Earlier I posted about the big changes coming to Virgin Atlantic's own Flying Club program, where we're seeing the cost of many award tickets (in particular in premium cabins) increase significantly. It's a huge devaluation to what's already a disappointing program. Short term it's not unusual to see an airline devalue their own frequent flyer…
Continue reading: Virgin America & Virgin Atlantic Are Cutting Ties
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I have an Elevate booking for Virgin Atlantic for June 2017, that should be fine right?
Always liked the VA, VX, VS connection - even if it was just in a higher level airline partner thing. I wonder if VX access to the VS Clubhouse's in JFK, SFO and IAD will go away as well.
Used 37,500 miles for first class one way from LAX-EWR. Sad to see this go away. Still have 112,500 miles left.
Hah! Just made a booking for April last weekend... glad I made that ... not I'll probably just transfer my leftover points to Hilton :/
"Virgin Atlantic represented a pretty good value, assuming you didn’t mind paying the big fees."
Kind of like "the desert isn't too hot, assuming you don't mind 120-degree heat."
I would think the BA partnership matters more to Alaska. The delta angle could be right too
Im sad bc I could transfer chase UR to VAtlantic to VAmerica. Not the best value, but not terrible and I have a glut of chase points. I love the Virgin America product.
It's really other way around. Booking virgin America flights using VA points was excellent to Hawaii and Cancun from lax. Sad to see it go....
This isn't too surprising given Alaska has announced they want out of the Virgin name/royalty fee they have to pay Branson for the right to use it. If I had to guess the changes would not have gone through until closer to the actual combination of the two programs, but perhaps that is closer than Alaska is letting on.
Also I LOL'd at #NastyAirlines
Lucky, I think you do a disservice to your readers by not mentioning the difficulty of redeeming VX miles in premium cabins on the majority of their partners.
One glaring example is SQ, who, after my 2 hour call with the burn desk earlier today - has no availability for Business or First from the West Coast to Asia. For the rest of 2016. And 2017.
This is bullshit. No advance notice given. I have an upcoming trip on VA to London and back in Prem Economy, and need badly to earn VX Elevate miles. That's the reason I bought this ticket. Will they still honor it?
I flew Virgin Atlantic from Miami to Heathrow and I had a great experience. The plane was beautiful and the crew was great all around. Due to this, I flew Virgin America from FLL to LAX and it was probably one of the worst experiences I've had with an airline. Virgin America does not offer anywhere near the level of service you expect from the Virgin name.
So does this mean that I won't be able to use my Virgin Elevate miles to book Virgin Atlantic flights anymore? Does this include Virgin's flights from London to, say, Hong Kong?