Economy to Premium Economy Voucher Rant

Just spent over a whole hour being a tennis ball between MBNA & Virgin Flying Club. Now I am also very late for work!

I have been trying/waiting/looking to upgrade an outbound flight by using my p to pe voucher.
Today some seats was finally released after a wait of 5 months!

This is where the problem started.

I called flying club to bag the 2x tickets. However I was told I have no voucher in my account. I was told my voucher for 2013/14 spend expired early april.

I recently received a letter from MBNA telling me I had qualified for 2014/15 voucher by my spend. So I queried this with FC & was told to contact MBNA as nothing is showing on my account.

To cut the long story short - MBNA rep confirmed I had met the requirements, however it can take up 30 days to be added to your account. So may not hit my account until May - that means I am unable to use any vouchers!

So how is this Voucher valid for 12 months? as it will be back-dated on my card's anniversary date, not 30 days later.

I called FC again & was eventually put through to a helpful Manager to deal with my complaint.

There was nothing they could do regarding the E to PE voucher.
However, I did have enough miles in my account to cover the upgrade. So she upgraded my flight to PE using my miles & will give me my miles back when the voucher hits my account.

Just really annoyed with how these vouchers work. Definitely going to kickstart me into collecting avios & phase out Virgin miles after this experience.

Sounds frustrating, but that a very good compromise was reached by VS.

Sounds frustrating, but that a very good compromise was reached by VS.

I would disagree - it was only a compromise because I had the miles in my account.

What would have happened if I didn't have the miles?

I have been unlucky with the timings, but it does show that they are false advertising as my voucher is not valid for 12 months.

If it was, they could have booked the upgrade & held them until my voucher came through. However, they could not do this.

I am going to write a complain to both companies as the voucher should be valid from the date it is added to your account & not valid from the anniversary date of my credit card.

[Neil]

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

Seems like Eggtastico is saying that their vouchers are vaild for 12 months from their card expiry, not from the day they hit the Flying Club account, and if it takes up to 30 days for the voucher to appear, it makes its validity 12 months - 30 days, so around 11 months.

Thats how I've read it anyway

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

Seems like Eggtastico is saying that their vouchers are vaild for 12 months from their card expiry, not from the day they hit the Flying Club account, and if it takes up to 30 days for the voucher to appear, it makes its validity 12 months - 30 days, so around 11 months.

Thats how I've read it anyway

Yes, the voucher when it hits my account will be valid from Early April 2015.
It was issued by MBNA to Virgin on that date, but can take 30 days for Virgin to process the voucher & another week to add to your account.

I wanted to use it today, but I can't, as of yet I do not have the voucher!
So its not valid for 12 months!
Otherwise I should be able to use the voucher that expired from last year.

[Neil]

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

Seems like Eggtastico is saying that their vouchers are vaild for 12 months from their card expiry, not from the day they hit the Flying Club account, and if it takes up to 30 days for the voucher to appear, it makes its validity 12 months - 30 days, so around 11 months.

Thats how I've read it anyway

I too, thought that is what they are saying, but that certainly isn't what it should be, and isn't the experiences I have had with my vouchers, so I was just looking for clarification.

Sounds frustrating, but that a very good compromise was reached by VS.

I would disagree - it was only a compromise because I had the miles in my account.

What would have happened if I didn't have the miles?

I have been unlucky with the timings, but it does show that they are false advertising as my voucher is not valid for 12 months.

If it was, they could have booked the upgrade & held them until my voucher came through. However, they could not do this.

I can see why this is frustration - but it seems your quarrel is with MBMA not VS..? They have upgraded you and will do a swap over when the voucher lands.

I guess, they have to take something for a payment - its not like you could ask for this on faith and expect to get it? I imagine it would be like asking for a free Coke in Tesco and telling them that there is a voucher in the post from Coke but you want it now. Would they say yes? I guess they would ask for cash and say when you bring it in they will swap it over?

I understand your frustration, but surely VS have been decent here?

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

Are we talking about the refusal of the OP's 2013/14 voucher...validity depends when it hit his FC account.

It doesn't state it very clearly in the small print whether it means 12 months to fly it or only to book it and I had assumed booked based on I think previous posts here and other places - after a bit of violent interrogation of the website FAQs the following materialised:

"American Express Upgrade/Companion
Published 30/11/2011 03.36 PM | Updated 21/12/2012 05.53 PM
(Q) I was unable to use my American Express upgrade/companion reward and they have expired. Can these be extended?
(A) Unfortunately, the American Express Virgin Atlantic Credit Card Upgrade and Companion rewards cannot be extended and must be booked within 12 months of the date they are added to your account."

