Suggested re-wording for FC benefits?

I have an idea for a change of wording on Reward flights... Yes I also have the hump that VS could not communicate with GF to confirm I sat on an airplane!

Change 'spend 50,000 miles on an economy reward flight to:-'

Save up 50,000 miles and get a saving of about a 10% saving off our best website price. At the same time also lose the right to earn extra miles and up to 4 tier points

Change 'Use 20,000 miles to Upgrade to PE:-'

If you have bought a full fare economy ticket and spent more on it than a website price for a return in PE, then we will let you fly PE if you give us 20,000 miles

Change 'Earn miles with a partner airline to:-'

Even if you use your FC card at booking and show it at every check in on your journey, the miles may not be credited. If this is the case, FC will not be able to help unless you retain those slips of paper measuring about 3' x 2'. You can always ask the airline you flew to provide proof you flew, but if they do not answer, you will lose your miles and tier points. Under no circumstances will FC staff spend 5 minutes to call the airline you travelled on to confirm you are not lying.

Well if you want to do it be sure to compare like with like.
The 'full fare economy' ticket is fully flexible, a cheaper PE ticket on the website will most likely not carry that same flexibility so just be sure you get it right too [:p]

Nice !
Should also consider the additional :

Occasionally we will give you a Companion Ticket, which when you use it, you'll have to pay our higher prices in order to get a free ticket (as long as you give us the tax for that one too). Don't look at the normal prices, as you'll probably find that 2 tickets are cheaper than the 1 + Companion. Your expensive ticket will be a lot more flexible though !

quote:Originally posted by daywalker
[br so just be sure you get it right too [:p]


All 3 of my points were 100% 'right', although I do understand that a reward flight is equivalent to a more expensive fully flexible one.

However, this is also very miss-leading as it's only changeable if another reward flight is available on the day/time you wish to change to. Obv there is always less reward availability than full fare, so its no fully flexible in that sense.

Also, the vlaue to us the consumer of it being 'a little more flexible' is somewhat limted, as I am guessing reward flights if used, would be for leisure travel and likely have fixed dates anyhow.

I also realise the FC program is similar to others. The bones of the moan of my post was the inability for a member of VS staff to make a simple phone call and confirm I travelled on a partner airline.

[Darren Wheeler]

To be fair though, the other airlines may not release that information due to privacy issues. In the UK, it may well be a breach of the DPA.

Surely this information is automatically released if the card is used properly at booking?

Surely when airlines partner each other a method of communication is in place for verifying such matters?

However, DPA would be a great excuse. It must be great knowing someone else is to blame, but themselves.....

Addition; 'If you want to buy a ticket in the 'small print' booking classes that actually allow you to Upgrade,or companion- we will make you spend at least 1/2 hr on the phone, wasting your time & ours to give you the fare cost', at which point you'll find, as noted above, the published discounted fares are often actually cheaper, making the whole process a waste of time.

(come on, how many of us have been through this process)....

I've never understood this, as seems a logical answer to taking the pressure off FC call centre? a win-win result?

Never understood why a flexible ticket is over twice as much as the cheapest. Surely the sensible thing is to buy the cheapest and then if your plans do change, buy another.......

quote:Originally posted by kingcole1974
Never understood why a flexible ticket is over twice as much as the cheapest. Surely the sensible thing is to buy the cheapest and then if your plans do change, buy another.......


Except when your plans change it could be less than seven days before, when you'll only find the post expensive ticket available anyway ...

I like the thread - in the same jest of the OP I'd like to amend ukcobra's comment on companion tickets to:

[i]Occasionally we will give you a Companion Ticket, well it's not really a ticket, more like one small line on your FC e-statement which is easy to miss. Good thing too, because there's little value in actually using it unless you're company is paying full J fare and your wife / partner / sigother / shag of the week wants a freebie. Which is not a freebie either, because in this example we'll still charge your debit card with several hundred pounds of extra charges, or and chip in another amount if it's a Virgin CC!'

Can I say shag (oops, that's twice [:w])?

quote:Originally posted by slinky09


Can I say shag (oops, that's twice [:w])?


If the companion ticket came with a free one there might be more uptake [:w]

quote:Originally posted by kingcole1974
Surely this information is automatically released if the card is used properly at booking?
Surely when airlines partner each other a method of communication is in place for verifying such matters?
However, DPA would be a great excuse. It must be great knowing someone else is to blame, but themselves.....

I'm tracking the allocation of Miles to my folks on their NZ trip, They've arrived in NZ with SQ- Drilled into them the need to wave said plastic FC card in the air (Like they just don't care)at all the Chk-in desks to make sure they note the number.
Controvening all DPA issues, I chk their account, but only SIN-ACK showing, wheres the LHR to SIN [:?] & what's the betting they've mislaid the postage stamp sized boarding stubs..
Randomly the BMI interconnect showing instantly (this must be a 1st [y]) maybe feeling guilty for leaving them in the lurch on the abandoned LBA route.
Get the impression it all hinges on the desk staff and their frame of mind. (apparently the SQ desk at LHR was very grumpy & mono tone..)[V]

[RichardMannion]

Now come on boys, you can't have it every way.....

