Virgin Silver vs Gold

I started collecting tier points last year and am about to hit Silver flying club memebership. Issues is that this seems to me to be basically worthless.

Gold is very tough to hit flying only economy which is all my company allows, even on long haul.

So my question is:

1) Does anyone have any experience getting upgraded just as a silver member?
2) Is there any way other than getting tier points through flying to get up to gold?

Thx
N

You are right about Ag, it confers little benefit, yes if you fly Y then PE check in can save time, and the miles bonus is worthwhile, but that's about it.

Getting Au with Y flying requires 7 round trips to the US say in a year booked in minimum of L class - are you getting 3 or 2 TPs per sector currently and if 2 can you at least aim to book a higher fare class to boost your chances?

If you're flying less than that in a cheaper fare bucket then you're not going to qualify as a higher value flier to VS, or many airlines for that matter - for example on cheaper fare classes you'll need the equivalent of 9 round trips to the US on BA to get Executive Club Silver, the general equivalent of VS Gold, so even harder on BA.

I think I recall reading some TRs about people who are AU from a Centurion credit card.

On the benefits of AG, the only real advantage is the extra miles and then PE check in if you're flying economy. It doesn't offer any fast track, priority boarding or lounge access

Yeah its what I figured....will just have to live with it.

Also, want do you want out of it?
If its lounge access, get a priority card. No.1 lounge's are actually good and you can benefit from an arrivals lounge (breakfast/showers etc at Air Canada...
Chk-in: having PE access on a silver card will get you past any queues.
o.k no drive up chk-in/ dedicated security line or full CH....but given changes in VS's criteria for status...is it worth it....many on here don't seem to think so.

I'm in a similar position, with a company that flys me occasionally in discount economy only, but I'm just managing to retain my Ag card.

I find it very valuable for the mileage earnt. The extra 50% of base miles flown compensates for discount economy only earning 50% of base. For a long time I thought the bonus was 50% for earnt miles, so very pleased to realise that it actually means I earn 100% of flown miles on discount tickets. Very valuable on the HKG long haul.

I use my miles for upgrades mostly, no point hoping for op-ups. Fortunately my company covers the cash component (fare code plus APD) of mileage upgrades, a very fair and cost-effective policy

Upgrades very rare even with Au. Happened once to me in 2 years, flying 12 times a year.

Wow that is really poor. As I understand it with BA gold you get upgraded almost every single time. Does anyone else have similar experience?

[Nottingham Nick]

I don't know if that is the case or not, but a couple of points spring to mind immediately.

1. BA Gold requires a MUCH bigger spend to get than VS gold, even with the new levels of TPs that VS have brought in.

2. If a passenger knows they are going to get an op-up 'almost every single time', why would they ever buy a seat in the cabin they want to fly in? Just wait for the beep at the gate.

Nick

Wow that is really poor. As I understand it with BA gold you get upgraded almost every single time. Does anyone else have similar experience?

You are completely wrong about that - BA Au's do not automatically get upgraded. Also, BA Au is the equivalent of 3 x the flying / TPs of VS Au (as per Nick's comment( which is why I compared VS Au to BA Ag.

2. If a passenger knows they are going to get an op-up 'almost every single time', why would they ever buy a seat in the cabin they want to fly in? Just wait for the beep at the gate.

Exactly, the US airlines that fell for this have suffered badly, and so has their in flight service. I hope VX does not fall into the same trap.

[Pete]

VX does have a slight issue in that you can buy cheap upgrades to First 24 hours before the flight, so First is often full. Those paying full fare for it may wonder why they are doing so. Luckily I guess only eight seats means the dilution of service can't be too bad.

For BA Golds, whether they get upgrades or not, if they require about 3x the level of flying that a VS Gold does, that would mean they're probably flying in the front of the cabin a lot anyway to achieve it, so wouldn't often find themselves in the situation where they'd need one. What appears to be the common thing between both airlines is they don't upgrade unless they actually have to. Just because there's space in Upper / Club, it doesn't make commercial sense to move people without reason. It dilutes the product for those that have paid, and sets expectation that you don't have to pay for it anymore once you have the right piece of plastic - so your biggest revenue spenders suddenly stop spending, but still expect the fancy service. This is probably why the US domestic first class product is now so poor.

[honey lamb]

VX does have a slight issue in that you can buy cheap upgrades to First 24 hours before the flight, so First is often full. Those paying full fare for it may wonder why they are doing so. Luckily I guess only eight seats means the dilution of service can't be too bad.

Pete, it's 6 hours before the flight to upgrade to First on Virgin America

If you read some of the threads on flyer talk relating to the US airlines (and to a lesser extent the BA one) there are always people posting "why didn't I get an upgrade" and "did the gate agent deny me a seat in F even though I have super dooper mega level?" they even monitor theie own success rate (or not)

There is just such a level of 'entitlement' that if someone dosen't get an upgrade then somehow they have been denied something and will feel very aggrieved

Though that applies mainly to US domestic as the US airlines seem to have different rules for free upgrades on international flights.

The thing I like about VS is that there isn't this same upgrade entitlement mentality as there is in the US (though there are exceptions!)

[Pete]

Pete, it's 6 hours before the flight to upgrade to First on Virgin America

Oops. Sorry, M'Lady!