End of FC 10% discount

Don't think this has been posted yet but it looks as if the 10% discount on VH will be gone for FC members at the end of June (to be replaced by 5% forthwith)[n]Boo hiss...Didn't think it would be long after the re-vamp of FVC (and the reason I hung on to my 10% discount as opposed to the cheap free car parking etc they'd rather give me).Info came in a mail from FC today -I still can't do these blessed links so if anyone else can post the link I'd be grateful.
DL

[Darren Wheeler]

10% down to 5%

But you will earn 2 miles for every £1 spend

[Nottingham Nick]

Can't say I am too surprised in the current economic climate.

Nick

Does that mean you can get the 5% plus the miles for spend, plus the miles for paying with the amex plus the actual miles flown?[:?]

[Darren Wheeler]

I would assume so. The card use is a seperate reward.

Not a great rate of exchange though...

Assume £5,000 holiday.

Difference between 10% and 5% discount is £250.

2 miles per £ spend = 9,500 miles (2 * (5,000-250))

So you're swapping £250 for 9,500 miles.

If buying miles £255 would give you 15,000 miles.


(I think [:I])

Paul

[Darren Wheeler]

5% is still better than 0% off

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
5% is still better than 0% off

True, but don't you get 5% off simply from booking online ?

Paul

[Neil]

I wondered how long it would take for this to happen. A 10% discount for signing up to the FREE VS FC just didn't make good business sense. With the growth in forum based sites like this and The Dibb, it was becoming so well know to everyone that it must have been costing VH 1000's. Bringing it in line with their own online booking discount makes sense and I am sure we will still see plenty of their 10% weekends as people are spending less on everything, including holidays.

Personally, I now find VH expensive, especially for accommodation only, you used to be able to get some good hotels and excellent prices, but in the last 18 months or so they are now much more expensive than booking direct, so it is of no real loss to me now.

Neil

[Darren Wheeler]

With people getting much more internet savvy, I can see the days of the long-haul package holiday being numbered. It's much cheaper to book direct or use the likes of priceline and get more holiday for your buck. I last booked a 'package' in 1999.

In time, package companies, like high street travel agents will become less and less and only really used by those who are unable to organise a drinking contest in a brewery.

Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
With people getting much more internet savvy, I can see the days of the long-haul package holiday being numbered. It's much cheaper to book direct or use the likes of priceline and get more holiday for your buck. I last booked a 'package' in 1999.

In time, package companies, like high street travel agents will become less and less and only really used by those who are unable to organise a drinking contest in a brewery.

I think that's true for straightforward packages. There'll still be a role for niche agents focussing on specific countries or experiences or larger agents who provide added value services. I used VH to organise a 'custom' two centre holiday in Cuba, with them providing (a) intra country transfers and (b) the visas. OK, I could have searched around for these two items, but I suspect it would have taken me an inordinate amount of time to organise. A few years back it took me several days of effort to find and organise a taxi between the airport and hotel in Barbados when on a DIY arrangement.

Hic!

Paul

Can anyone confirm or dismiss my question, as follows

I choose 5% off a £8000 holiday
I get 2 miles per £ spent
then

I pay with my amex ( which should get me anothe 2 miles per £ because its a Virgin company.

I take my UCS flights and earn my 20K ish miles from the flight.

So £400 discount reduced to £200 because of Amex fee

15,200 miles for initial offer
15,200 miles for payment of hol with Amex
19,000 miles for actually flying upper

You can still get 10% discount if you have a Virgin Money credit card. Seems they have stopped doing the 6.7% APR card though, which was quite a good deal if you managed to get one.

Originally posted by easygoingeezer
Can anyone confirm or dismiss my question, as follows

I choose 5% off a £8000 holiday
I get 2 miles per £ spent
then

I pay with my amex ( which should get me anothe 2 miles per £ because its a Virgin company.

I take my UCS flights and earn my 20K ish miles from the flight.

So £400 discount reduced to £200 because of Amex fee

15,200 miles for initial offer
15,200 miles for payment of hol with Amex
19,000 miles for actually flying upper

If your Ag status is correct don't forget your bonus miles on the flight

[Neil]

That is a good question EGG. It is certainly the way I have read. You will still earn you miles for the flight, and the 2xmiles is separate to the CC miles.

If you then pay on your White AmEx you will earn another 2xmiles, and if Black AmEx you should get another 4xmiles as you earn 4x£ spent for purchases on the black card with VS or VH.

Neil

Originally posted by Neil
I wondered how long it would take for this to happen. A 10% discount for signing up to the FREE VS FC just didn't make good business sense. With the growth in forum based sites like this and The Dibb, it was becoming so well know to everyone that it must have been costing VH 1000's. Bringing it in line with their own online booking discount makes sense and I am sure we will still see plenty of their 10% weekends as people are spending less on everything, including holidays.

Personally, I now find VH expensive, especially for accommodation only, you used to be able to get some good hotels and excellent prices, but in the last 18 months or so they are now much more expensive than booking direct, so it is of no real loss to me now.

Neil

This is exactly why I have been wondering if we are going to see some kind of capacity reduction on some of the more random routes ex LGW.

Package holidays will be less sort after in these hard times. Surely VH will have to ramp up the price, start cutting discounts and look at the frequency of flights.

I know publically VS/VH are saying that the leisure market will expand in the coming years but short of the guaranteed good performing routes such as MCO/LAS/BGI, I cant believe GND or HAV will see an increase in package holiday travelers.

[mitchja]

Dont forget V Hols are also on Quidco as well so there's another 3% back from there too.

Regards

[RichardMannion]

Doesn't the 5% off simply cover the CC booking fee and any other surcharges....[:w]

Whilst VH are usually more expensive as a package than the DIY method there have for me been times when they are actually cheaper (particularly for Dubai and some of the Caribbean destinations, particularly when the promotions are on, such as recently). A few years ago it was cheaper to book a package with VH to Barbados for the dates we needed than to book the flights alone with VS. Same applies from time to time with Flydrives- the package is occasionally cheaper than the fare on the VS website.