Note is says MUST BE BOOKED.

For the 2014/15 voucher - there could be a gap between the previous voucher expiring (if it actually had - the OP should check when it hit his account in 2014) and the new one hitting the account due to the 30 days (MBNA to Virgin) and "week" (Virgin to post to FC) if this time its taking longer.

I am waiting for vouchers from card anniversary towards the end of March to appear but don't need or want to book anything yet.

My upgrade vouchers seem to be taking a while to credit this year, my annual payment date was around the 5th March but I still dont see the rewards on my account screen. The credited fine last year and I know I have spent over 10k on my black amex so I should be due the two upgrades. Is that one for MBNA or Virgin?

Seems to me as if VS is aware of the frustration and that's why they offered the 'fix'. Yes it's frustrating, but VS didn't have to do what they did and the result is the same surely?

[Neil]

I don't see how your voucher isn't valid for 12 months?
From the date it hits your account, you have to book a flight within 12 months, are you saying Virgin are saying you couldn't do this?

Are we talking about the refusal of the OP's 2013/14 voucher...validity depends when it hit his FC account.

It doesn't state it very clearly in the small print whether it means 12 months to fly it or only to book it and I had assumed booked based on I think previous posts here and other places - after a bit of violent interrogation of the website FAQs the following materialised:

"American Express Upgrade/Companion
Published 30/11/2011 03.36 PM | Updated 21/12/2012 05.53 PM
(Q) I was unable to use my American Express upgrade/companion reward and they have expired. Can these be extended?
(A) Unfortunately, the American Express Virgin Atlantic Credit Card Upgrade and Companion rewards cannot be extended and must be booked within 12 months of the date they are added to your account."

Note is says MUST BE BOOKED.

For the 2014/15 voucher - there could be a gap between the previous voucher expiring (if it actually had - the OP should check when it hit his account in 2014) and the new one hitting the account due to the 30 days (MBNA to Virgin) and "week" (Virgin to post to FC) if this time its taking longer.

I am waiting for vouchers from card anniversary towards the end of March to appear but don't need or want to book anything yet.

The voucher has to be used to book a flight within 12 months of it hitting your account, the flight can be further in to the future.

The T&C's that you have just quoted, show that it is from hitting your account, so if Virgin aren't honouring that, then they are wrong.

but the voucher is not valid for 12 months.
It hits my account in May & will be dated the date MBNA issued it - which is the anniversary date of my card - 14th April
This is more of a VA issu than MBNA

If it was valid for a full 12 months from date of issue, then I should still have the one for 2013/14.
as one expires, the other one should be active for 2014/15

This has not been the case.

My card anniversary date is in April, so if it takes 30 days to process & another 7 days to add to your flying club - then this takes me into May. So how can my 2013/14 be expired 8th April 2015 ( a week earlier than my actual anniversary date) & my voucher for 2014/15 is still in the system waiting to be added.

[Neil]

but the voucher is not valid for 12 months.
It hits my account in May & will be dated the date MBNA issued it - first week of April.
This is both an MBNA & Virgin issue

If it was valid for a full 12 months, then I should still have the one for 2013/14
as one expires, the other one should be active for 2014/15

This has not been the case.

My card anniversary date is in April, so if it takes 30 days to process & another 7 days to add to your flying club - then this takes me into May. So how can my 2013/14 be expired 8th April 2015 & my voucher for 2014/15 is still in the system waiting to be added.

Not quite, so for example:

Let's say your renewal date is 31st March every year.
So on 31st March 2014, you've hit your required spend and then on the 10th April 2014 the voucher hits your account and is valid for 12 months.

Now it's 2015, again you've hit your required spend, but this time the voucher doesn't hit your account until the 22nd April 2015.

Both vouchers are valid for a full 12 months, but you've still got a period where you don't have a voucher active in your account.

Not quite, so for example:

Let's say your renewal date is 31st March every year.
So on 31st March 2014, you've hit your required spend and then on the 10th April 2014 the voucher hits your account and is valid for 12 months.

Now it's 2015, again you've hit your required spend, but this time the voucher doesn't hit your account until the 22nd April 2015.

