Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Status Match Offer

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has an ongoing status match offer, which I wanted to cover the details of (thanks to Creditcrunch for flagging this). It does require booking a flight with Virgin Atlantic, but I’m sure some will find value with this offer, especially given that Virgin Atlantic is in SkyTeam.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club status match basics

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is offering a status match offer for both of its elite tiers:

• To become an instant Gold member you need to prove you have top tier status with an eligible frequent flyer program, and you need to have a future flight booked with Virgin Atlantic in either business class or premium economy
• To become an instant Silver member, you need to prove you have second tier status with an eligible program, and you need to have a future flight booked with Virgin Atlantic in any class

Regarding the eligible flight, it can be either a revenue flight or an award flight, and all that matters is that it’s marketed by Virgin Atlantic, while it can be operated by another airline (I love how Virgin Atlantic counts award flights for these purposes!).

This status match offer is valid for those who have one of the following status tiers:

• American AAdvantage Platinum Pro & Executive Platinum
• British Airways Executive Club Silver & Gold
• Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club Gold & Diamond
• EL AL Matmid Gold & Platinum
• Emirates Skywards, Silver, Gold, & Platinum
• Hong Kong Airlines Fortune Wings Silver, Gold, & Platinum
• Iberia Plus Gold & Platinum
• Lufthansa Miles & More Senator & HON Circle
• Pakistan Airlines Sapphire & Diamond
• Scandinavian Airlines SAS EuroBonus Gold & Diamond
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Silver & Gold
• South African Airways Voyager Silver, Gold, & Platinum
• United MileagePlus Premier Platinum & Premier 1K

How to request a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club status match

To request a status match, follow the link on this page, where you’ll need to do the following:

1. Join Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (if you’re not already a member)
2. Provide your Flying Club membership number
3. Provide proof of your elite membership with one of the above programs, with a photo or screenshot of your membership card
4. Provide the booking reference for your upcoming Virgin Atlantic flight

Virgin Atlantic’s customer care team will get back to you following the request, with details of what status you’re eligible for. However, your status will only be upgraded 72 hours before your qualifying flight. If you cancel that flight, your status will be revoked.

Note that you can only take advantage of a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club status match once. Matched status is also valid for 12 months.

Is a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club status match worth it?

For context, Virgin Atlantic’s status requirements are ordinarily as follows:

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Silver status requires 400 tier points every year
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Gold status requires 1,000 tier points every year

When flying with Virgin Atlantic, elite benefits mostly include priority services, from check-in, to lounge access, to boarding, to seat selection. The reality is that if you’re flying Upper Class anyway, you might find that the perks are rather limited, since there’s very little you’re getting that isn’t already included, perhaps aside from some bonus Virgin points. After all, you get access to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse anyway.

Still, a lot of people just like to have status in general, and the soft treatment may be better. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to book a Virgin Atlantic ticket to take advantage of this, if I were planning on booking a ticket like this anyway, I’d absolutely consider a status match opportunity.

One other consideration is that Virgin Atlantic is in SkyTeam nowadays, and Flying Club Gold status gets you SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which is the top tier status in the SkyTeam alliance. This offers benefits like SkyTeam lounge access on international itineraries, as well as priority check-in, priority boarding, an extra baggage allowance, and much more.

So this status can even offer value on domestic Delta itineraries, as you receive all kinds of priority services (though not lounge access on wholly domestic itineraries).

Bottom line

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has an ongoing status match promotion that’s worth being aware of. Members of many competing frequent flyer programs can match to Flying Club Silver or Gold status for 12 months, in conjunction with a booked Virgin Atlantic flight.

It could be worth timing this carefully, given that your status will be upgraded within 72 hours of an eligible Virgin Atlantic itinerary. This requirement is easy enough to satisfy with an award flight. This can even offer perks when traveling with SkyTeam partner airlines.

Does anyone plan on taking advantage of this Virgin Atlantic status match opportunity?