Recognition on board for FC Gold status

I flew PE out to Boston the weekend before last and the crew made a big point of welcoming me back, calling me by my name and offering me champagne from the UC bar when the drinks came round. They even offered a refill as well! First time after a few PE flights as AU though.

Thought I'd reuse the old thread.....

My wife and I flew to St Lucia and back earlier this month in PE and on both the outward and return flights, I was greeted at my seat by the cabin crew with a welcome back Mr H., we appreciate your flying with us (so much) and do let us know if there is anything we can get you. They spent some time chatting, showed genuine interest and made me feel valued. On the way out two separate crew took the time to do this. I was pleasantly flattered. During the various drinks & meal services, I was addressed by name.

I mostly fly LHR-SFO every 6-8 weeks and since the first time this recognition happened (and the reason for starting this thread) I have not been greeted/champagned at all.

My conclusion is that on a LHR-SFO flight there are maybe 20-40 Au holders, but on VS31/32 to St Lucia, I was the only one, both out and return. I know, I saw the list at the Hewanorra clubhouse reception.

On another topic I got seats in the bubble for the return, 24A & C and they were perfect. They are the last row of PE, so guilt free reclining with loads of space, quiet, good service, swift disembarcation. IMO the mixed cabin/shared loos setup works fine. I normally fly on Heathrow aircraft, but the refitted 744s are jolly good. $100 million well spent!

Your flights cost $100 million, Martin? Should have used miles.

Or a private A380.

In perhaps twenty VS flights since last summer, I have been greeted by name just once.... so no consistency again...

I concur about the difference in golds between the B & S route and the LHR flights. In seven years as a gold only ever greeted twice by name once going to Antigua and the other going to St Lucia when the FSM handed me a personal signed note from SRB wishing a happy 50th birthday. Have to say though in all that time I didn't even know it was policy to greet golds.

On about 20% of my virgin flights i've gotten a 'special' greeting. It's such a small gesture but makes a big difference imo. It feels nice to be appreciated for choosing Virgin over and over over other airlines. Some people work 'hard' to keep their gold So it's nice when it's recognised by the staff.

Just a 'Hello mr. ... I see you fly quite alot with us, thank you and welcome back'. Which i got yesterday on VEG-LGW does it.

The worring issue is that almost every time I fly with BA, there is something personal said. ie names used, thanks for continuing to fly with us, welcome back, etc etc and with BA I'm only blue :0

David

That's EXACTLY what I have found David - I'm BA Blue (I made Silver for a year about ten years ago, but apart from that, always Blue!) and they ALWAYS say hello by name. So do Emirates, I'm Gold with them.

Virgin, after five years Gold? Rarely even say hello, let alone by name...

Perhaps someone could tell VS to give the FSMs tablets to monitor this, a bit like BA.

Not sure they need them; Emirates just use the manifest

[honey lamb]

The worring issue is that almost every time I fly with BA, there is something personal said. ie names used, thanks for continuing to fly with us, welcome back, etc etc and with BA I'm only blue :0

David

That's EXACTLY what I have found David - I'm BA Blue (I made Silver for a year about ten years ago, but apart from that, always Blue!) and they ALWAYS say hello by name.

I've NEVER found that with BA except for one occasion when they were taking meal orders and the cabin crew had a manifest in her hand.

One 'welcome back' in the last 20 flights.
Monday I caught a glimpse (well loitered to look actually) of the manifest and saw a sprinkling of GOLD members, quite a few SILVER and several - maybe 3 or 4 - with a circle and what I think was an 's' inside.
Anyone know what that means ?

That's EXACTLY what I have found David - I'm BA Blue (I made Silver for a year about ten years ago, but apart from that, always Blue!) and they ALWAYS say hello by name. So do Emirates, I'm Gold with them.

Virgin, after five years Gold? Rarely even say hello, let alone by name...

+1 for BA experience.

Welcomed by name, thanked personally for flying and any other "special" messages.

So much better an experience, though I know many people don't see the point as they are just reading their iPad/manifest, but if it was that simple and easy, why does VIrgin struggle so much with this? Personally I appreciate it and I think many others do too.

Doubtless I'll get shot down for this, but I don't really see why gold-card holders should get special treatment on board. VS doesn't promise it, so why demand it? I say this as an AU, by the way....

Incidentally, on almost all of my flights in the past 18 months, I have been greeted by name at the door. The crew simply read it from the boarding pass -- happens in PE as well as UC, and to AG as well as AU - and perhaps to others too.

The crew simply read it from the boarding pass -- happens in PE as well as UC, and to AG as well as AU - and perhaps to others too.

I see your point, at240, but for me as someone who travels Y an awful lot when the CC can be bothered to read your name of the boarding pass it does make a big difference

Maybe I'm just shallow

Hi Petmadness, I agree with you - and I thought the crew did that for everyone. I don't think it should be reserved for golds or UC.

Thought I'd reuse the old thread.....

I mostly fly LHR-SFO every 6-8 weeks and since the first time this recognition happened (and the reason for starting this thread) I have not been greeted/champagned at all.

My conclusion is that on a LHR-SFO flight there are maybe 20-40 Au holders

I flew PE to SFO last month and I got a glass of Champagne and some Divine chocolate bars as well as a thank you about half way through the flight after dinner. I was pleasantly surprised

I'm going to weigh in here and maybe join the chorus that says that there should be absolutely no preferential treatment for AU in flight. I think it's better all round if no one gets special treatment that it is for a few people to get special treatment each time. I know this is a complete u-turn from my previous view but I find it patently unfair that some people would have the same status and receive such different treatment.

Maybe when VS fix their inconsistency issues, they can give it a try again.

I can sort of agree with Tinuks. It is clearly not right that two passengers with the same status get very different treatment. However, it is IMHO missing the point - other airlines can do this reliably, so why not VS? It really isn't difficult, our membership status is listed on the manifests, no-one is expecting the cabin crew to have a photographic memory. How hard is it to do what the others do, and put the manifest inside a folder and come and say hi?

It just points to a 'don't care' mentality towards the frequent flyers. As I posted elsewhere, I really believe that VS is now focused almost exclusively on using premium cabins as incentives to INFrequent flyers, and are just not very interested in those of us who use UC as a bus service.

But they really should!