Mileage Reduced

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7581894.stm

- an interview with Steve Ridgeway from last week, but interesting to hear him say that 'Virgin Atlantic has also been the airline thats offered more' and 'we don't want to destroy the product'

Wonder if all the staff at that meeting were listening [:?]

David

You need to remember that there are only a limited number of reward seats per flight so the amount of miles being redeem should be about the same no matter what.

I agree, but it must be having some sort of effect, as why bother reducing the miles in the first place. I think that in the past, before the credit crunch, many were happy to save the miles and get cheap fares. Now they are deciding to spend the miles and not spend the money (with the exception of the surcharges), this must be having an effect on Virgin. So, once the miles are spent, they are not too keen for those people to earn too many too quickly on the cheaper fares. Hopefully, people will have to spend more cash before being able to spend miles again. As always just an opinion.

As a long time US Airways top level preferred (looking for options but pretty much captive to US or United) I am seeing the downward pattern here and do not like it. Bummer.

- Greg

[honey lamb]

Originally posted by honey lamb
Ick! The change made the day after I booked a Z fare [:#]

All my miles are based on travel and while in one sense it seems fair given that Z is deeply discounted, I am a bit ticked off that it earns exactly the same as a W or S fare [:(!] Wouldn't it have been fairer to give Z and R fares 175%?

Just to counter my own argument I did a dummy booking for the same dates as my UC trip to to Tokyo in W. It came out at £500 more [:0] It's difficult to argue against that.

[Neil]

Originally posted by honey lamb
Just to counter my own argument I did a dummy booking for the same dates as my UC trip to to Tokyo in W. It came out at £500 more [:0] It's difficult to argue against that.

That is very interesting, thanks for doing that HL.

I guess it backs up/maybe gives reason why VS have done this. I imagine companies/individuals are maybe flying W instead of J to help cut costs at the moment and you would be mighty annoyed if your £500 more fare earns less miles than someone else's heavily discounted Z fare.

[Nottingham Nick]

Very late to this thread, most of the points I would have made have already been said.

Whilst I can, sort of, understand the logic of reducing rewards in the times of economic strife; the last people I would want to annoy right now are the brand loyal fliers.

I also agree that it is appalling, the way the news has been sneaked into an out of the way place of the website, almost hoping no one would notice. [n] I am sorry but that smacks of the actions of people who are ashamed of what they are doing. [V]

Like Richard and others, I earn a lot of my points on the ground so it isn't a massive body blow. The big thing for me is tier points. If VS were to reduce the number of TPs earned with cheaper fares, then they would immediately lose most, if not all of, the thousands of pounds I intend to spend in the quest to renew my Au card.

Here is a novel idea to get bums on seats - why not increase TPs awarded for each flight? It has long been said that Gold renewal for the real frequent fliers isn't an issue - 3 x UC returns and you are there. Factor into that the fact that regular UC gold card holders only get one tangible benefit from their cards, (bonus miles) and there are endless marketing opportunities to lure people from other airlines.

Why not introduce (or make official) the much talked about Flying Club Gold + or platinum level, at 80 or 100 TPs; and increase slightly the number of TPs given for each flight? That way it would encourage brand loyal passengers to take more flights - or at least ensure more of their flights are on VS metal.

The problem with this, of course, would be if they watered down current Au benefits, instead of making the Au+ level something that frequent premium cabin fliers would move over to VS to get.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Nick

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by gv
As a long time US Airways top level preferred (looking for options but pretty much captive to US or United) I am seeing the downward pattern here and do not like it. Bummer.

- Greg

I feel your pain there (US chairmans)however I don't think VS will go to the extreme that US and even in some ways UA have gone to to drive away their loyal passengers, to show how extreme it has gotten, I am now flying AA, if only VX would stat offering VS miles.

Back to the OP, most of my miles earning is done one the ground as well, so this really does not effect me, however I can see where VS is coming from, basing the miles earning on fare paid, so having a Z earn the same as a W I do not have an issue with.

perhaps they should give something like a certain number of miles per pound spent on the airfare

Couple of other possibilities here:

I assume VS keep a track on how many miles are issued per month and how many are redeemed - The trend in recent years has been to increase ways to earn and earning levels so maybe they have come to the conclusion that the two are a little too far out of sync and are trying to slow down the issue rate a bit.

