V-Flyer

Anyone here waiting for their '07 membership year Flying Club renewal pack?

My card expired end of Jan, and I'm still waiting for the new pack. Premier Team said that my renewal had been recognised and a card should have been on order, but so far, nothing.

The only reason being that VS/MBNA still manage to send out a letter stating... "as a valued Flying Club Gold member.... have the VS Black Amex card".

How about actually getting the renewal packs out to your valued Flying Club Gold members in a timely manner!

Mike

Mine turned up for the first time in years without me prodding people at VS.

Ditto ... Mine arrive yesterday.

Have slipped from Silver back to Red [:#]

Too many MPM fares taken last year [}:)]

My renewed Ag pack arrived this morning. Have realised I need to fly more to keep it but cannot afford to fly enough to get Au.[:(]

[|)]

i renewed au in december 2006 and i am still waiting. i have phoned the au line twice since then and still no pack. all i want is my hex upgrade vouchers as the out of date card still gets me my miles and lounge access...

Mine ran out March. Got new pack early April, so no problems for me.

Originally posted by Bean Counter
Mine ran out March. Got new pack early April, so no problems for me.

Good News BC and welcome to V-flyer. If you neeed any help then just ask. There is a good search facility to help you find stuff.

Enjoy!![y]

ps Dont feel aggrieved if people post stuff about the "bean counters" - unless you work for VS then they dont mean you!![y]

Originally posted by MarkJ


ps Dont feel aggrieved if people post stuff about the "bean counters" - unless you work for VS then they dont mean you!![y]

I certainly wouldn't feel aggrieved, and I am sure that they too would not be aggrieved when I correct their misunderstanding of or naivety on the subject. [}:)]

BTW, help has been offered by VS, and I'm assured that one will be winging it's way to me imminently - having been manually requested.

Just got back from the US to find my AG renewal pack waiting for me...

edited to change 'to the US' to 'from' seems I can't remember where I live!

I was due to renew Gold in the last week of March against a renewal deadline of 31st March, and did so, but hit the renewal level flying Continental, followed by a miles upgrade from PE to UC which of course means the flight isn't automaticallly credited to the account. So the TPs didn't hit my account until after the official cut-off, and I had a Silver pack within a week...

I've called and confirmed I renewed with the Premier team, but am still waiting for my new pack. Of course, I also fell foul of the entire last flight not giving me any TPs towards the next year. When exactly are Virgin going to realise that this system means there's no proper incentive for Gold FC members to fly with them once they've reached their renewal level for the year? If I'd travelled back *one day* later I'd already be started on this year's points...

Originally posted by Jon Morgan
When exactly are Virgin going to realise that this system means there's no proper incentive for Gold FC members to fly with them once they've reached their renewal level for the year?

That's pretty much the same for any airline's frequent flyer scheme once you've flown enough qualifying miles/sectors/points to get you in the top tier.

The only way you'll keep flying is if you either a) are saving the miles up for something, or b) they keep giving you little bonus "sweetners", even once you're in the top tier.

An example of b) is with United - they credit you 4x 500 mile e-upgrades for every 10k miles flown on UA metal, though they are only good in the US, and if you don't use them, they just convert to bonus miles when they expire.

UA also have a tier beyond Premier Exec (their Gold), which is 1K (like a Platinum) - though that's only really useful on UA metal and in the US (It's just the same as Premier Exec - *A Au outside the US on partner airlines).

"United Global Services" which is UA's high-revenue Commercially Important Passengers - invite only, kind of like BA's Premier.

UA have recently introduced some additional rewards, including the ability to gift someone a Premier (Silver) status, carry forward EQMs into the next membership year to seed your account, free nights in hotels, free UA merchadise (like model aircraft, jackets, mugs), etc.

The triggers for these extra rewards are strategically placed between the earning requirements three earnable membership tiers, and at certain levels beyond the 100k miles required for 1K membership.

This is intended to keep a certain bracket of the Mileage Plus members on UA/*A metal - the ones who will qualify, say Premier Exec, but never make 1K, or the ones who have already made 1K.

There is also another "hidden tier" on UA's system, which is the "Million Miler", you become Premier Executive (*A Au) for life.

(BTW, for the nosey ones, forcing the manual reordering for my VS Au pack has caused my Flying Club number to change for about 3 years in a row now. It seems to be the easiest way of defeating whatever's logjamming the system.)

Cheers,
Mike

Originally posted by mike-smashing

That's pretty much the same for any airline's frequent flyer scheme once you've flown enough qualifying miles/sectors/points to get you in the top tier.

The only way you'll keep flying is if you either a) are saving the miles up for something, or b) they keep giving you little bonus "sweetners", even once you're in the top tier.

Oh, I know, but it seems to me this is one area where VAA could try to break the mould, just to show that they really do do things differently than other airlines.

I don't know what that would be, but when you couple this lack of incentive with the regular discussion about whether it's even worth trying to hang on to Gold if you usually fly Upper, if I was responsible for Flying Club loyalty at Virgin, I'd certainly be trying to think of something.

A little off-topic but what is included in Au and Ag packs aside from HEX upgrades vouchers? I'm expecting my silver pack (hopefully) soon.

Thanks

Bag tags and marketing guff.

And your card of course.

Thank you! I hope to get my new Ag card etc. in the next week or so!

hmm i got silver a month ago still no pack!

Yup, my Au renewal is overdue ... but strangely the no. 1s companion Ag account has been renewed ...

I reached Ag last week, the pack arrived today.

Well I am flying tomorrow in Econ. My Au renewed in December 2006 and I still don't have my new Au Card. I phone VS this morning who weren't bothered. If I catch any flak tomorrow for not having a valid up to date Au card in my posession you may well be reading about me in Thursday's newspapers

You will notice my count down to loosing Au is about 200 days now. I think I shall tell them not to bother sending it. After this trip I don't plan flying them again until Jan when I am UC anyway and the gold is pointless. (and expired). Just one more reason I am glad to making the move away.

Paul

Made Gold on the 14th - pack arrived today 19th, so it seems its more of a problem with renewals.

David

Originally posted by David
Made Gold on the 14th

(Congratulations!!)

4 of my work friend have just gone gold and got their packs within a week, one of them was sporting a flashy gold card in only 4 days!!!