a brief history of time

Ok so I became a mileage whore ever since my first UC experience last August when i traveled to LAX on Z ticket which I bought in their summer sale. As of today I currently have the Flying Club mastercard, am a very regular customer of Virgin Casino/Virgin Poker and will just about do anything to get miles. I fly regularly to LAS with VS and nowadays always try to book in PE or better.

So I've recently realized that I am now in a situation where I can expect to earn around 200-300k flying club miles each year. Grrrrreat!

OK so I've flown to LAS on VS in PE a couple of times and before each leg I always check to see if there is availability in UC at the hopes of using mileage or money to upgrade. Every time I have checked there is at least 1 seat free, sometimes more.

So here is where my gripe begins....

If from my limited experience on flying VS43/44 it is true that there is often a seat free in UC, why don't VS open up another seat in UC for reward tickets.

OK so I understand that there are only 14 seats in UC on the LGW/MAN suites, but if seats are consistently free then why is reward availability so sparse?

OK so let's say that they did what I said - I’m sure they would say that this would affect revenue. I totally agree. However, why don't they just increase the fares of people traveling D/J to cover the lost revenue? Am I wrong in thinking that people paying £3-7k for their airfare will switch airlines all because of an extra £100-200 or so? Having the only scheduled direct service to LAS from the south of England must be a consistent earner? (Correct me if I'm wrong) and with the unique services that VS offer, surely people won't stop booking on such a 'small' increase?

Also, with the recent flying club changes there are more and more people who are earning mileage nowadays. With N class tickets earning mileage and with the Silver/Gold 25%/50% booking bonuses, surely the demand in reward tickets is going to increase. I know they increased redemption levels but am I (again?) wrong in thinking the people most likely to book UC reward tickets are going to be the people that mainly fly UC themselves? These people are now getting 25% or 50% extra mileage... how can VS keep up with the demand for UC reward flights.

Maybe I’m thinking to far ahead here but I predict that unless more reward availability opens up more and more of the most 'loyal' FC Gold and Silver members are going to get frustrated and may eventually take their business elsewhere. Especially with so many airlines catching up to VS standards with flat beds etc.

Well that concludes my longest post yet, am I now an official v-flyer?

Alex.

[preiffer]

Originally posted by kapowuk
However, why don't they just increase the fares of people traveling D/J to cover the lost revenue? Am I wrong in thinking that people paying £3-7k for their airfare will switch airlines all because of an extra £100-200 or so? Having the only scheduled direct service to LAS from the south of England must be a consistent earner? (Correct me if I'm wrong) and with the unique services that VS offer, surely people won't stop booking on such a 'small' increase?

Why stop there?

Why not add another £5 to each and every economy ticket too, (another "small increase") in order to cover your need for a free seat up the front? [ii][:?]

Sorry, but I can't believe that's a serious suggestion... [:(]

Do bear also in mind that, within 7 days, revenue management are able to release more seats to non-revenue buckets if they feel the plane will go with empty ones to spare. It takes a phonecall and a check beforehand, but they've certainly done it before for many on this site.

[Nottingham Nick]

Further to what Paul has said. Let's get back to basics, and look at why the FREQUENT FLIER programmes exist.

They are there, first and foremost, to reward the frequent premium class fliers. It is great that people are able to earn points in other ways, but IMHO the real perks of the the system should go to those people who fork out large sums on a regular basis to the airline and actually pay to sit up front.

Leaving aside the SIN/KUL issue for a while... in effect this is the Gold card holders.

So, if Rev Management are going to release extra seats, it should be to their best customers, IMHO.

The rest of us should use the points, as and when we can.

Turning down people who offer to pay for upgrades and flying with empty seats is a slightly different matter. I know they blame catering issues, but to me that is just bad business sense.. not something we normally associate with VS.


Just my 2 cents.
:D

Nick

[RichardMannion]

I must find out the stat on amount of outstanding air miles, some of the big carriers would go under instantly if everyone could redeem their miles at ease.

Thanks,
Richard