Also - is there not also the possibility that by providing different earning levels for lower priced tickets it may mean that the allocation of Zs and Ks might increase - since there is a slightly greater incentive to release them.

FM

Hi

If Virgin want to limit their exposure to Miles, why not start with the other ways you can earn miles besides flying, especially non Virgin companies. Whilst people still may not like it, I think it would be more logical because you're not penalising the Frequent Flyers.

You never know a side effect could be to make customers fly more often with them as this is the ÒproperÓ way to earnÉ

Regards

Dave T.

Originally posted by davet

You never know a side effect could be to make customers fly more often with them as this is the ÒproperÓ way to earnÉ

I would say TPs are more geared towards this. You can only earn TPs by flying with VS or a few select other airlines (unless you hold a USA VS Amex card).
The earning miles outside of VS introduces quite a few newbies to the airline to start with.
Just my views though.

[Scrooge]

VS have no issues with people earning miles on flights, for every mile issued they make a profit, the cost of that mile far exceeds the cost of redemption on flights.

[Nottingham Nick]

I agree with McMaddog here.

This doesn't seem to be about limiting their exposure to miles - if it was, the VS Amex cards and other credit cards agreements, would be the first things to see the pinch. These ship millions of Flying Club points every day, so I assume that the financial return for them, or previously signed contacts with the card issuers; must make them fireproof.

If you look at it rationally (which I don't [}:)] ), it is probably making the system fairer - pay more, you get more FC points.

However, I am looking at it from the brand loyal customer point of view. How can Virgin Atlantic make me part with more cash to help fill their planes during these difficult times?

It is a difficult balance. Brand loyalty either has to be earned or bought by the company.

They can earn it by making their product better and/or cheaper than the rivals, and that ain't happening right now for VS! [n] Or, they can buy it, by making their loyalty scheme so good that I won't stop flying and won't look to buy my flights from another airline.

The third option is to bury their heads in the sand, hope that the Virgin name will be enough to keep the airline afloat, and then do all they can to chip away at the costs, alienate their staff etc. etc. all without giving anything in return.



Nick

this is a bit unfair if booking through Virgin Holidays though, as it's pot luck as to what class they book you into??

[Nottingham Nick]

Originally posted by rachiem
this is a bit unfair if booking through Virgin Holidays though, as it's pot luck as to what class they book you into??

That has always been the case, you had no control over whether you were booked into N or X class when travelling in economy.

It would also be the same if you are booking flight only through a Travel Agent. Unless you specify to the Agent that you want to be booked into a higher miles earning bucket, surely a good Agent will get what they perceive to be the best deal for the client by booking the cheapest seat?


Nick

Maybe at the least this will now kick-start VS into allowing you to choose class when booking online rather than cheapest and totally flexible only

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by McMaddog
Maybe at the least this will now kick-start VS into allowing you to choose class when booking online rather than cheapest and totally flexible only

You would think wouldn't you [:w], but don't hold your breath.

Originally posted by Scrooge

Originally posted by McMaddog
Maybe at the least this will now kick-start VS into allowing you to choose class when booking online rather than cheapest and totally flexible only

You would think wouldn't you [:w], but don't hold your breath.

Funnily enough, this has never bothered me. I seem to book way in advance for holidays, so only want the cheapest fare, or with four days notice so only want the most flexible ...

[Scrooge]

Well before it was a case of trying to avoid the N fares, for an extra $20-$30 you could get a ticket that earned full miles, however the website liked to give either N or Y and nothing between...At least for me.

[Neil]

Originally posted by Scrooge
Well before it was a case of trying to avoid the N fares, for an extra $20-$30 you could get a ticket that earned full miles, however the website liked to give either N or Y and nothing between...At least for me.

Exactly, I booked parents an X so they earned full miles just before this info came out, thankfully they fly before 1st Dec so it was still worth it.

I too hope VS change the search engine so that you can select specific fares, it would make costing flights so much easier and mean I could actually book a flight online for once rather than have to call FC like I have done for every VS flight I have booked.

Neil