Spend 100k miles and get a flight in Upper that you might not normally be able to afford or could justify the spend on, saving thousands of pounds in the process.

Spend 20k upgrading, by simply buying a ticket that is typically only 100 more than the normal lowest fare and flying in a cabin that is typically a lot more money to fly in (exc sale periods).

Companion Voucher - maybe of use to you, maybe it might not - either way, it didn't cost you anything.

The T&C's are clear, and yes you might not like some of them but them the breaks. No loyalty program is perfect, just like the wordings suggested aren't. Not sure I'd be throwing phrases like 'lose the right' around though. These are interesting times for airlines, and the old economics of selling fares and having sales seem to have gone straight out of the window; it's a pure drive to get plenty of cash in the bank as soon as possible.

When I flew SQ they couldn;t care less about the FC card, one agent just told me that as it wasn;t one of theirs they weren't interested in seeing it. That being said, all the 6 legs were on my account within a week of taking the flights.

[Darren Wheeler]

How about

'Prices may go up as well as down. If they go down, don't call asking for a refund of the difference otherwise we'll charge you the difference if they go up' [:w][}:)]

Well having spent half my day drafting an exclusion clause for T+C's I can tell you that technically, you are more than welcome to negotiate the T+C's with VS. Sadly half the problem with the internet age is that you can't really do this successfully (it does work very well in o2 stores, I am reliably informed by a colleague.)

Of course being back in the real world, if you were to ring up VS and speak to some supervisor I am sure they would tell you there is no room for negotiation.

[Scrooge]

quote:Originally posted by slinky09


Can I say shag (oops, that's twice [:w])?


Yep, a shag is a grassy outcrop of land, though why you would want to take one with you on a trip is beyond me [:w][ii]

Darren

That happened to me a few years ago - there was a sale I had just missed and booked then low and behold anotehyr sale started a few days later. I I as a little hacked off I wrote a polite 'annoyed of balham' email to customer services and got a nice reply that said 'tough' but very nicely !

Almost happened to me on my recent trip too but as I had to wait for work to clear the time off before I could book another sale started !

[honey lamb]

quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
quote:Originally posted by slinky09


Can I say shag (oops, that's twice [:w])?


Yep, a shag is a grassy outcrop of land, though why you would want to take one with you on a trip is beyond me [:w][ii]

It's also a dance. An American friend really cracked me up when she informed me that she and her husband went to shagging lessons [:w][}:)]

[Darren Wheeler]

It's also a sea bird (Cormorant )
A name for tabacco
and a hair style.

Who says V-Flyer isn't educational.

Oh and an alternative name for pipe tobbacco

And a carpet where you can shag your er shag on(but not in Y except on Ruinair where you will be charged for 'carpet usage')

[;)][;)][;)]

[Scrooge]

And to think Decker hasn't even put forth his meanings.

quote:Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
It's also a sea bird (Cormorant )
Who says V-Flyer isn't educational.

Does that mean I can say Boobies as well ? given there appear to be ornithological names being banding about ?

I'll get my coat..[:I]

quote:Originally posted by honey lamb
quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
quote:Originally posted by slinky09


Can I say shag (oops, that's twice [:w])?


Yep, a shag is a grassy outcrop of land, though why you would want to take one with you on a trip is beyond me [:w][ii]

It's also a dance. An American friend really cracked me up when she informed me that she and her husband went to shagging lessons [:w][}:)]


OMG [oo][^][oo][^][oo][^][oo]

quote:Originally posted by RichardMannion


The T&C's are clear, and yes you might not like some of them but them the breaks. No loyalty program is perfect, just like the wordings suggested aren't. Not sure I'd be throwing phrases like 'lose the right' around though. These are interesting times for airlines, and the old economics of selling fares and having sales seem to have gone straight out of the window; it's a pure drive to get plenty of cash in the bank as soon as possible.


I do fully agree with this, and will eventually use my miles to travel in UC, a cabin I cant actually see myself being able to buy anytime soon. That being said, the routes I earn most of my miles on are LAS and MCO, and you trying booking an UC reward fare on these routes!!!!!

The reason I started this post was again to try and get some pointers about how I can prove to VS that I flew all 4 of my recent sectors of GF and didnt claim any other miles. I can prove I flew 3, but lost those dam boarding stubs for the 4th.

This 1 tier point will actually prevent me renewing Silver.

Interesting times - I agree and very challenging too. So how much dam money is it going to cost VS to confirm with GF I flew that sector. FFS, its so easy. Im not worth a fortune to em, but I do spend about 8000 a year on myself and family and I aint ganna spend a penny if I have a red card come August!!!!

Col

You might be lucky, at least 2 of my colleagues obtained Gold status, even by being short of a few TPs. Maybe they willdo the same with Silver.