Which Frequent Flyer Scheme is better Flying Club or Delta

Ok so I am moving to the states next week flying with VS of course

I have a question. Which Frequent Flyer Scheme is better Flying Club or Delta Skymiles? Basilly we will be living in NYC and maybe flying once or twice a year back to Europe. My other half is from near Minneapolis and delta is the biggest carrier flying into and out of there.

Can someone use delta miles to upgrade on VS or vice versa? Which scheme do you think is better?

Ok so I am moving to the states next week flying with VS of course

Can someone use delta miles to upgrade on VS or vice versa? Which scheme do you think is better?

I am with Flying Club.
I explored options of flying to Atlanta with Delta.
I could use Flying Club miles to buy the ticket outright, but not to upgrade.

If it were me, and I'd be flying Delta mostly I'd probably opt to go with their system.

Dick D

One of the differences is that DL is a revenue-based scheme (you need to spend a certain amount of money and miles to qualify for status or perks) and VS isn't.

The other thing to consider is that partner reward redemption with VS is infamously bad. By that I mean, you may find that although you are eligible to use your VS miles on DL, availability might be zero.

If you're interested in achieving status with VS, then flying DL domestic is one of the quickest routes to FC Au, for example.

You can often find cheap First Class DL tickets (priced just above economy). A return trip from JFK to MSP would net you 6 Tier Points. If you had time on your hands and took a connecting flight via, say, ATL you'd net 12 TP.

I'd also sign up to the VS Black Mastercard, which - unlike its UK equivalent - earns TPs (and 1.5 miles per $, or 3 per $ when booking with VS).

One of the differences is that DL is a revenue-based scheme (you need to spend a certain amount of money and miles to qualify for status or perks) and VS isn't.

The other thing to consider is that partner reward redemption with VS is infamously bad. By that I mean, you may find that although you are eligible to use your VS miles on DL, availability might be zero.

If you're interested in achieving status with VS, then flying DL domestic is one of the quickest routes to FC Au, for example.

You can often find cheap First Class DL tickets (priced just above economy). A return trip from JFK to MSP would net you 6 Tier Points. If you had time on your hands and took a connecting flight via, say, ATL you'd net 12 TP.

I'd also sign up to the VS Black Mastercard, which - unlike its UK equivalent - earns TPs (and 1.5 miles per $, or 3 per $ when booking with VS).

Didn't know Virgin had a credit card over there. I will have to look into it once my credit score gets high enough. I think I might join flying club then as I would like status and since the other half will want us to go from JFK to MSP allot I hear what your saying

If you're travelling from JFK to MSP a lot, and only infrequently transatlantic, it could get complicated. I'd spend some time looking at the DL SkyMiles scheme to see if it's going to be worth more to you (in terms of upgrades, etc.) than Flying Club. Consider that while you can theoretically use VS FC miles on Delta flights, such partnership availability is and always has been as rare as hens' teeth. It seems easier for DL fliers to book on VS than vice versa.

For me the main perk of status on DL (and you can achieve the same by way of FC Au) is the priority boarding, availability of DL EC seating, priority security and wait list for complimentary upgrades. But, as NYLON says, look at DL's terms based on revenue rather than flights to see if you'd qualify. Alternatively check to see whether, based on your flying, you'll make VS FC Au, in which case you get most of these perks but will be very low on the list for upgrades.

It is an odd thing, but now that two major US airlines have moved to revenue-based systems (and I suspect the others will follow soon), many moderate-to-frequent US flyers (i.e. not the super-flyers) will probably book their miles through non-US carriers who do not have revenue-based loyalty programmes.

This is a reasonably good article, and uses the example of someone who frequently flies on DL and AA actually being better off booking their miles through Alaska: http://hackmytrip.com/2014/08/frequent- ... ools-game/

The reason is that it comes full circle. If you were to achieve Au on VS, by dint of a few domestic DL flights, you would enjoy some pretty decent benefits on DL, which would normally cost you more using DL's own SkyMiles system: http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/fl ... unges.html

Of course, in addition, you'd then get all the Au benefits with VS for your flights back to the UK.

The trick is to look for cheap First Class connecting tickets on DL (including Delta Connection), which net you 3 Tier Points on each leg (on flights under 3,000 miles).

But - and this really is an issue - just as slinky09 highlights, your FC Au status and all those VS miles accrued will be pretty useless in terms of getting you any DL award redemption tickets.