alliance gold. UA canned the London - NYC direct route in 2006 and I switched allegiance to VS, earning AG immediately on a customer loyalty conversion programme and gaining AU about 6 months later.

Since then I have been 100% loyal to VS flying between 7 and 10 round trips to US and back in my 13 month renewal window, which I (and my family) consider to be "frequent flyer".

My company travel policy only pays for a ticket in economy, so mostly I have managed between 30 and 38 tier points in a year, just once hitting 40.

The CH has been a great perk for me, an island of calm away from the storm of T3, and the Newark lounge (esp after its recent facelift) has also been a great place for breakfast for that 8am VS18 home.

I am starting my 8th trip this year tomorrow (VS1, CO EWR to SAN, drive to LAX and VS24 home) and for the first time ever have a PE paid for ticket due to a full flight and a tight schedule on my part. This will see me ending the year 32 points as opposed to the 30 I was expecting, as I pick up a point for the CO flight too.

However, I seriously doubt I will manage 40 points next year. 10 return trips is more than I could justify in these straightened times, and more than I want to be away from home too.

I virtually never spend miles (350K+ in the account) so the 100% bonus is not worth much, but the loss of CH and the UC wing at T3 will be a hit.

So come the end of Aug '12 I will probably drop back to AG, and may look for another carrier.

Sad day.

Tobes

Well, hit the magic 30 again for renewal renew but no congratulations message - my membership year doesn't end until November but had thought the message would appear....

So it looks like it is 40 TPs needed for me despite the reassurance received or of course unless it is a IT issue!! n(

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but just noticed that the 'your account summary' page has now been updated and corrected to read 2012 instead of 2011.

Jilly

Well spotted! That makes much more sense now.