V-Flyer

Hello All.
Having searched on Expedia for deals to New York in late march/early april 2007, the best direct flight deals come up as continental - including VS operated flights with a CO flight number. The flight with the VS flight number is more, I think about £150 p.p. return, so I would rather book CO8245 than VS45 (of course). But will I earn the same amount of miles and tier points through a CO booked ticket than I would through a VS booked ticket? Also are there any other drawbacks/catches from doing this? I'm not sure where to find the fare code on the Expedia website, but it is telling me that there is a £50 fee to change the booking. It's Economy.
Thanks in Advance

I believe you would get the same miles but less TP (1 per leg rather than 2) but may be wrong

It's been a while since this has come up, but of the top of my head in order to earn VS miles on CO the flight has to be on CO metal, meaning that you must fly on a CO aircraft not a VS.

Please correct me if I am wrong anyone.

From the T&C's:

15.2 Continental Airlines:
Continental Airlines: Code share services operated by Continental Airlines with tickets bearing a 'VS' flight prefix will earn miles. Tickets with 'CO' prefix will not qualify for miles.

Thanks,
Sarah

That's annoying but thanks

You can earn Continental OnePass miles on VS operated flights with CO flight numbers, and you even earn full OnePass miles on N-class flights.

There are some, not inconsiderable, downsides to earning Continental OnePass miles instead of earning Virgin Flying Club miles:
1) You need more miles to earn a free flight
2) Continental are notoriously poor at actually converting miles into free flights
3) There is a bizarre capacity control scheme in progress by which reward tickets at some points ("EasyPass" instead of "Standard" reward tickets) cost double miles
4) The requirements to earn elite status, and the quality of elite status earned, are different and not obviously better; indeed, it's not hard to argue that they're worse. For instance, elite status confers no bonus miles for flying CO flights on VS metal.

However, if you anticipate that the majority of your flights are likely to be on CO prefixes, or if you prefer CO's other ways of earning miles, earning OnePass miles might possibly be a better option than earning Flying Club miles for you.

All best,
Chris
a cheap-bottomed and unsure-he-did-the-right-thing OnePass member

(edited due to posting half a parenthetical remark which looked like gobbledegook)

You can earn CO miles on the VS operated CO flights, but not VS miles.

I once booked CO8221/CO8222 (operated by VS as VS1/VS2) because it was cheaper, and put in my VS mileage... all without reading the terms (oops... shame on me)... no miles