Both vouchers are valid for a full 12 months, but you've still got a period where you don't have a voucher active in your account.

You're wrong
The vouchers are issued by MBNA on the anniversary date.
So every anniversary date they get issued, then added to my account within 30 days.

It does not explain why 2013/14 voucher expired 8th April 2015, when my anniversary date is April 14th & the voucher should not have hit my account until early to mid May.


Going to call Flying Club again to get to the bottom of this issue as it is false information they are peddling.

[Neil]

For me, it clearly states in the T&C's that the expire 12 months from the date they hit your account, NOT the date they are issued.
You can tell from your FC history what date they hit your account, so it really should be a simple case.

Please report back Eggtastico when you have it sorted. I am a newb here so my posts are delayed via the mods but I hope you get/got clarity on when your 2013/14 voucher expired/expires. (12 months after it is posted by Virgin on your flying club statement as per the TandCs) Hope it is possible for you to use it and keep your new one or your miles/cash for the future. Commiserations if it genuinely had expired before you phoned up to book - at least you've got the reward seats nailed down to use with the new voucher.

will do.
At the moment they are blaming each other.

MBNA say they issue the voucher on anniversary date & hide behind the up to 30 days in T&C's

Virgin say they are added as soon as MBNA issue the vouchers.
Neither can answer why last year's voucher was added early.

Currently in the process of following both companies complaints procedures.

I think VA are adding the vouchers in align with the MBNA anniversary date & not when they are actually added to your account.

dont care if they use last years voucher or this years. I just want my miles back so I can spend them elsewhere.
Last time I am flying with Virgin through choice.

So how much early are we talking about? You may have mentioned the dates upthread. I was just wondering because the way the "within 30 days of the year end" is worded it seems to me that MBNA can inform Virgin of your eligibilty up to 30 days BEFORE the anniv date, if you've already met the spend amount, rather than it necessarily having to be in the 30 days FOLLOWING. Many would be glad to get a voucher at the beginning of this window but not all or every year. I can see how the 12 month from FC posting validity rule then puts the responsibility for knowing when the voucher expires with the member. I've nearly qualified for my second lot of vouchers (and having switched up to the black card from white just before the year end) despite not having received the first year's yet so I'll be ready for there to be a gap in validity/receipt of vouchers next year (conversely an overlap would be superb!).

my anniversary date is the 13th April
April 2014 voucher was applied with an expiry date of April 9th 2015

So far no voucher has been applied for year 2015 with an expiry of 2016

I have checked my statements & stopped counting once I knew the Amex card was over £10k (only Amex spend counts - the visa card spend does not)

[Neil]

What date was the 2014 voucher added to your account?

I would add that I never use my vouchers. last year only 1 credited despite an estimated £30,000 spend. i didn't chase as wouldn't use it

Thats the thing.. I have no idea & it seems MBNA or Virgin don't either.

So I am waiting to see when 2015 voucher is added to my account & what date it is valid from.

Nobody can tell me how my last one expired 9th of April when it is before the anniversary date of my card.

Sorry to ask the same question again - but I really don't understand why you are lambasting VS for this..?

MBNA issue the voucher - and they have issued it on the wrong / different dates. For this reason, VS wont give you an upgrade against a voucher that isn't in your account. However, they have found a fix for this - and you get your upgrade. You say you want to use your points, but wont use VS again - which seems a little contradictory...

So I guess my question is still, how is this VS's fault..? As far as they see it you don't have a voucher in your account so you cant use it - MBNA have failed to issue this. To use my earlier analogy - would a shop accept a voucher that is 'in the post', no they would not. They would request payment and then, if they were nice they might offer a refund once you have the voucher - but I very much doubt it.

The voucher is a way to gain customers - use our card and we will offer you this (yes, it benefits VS too) but its predominantly a bonus for being a card holder. Therefore, logic would dictate that its their issue to correct..?

I also assume, that you will be leaving MBNA as well as VS because of this - or will it just be VS that lose your custom..?

Interesting issue.

The transaction history we can all call up on our FC statement on the website does only go back a year - I've just looked at my husband's FC acct which opened just over a year ago and the first couple of flights from early/mid April 2014 have now dropped off the bottom.

This is much different to BA where I can easily scroll back the history to when I joined in 2012. Does the data just get wiped from the VS system altogether after 12 months? Easy for them to deny all knowledge anyways...