V-Flyer

Well I know its late and I don't feel tired so I would like to share a story with you about my first experience with Virgin. I appologise if anyone finds it boring......

My first trip with VA was in April 2004 when I travelled with my wife and two kids to BOS for a week to celebrate my forthcoming 40th birthday.

We were flying economy and on our return flight we arrived early for check in and were first in the queue. The check in desk opened and we were advised that the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers not to fly. We were in no hurry to get home so we agreed and were given 4 economy return tickets for our trouble.

The following day we returned to check in and were advised that they were once again looking to bump people off the flight and again we agreed and were given another 4 return tickets.

Well, I thought this was fantastic, 8 return tickets to use, 2 rooms in the airport hilton and a food allowance. It gave us a little more time to explore the city.

We returned again the following day and checked in this time as the flight wasn't full but the very friendly staff (who we new quite well by now) kindly upgraded us to PE as we had helped them out and we had a very pleasant return trip.

Anyway, upon our return I checked the vouchers we had been given and noticed that each voucher could be worth 50k FC miles, so I registered with FC, sent all 8 vouchers in the post to them along with a letter of authorisation from each member of my family allowing the miles to be credited to my FC account and within a week I had 400K mileage balance.

Since then I have been hooked on VA and earning miles wherever possible.

Thanks for taking the time to read this:)

I think they call that "working the system" [}:)]


Nice one, though [y]

WOW! Wish that would happen to me hahaha... That's pretty cool.

I'm also not tired yet, so while we're on the topic of what hooked you on VS, I'll share my story. Sorry if you find mine boring...

Most of you know I'm quite young (21), and my family has been flying with VS pretty much since VS started (I am the same age as VS ).

I think I was 8 or 9, and at that time, we were going to the UK every 18 months or so to visit my mom's family (my mom is english, but dad and I are american and we live in the US).

Mom and I were flying back from the UK on our own, LHR-JFK-SYR. As we approached the east coast, the captain advised the passengers that due to high winds along the east coast, most of the major east coast airports had been closed, and we would be landing in Boston.

Once on the ground at Boston, we were told that 14 other 747's had landed with us, and that due to the congestion in the airport, the captain would like to keep us on the aircraft (of course this would also make us #1 for takeoff when JFK reopened). They ordered more food and a couple other comforts, while we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours.

By the time we finally got to JFK, we had of course missed our connection to SYR. My mom and I headed over to a corner of the terminal and just sat for a while thinking about what to do (as my mom wasn't overly educated in flying). After sitting for about 10 minutes, a nice young girl in a red uniform came over and asked if we needed anything. My mom told her what had happened, and she told us Virgin had gotten some hotel rooms at the local Hilton. After she rebooked us on another flight to SYR the next morning, she walked us to the other side of the terminal to catch a bus to the hotel.

When we got to the hotel, the line snaked through the entire lobby and out the door... there must have been a thousand people in the lobby. Pretty much assuming we weren't going to get a room, we just tagged on the end of the line. To our suprise, agents from the hotel were walking through the line asking people what airline they had been flying with. They got to us, my mom said Virgin Atlantic, and they took us to the desk. I can remember the agent looking at my mom and saying, that they were sorry, but all they had left was a room with a queen size bed, as opposed to a room with 2 beds, and they gave my mom a key to a suite on the 14th floor.

You see... Virgin, as part of their unbelievable service had called ahead and struck a deal with the Hilton to make sure all of their passengers got rooms. While other passengers were standing in the line with little hope, VS passengers were being given rooms.

Looking back on it, I can't imagine my mom trying to spend that night in JFK with an 8 year old. The service that VS displayed that night hooked me, and we've been dedicated to them ever since.

Originally posted by andy.g

Anyway, upon our return I checked the vouchers we had been given and noticed that each voucher could be worth 50k FC miles, so I registered with FC, sent all 8 vouchers in the post to them along with a letter of authorisation from each member of my family allowing the miles to be credited to my FC account and within a week I had 400K mileage balance.

Thats absolutely fantatstic - what a great endorsement of all that's good about Virgin Atlantic[y]'

I think thats more of an admin error in your favour than a general reflection of Virgin! - still sometimes you get lucky!

The luckiest I've ever been is getting J miles/TP's for a PE leg

Nice work!

Fairly supprised they let you credit them all to your account though.

Just realised you actually got more than 400K as I assume you collected the miles for the Boston trip too?

so thats 400k + 6534
so 406,354 (not bad at all!)

Originally posted by Jonathan
Just realised you actually got more than 400K as I assume you collected the miles for the Boston trip too?

so thats 400k + 6534
so 406,354 (not bad at all!)

Unfortunately not Johnathan, as I wasn't a FC member until after the trip. I did put in a claim for missing miles but nothing ever happened. Still you can't win 'em all:)

Also you mention that it could be an admin error to get all miles credited to my account, but in fact a similar thing happened only last christmas on a much smaller scale. I was travelling back from Washington, again with family and also my inlaws. There was a problem with the IFE and each passenger was given a voucher for flight discount or 5k FC miles. I sent all 6 vouchers in (with authority letters) and received 30k miles:D

Thats brilliant Andy, so your 8 economy return tickets can be converted into 4 UC returns to the West Coast, seems like a great deal to me! [y]

Yep, I agree 4 UC flights for your trouble, great!. It is events like this that really show VS to care about their customers, future business and reputation.

Paul

Nice one Andy [y]

In all the years I've been flying I've never actually been bumped, I've only ever been asked twice. Both occasions cash was only offered.

First was with VS, it was my first ever flight on VS from MAN>MCO back when VS still flew B742's, apparently the MAN A/C had gone tech so another 742 was flown up from London but had less Y seats on so VS were suddenly over-booked. I was offered £100 cash (I think) to fly to MCO from LGW with VS paying for the domestic flight as well. Not sure why I didn't say yes but there you go. That was also before I joined FC.

The only other time I've been asked to bump was on a BMI domestic flight from MAN>LHR but I had a tight connection so declined that one as well. I think I was offered £50 cash or £100 in BMI vouchers.

Regards