V-Flyer

Out of curiosity, does anyone know:

1) Approx how many Gold Card Holders are there in the Flying Club?
2) On a typical transatlantic flight how many passengers on average are Gold Card Holders?

Thank You in advance.

I would guess that VS may consider this commercial confidential sensitive information, but I could be wrong.

I would also suggest that it will vary wildly depending on the route, but given that Gold status is fairly easy to gain and maintain, when compared to other airlines, I would think it is quite high on the more business oriented routes.

Nick.

I agree that they are unlikely to give this information away that easily. It is easy to attend if you fly in UC a bit, but then so our other airline reward high-statuses. If you fly on pure leisure flights, then you have to do a lot of N flights to the US to get gold (20 round trips!!)

gingerflyer - had to laugh at this.... I'm sitting in LHR flying on a Q to SFO. When I do the same trip next month also on Q I eventually get gold - all of which has been earned in economy and some in N. Including the N it is (I think) 12 round trips to SFO and one to Sinsapore in the last 12 months.

Looking forward to lounge access

Originally posted by dom_f
Looking forward to lounge access

And hopefully an op-up or two!

Whenever I fly Upper I like to have a little look at the manifest by the galley, always surprised how few Golds listed. Or FC members in fact.

And hopefully an op-up or two!

Like dom_f I got gold by sitting in the back of the plane. Something like 20 or 22 sectors for me to get it. Now that I've had gold for 9 months or so, I've done another 20 or so sectors and still waiting for an op-up [:(]

Currently sat in LGW clubhouse on the way to orlando. Another sector, another one without an op-up (but as I posted in another thread yesterday, I know there is no god-given right to an op-up, but one or two would be nice [:)])

And the VS27 is on-time today [y]

Darren

Really? [:0]

To get gold you can either do 4 Upper returns, or loads of Econ ones. Financially how would the two compare? 4 Z returns compared to 20 N returns, does the N generate more revenue for the airline? And who is showing greater loyalty?

Mat

I've just done some rough maths and worked out the following flights needed to earn 40 TP's to earn Gold:

4 x return Z Upper fares to JFK ~ £5955.20 (10 TP's per flight)
7 x return K PE fares to JFK ~ £5320.80 (6 TP's per flight)
10 x return X economy fares to JFK ~ £4829.00 (4 TP's per flight)
20 x return N economy to fares JFK ~ £5980.00 (2 TP's per flight) - using £299 as an average N fare

Regards

As Nick says, unlikely for them to reveal this. On the former, not as many as you think - there are more UK Centurion Card holders than UK Golds.

On the second, varies by flight and route.

That's a pretty interesting calculation there mitchja. Shows that economy isn't necessarily the cheapest way to get airline status!

Originally posted by RichardMannion
As Nick says, unlikely for them to reveal this. On the former, not as many as you think - there are more UK Centurion Card holders than UK Golds.

Didn't you find yours in a box of Honey Nut Loops? [}:)]

1 x LON - SIN: £700
4 x Gold Run: SIN - KUL £800

£1300 for gold

Originally posted by woggledog
1 x LON - SIN: £700
4 x Gold Run: SIN - KUL £800

£1300 for gold

Err.. not any more. [:I]

7 x SIN - KUL @ £220 = £1540

Nick

Originally posted by woggledog
1 x LON - SIN: £700
4 x Gold Run: SIN - KUL £800

£1300 for gold

Ummm. Not since F was ditched on the SIN-KUL route back in April [;)]

Slightly OT [B)] but last week in the EWR clubhouse I had a long hold on the phone talking to FC and stood at the desk, the staff had a manifest of people coming into the clubhouse by virtue of Au status or flying in UC - a quick sneak glance [:I] led me to conclude that in order of numbers from most to least (no time to jot the real numbers down):

- D's came first
- W's with Au status came second
- J's came third
- Y's with Au status also about third
- Z's came fourth

Of course some of the people with UC tickets would also have been Au.

I am sure that each route may present differences, the late flight from EWR having a fair few frequent travellers.

Travelling back on the HKG-LHR 3 weeks ago, there was just 1 gold in UC according to the manifest cellotaped to the galley - me! Seems to be fairly common to.[:(]

I've not been Gold long enough to verify, but reading V-Flyer over the last few months it now appears that there are fewer Golds than we all thought and Virgin still cannot give a more personal service?

Makes you wonder.

Well, this might not be welcome news to UK Au types, but there will be more US Aus in the next year or so- me for one as my VS AMEX card just showed up today. I'll get my 24 tier points per year from the card, and do the rest by flying. To be honest, this may or may not work out for VS. I easily fly the needed tiers on Virgin each year (to go from the card supplied 24-40 tier points, not from zero to Au) but just credited it to my US account. This plans works out well since I am leaving US anyway due to some internal stupidity.

Now that I think of it I assume VS will win in my case as well- they keep my miles rather than send them off to US, get their share of my VS credit card use, and the only cost will be the few times I will get into the club when my miles (now AMEX, will soon be AMEX and VS) upgrade does not clear.

- Greg

I'll get my 24 tier points per year from the card, and do the rest by flying.

Have I missed something[:0]

Originally posted by jaguarpig
Have I missed something[:0]

It would seem so,[:D] but don't get excited.

See here.

Nick

Thanks, useful little benefit.