New VS Flying Club

VS have hosted a couple of focus groups this week to test new ideas for the Flying Club. Before any feedback was provided, here are some of the key points:

- tier points become “wings”
- ability to earn wings other than flying, eg, book VH or credit card sign up and spend
- new Red+ level
- Red at 0. + at 10. Silver at 20. Gold at 40
- UC return would earn 14 wings
- PE return would earn 10 wings
- Y return would earn 6 wings
- Unlock “rewards” within your tier, eg, at 5, 15, 25, 35, 50 and so forth
- “Rewards” range from a free tea or coffee on short haul, £50 off your next flight, free WiFi, clubhouse passes, free upgrade from PE to UC. Use common sense working out which reward for what tier
- Benefits of each tier seem somewhat unchanged, except a household account from Red +

I’d be surprised if they go ahead with the next bit as everyone in our group hated the idea, but they’re thinking of gamification and earning badges. Eg, fly on your birthday and earn the birthday badge.

The general consensus was there’s not much benefit in hitting gold if you’re going to fly UC anyway. Make the target higher but benefits bigger. Ideas from the group included mirroring BAs joker idea and lowering surcharges as you progress.

I didn’t sign an NDA so assuming this post is within the rules.

[mitchja]

Sorry but I have to enable rant mode here somewhat......

The ability to earn tier points / status by any other means apart from actually flying and sitting on an A/C on a revenue fare is an utterly ludicrous idea and something that no airline should ever be even considering. That totally 100% devalues everything about a frequent flyer program

It's bad enough being able to earn thousand upon thousands of miles now without even setting foot on-board an A/C.

Many airlines seem to be forgetting what a 'frequent flyer' actually is these days.

Also IMHO for VS AU there should be a minimum number of tier points that have to be earned on VS metal as well.

[/Rant Mode]

I attended a focus group discussion also...

Concensus was that the badges were a waste of time, and renaming tier points to wings just seemed to add confusion.

For me personally, a lot of the benefits wouldn't be of any use, though on the upside, I could renew Gold with fewer return UC flights due to fare class seemingly not affecting the number of wings earned.

ALWAYS Ultra.

That's all.

I'll pass on most of those silly changes.

I agree quite strongly with James on this one.

Hmmm. I wouldn't mind if a very limited number of TP could be earned through credit card spend. Although I renew pretty easily year on year, my OH is sometimes a bit short since the changes to the 1,000 point structure. Although some of the rewards aren't if interest to me, I could see one or two being useful. I'm not overly offended by any of it, but just hope TP earning isn't dished out to generously to non flyers.

It's funny, I got asked to attend this focus group, too, but I am away so I couldn't. It asked for your status and one was "gold with wings status"; I meant to post here to ask what that meant, but now my question is answered. Weird that it was an option when it hasn't been launched yet!

Earning TP or whatever name you give them other than by flying is a nonsense. Assuming Virgin get a SH network going you just have the lounge full of Gold's on SH economy flights. BA lounges at LHR are pretty much a zoo at times as a result of an over generous lounge policy, or an inadequate lounge facility, depending on which side of the argument you land.
I mostly fly OW as the route/benefits suit me, and I really don't like the older VS UC seat. But the absolute difference for me between BA and VS was the very superior VS lounge at LHR. If you fill that with status peeps as a result of credit card spend travelling on SH, it'll remove what little advantage VS has for me.
I should add I have no VS status, but can easily shift CC spend to other cards, so I could perhaps benefit from this change, but I still think it's a bad idea.

Edited to add last sentence.

Currently, the American version of the VS credit card allows Tier Point earning, up to the (pointless) level of Silver.

What you need to remember is that this is only half the story. Once Virgin Red (which is what Virgin Group Loyalty Company is now using for its branding) launches, your miles will no longer be called miles and the things you can redeem for will no longer be the things you can currently redeem for ....

PS. Not sure if anyone noticed, but Oli Byers was pulled out of running FC / Loyalty and is currently 'Interim Chief Commercial Officer' at Flybe down in Exeter!

... It asked for your status and one was "gold with wings status"; I meant to post here to ask what that meant, but now my question is answered. Weird that it was an option when it hasn't been launched yet!

Actually WINGS is an invitation tier above gold.

Not sure this sort of change matters much anyway -- despite sitting on 1.5M FC miles, I find it nearly impossible to spend them with any sort of advance planning as is needed for family trips. VS opens few seats for redemption and their partners offer even less to FC members.

Not sure this sort of change matters much anyway -- despite sitting on 1.5M FC miles, I find it nearly impossible to spend them with any sort of advance planning as is needed for family trips. VS opens few seats for redemption and their partners offer even less to FC members.

With a balance like that, I'd be looking at miles plus money. Obviously not the best redemption rate, but gives total freedom on dates, TP earning, miles earning and it can pay for the taxes too. I just did this with circa 1M miles.

Sorry but I have to enable rant mode here somewhat......

The ability to earn tier points / status by any other means apart from actually flying and sitting on an A/C on a revenue fare is an utterly ludicrous idea and something that no airline should ever be even considering. That totally 100% devalues everything about a frequent flyer program

It's bad enough being able to earn thousand upon thousands of miles now without even setting foot on-board an A/C.

Many airlines seem to be forgetting what a 'frequent flyer' actually is these days.

Also IMHO for VS AU there should be a minimum number of tier points that have to be earned on VS metal as well.

[/Rant Mode]

I'm with you James, 200%

"Thanks again for attending the Virgin Atlantic focus group last week. We really enjoyed hearing your feedback on the ideas that we shared with you – you have certainly given us a lot to think about!

We’ve heard from a few participants who were curious to find out when these new ideas would be launched, so we thought it would be worth getting in touch with everyone in case some of you had questions about this. The answer is… we don’t even know if any of these ideas will be launched at all.

At this stage, we are still gathering feedback from consumers to decide which ideas are worth exploring further. After analysing the feedback, we may well be in touch with you in the future to share some different ideas!"

"After analysing the feedback, we may well be in touch with you in the future to share some different ideas!"

Sounds like the ideas in the OP didn't go down well then..!

Sounds like the ideas in the OP didn't go down well then..!

I mean, there were some good things. BA Joker equivalent and maybe the ability to gift Gold (my own idea) when you reach 1500/2000TP's or the like would be a good thing.

It's not all doom & gloom, but let's see what the bean counters come up with.