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#946110 by christ0r
11 Sep 2018, 19:49
Reading the Virgin Atlantic website, it states:

"If you’ve been a Gold member for ten consecutive years and earned 7,500 Tier Points on Virgin Atlantic flights in that time, you’ll be made a Gold member for life. "

I can't seem to find any more detail on this in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Terms & Conditions, which surprised me a bit.

My reading of the sentence above implies that the 7,500 TPs must have been earned during the 10 consecutive years for which the member was Gold. In other words, a more formal way of expressing the above would be:

During the same 10-year period:
  • Gold retained
  • 7,500 TPs earned

Is that correct? Or can Gold For Life be earned by earning the 7,500 TPs on Virgin during any timeframe, as long as the 10-year consecutive requirement is satisfied?

My second question is what the definition of "Virgin Atlantic flights" is in that sentence above. Without some more detail, I am not clear on whether this requires flights to be operated by VS, marketed by VS, or both.

Finally, is there any good way to get and track your progress?

Thanks!
#946116 by lockedm
12 Sep 2018, 10:12
It's 10 consecutive calendar years of being gold AND 7,500 tier points in those 10 years. Virgin Atlantic flights are those that are flown on VS metal. So no code-share. Also, bonus tier points from any promotion are not counted.

There was a manual way to keep track on the old website, not sure about on the new one.
#946122 by SlimpyJones
12 Sep 2018, 13:28
I would also like to know if VS booked is a requirement as well - I would personally not trust the VS IT system to make the distinction. I believe lockedm's point about "no codeshares" means that say, VS booked but DL operated flights are not counted towards the total.
#946143 by CommanderB
13 Sep 2018, 09:44
There is absolutely zero percent chance that the VS IT is going to know the difference between VS marketing & VS operated over the course of 10 years. And when you factor in the change in tier point earning etc in that timeframe too, I think even anyone with full understanding of both old & new system would struggle to work it all out accurately.

I think the gold for life stuff is deliberately vague and I suspect when you ring up to 'chase it', somebody in a back office somewhere does some looking at your account and then makes the call. I doubt they actually go through it line by line and count up the TP's and if they did - they'd probably make some mistakes a long the way.
#946144 by JCBR
13 Sep 2018, 11:46
If you need 1000 TP to be gold then you must have accumulated 10,000 TP to have held it for 10 years. I don't understands the maths here. Where does 7,500 come from ?
Whilst it no longer seems to show on the member screen VS do know which were earned on their planes and which on partners. This is used to calculate invitation only.
Also, I don't think I have read it on line but if you hit 1m flown miles you can get the Gold for Life in less than 10 years.
#946145 by CommanderB
13 Sep 2018, 12:09
1m flown miles only counts for VS metal, so thats the other way of calculating.

Similar to the 7500 tier points. 10,000 total (gold for 10 years) but 7500 of which must have been on VS metal - just like the flown miles.
#946153 by evanspa1
13 Sep 2018, 21:36
JCBR wrote:If you need 1000 TP to be gold then you must have accumulated 10,000 TP to have held it for 10 years. I don't understands the maths here. Where does 7,500 come from ?


I seem to recall that a few years back they occasionally used to have extra tier point promotions so if you booked, for example, an UC flight you might earn double TP. So guessing where this came from? Not sure if they also had something similar for non-UK gold like BA used to, where the thresholds were lower?

Also incidentally, as GFL I'm definitely getting more welcomes and extra attention when not flying in UC.

I'll also be crossing the 1M base miles flow in VS metal in about 6 weeks time so I'll report back if anything special happens :-P
#946333 by christ0r
27 Sep 2018, 13:33
JCBR wrote:If you need 1000 TP to be gold then you must have accumulated 10,000 TP to have held it for 10 years. I don't understands the maths here. Where does 7,500 come from ?

7,500 is the number of points you must earn on "Virgin Atlantic flights" (whatever that means).

So if, over 10 years, you retained Gold by earning 1000 points per year on Delta or ANA or Singapore, you would not earn Lifetime Gold (supposedly).

I've emailed Virgin FC asking for clarification on what Virgin Atlantic flight is, as I still don't think it's very clear (my latest thought is whether travel agency booked flights count, and whether a non-Virgin sector invalidates the whole itinerary for tier point earning!).

Gold For Life isn't my end goal with Virgin, but it wouldn't be much difficulty to play by their rules so I would like to be clear on what they are first! :D
#951389 by getinjonathan
15 Jul 2019, 11:28
I finally got my Gold for Life email this morning but nothing has changed online?

Would it be too much to expect a GFL card? Or are members sent a new card every year?

Are there any other perks that have been added over the months?
#951400 by joeyc
16 Jul 2019, 11:07
Congratulations and welcome to the lifetime club.

getinjonathan wrote:I finally got my Gold for Life email this morning but nothing has changed online?


Nothing does change online, the counter will still show you needing 1000 TPs to renew Au. I believe that from the VS side of things that they just lock the account to Au leaving everything else running as normal. You're right though a different landing page would have been nice.

getinjonathan wrote:Would it be too much to expect a GFL card? Or are members sent a new card every year?


In a few days you should received what looks like a normal Au renewal letter - and it is :-P The only thing that's different is a new card and pair of luggage tags that say LIFETIME MEMBER on them. Again a missed opportunity for them to make something out of this for the flyer - stock letter that congratulates you on renewing again, doesn't really cut it in my view. I am sure that VS Loyalty are just busy doing other things...

getinjonathan wrote:Are there any other perks that have been added over the months?


There is no difference in perks from Lifetime Gold to normal Gold. Only added benefit is no last minute tier point runs needed any more.

Congratulations again :cool:
#951404 by getinjonathan
16 Jul 2019, 15:37
joeyc wrote:Congratulations and welcome to the lifetime club.

getinjonathan wrote:I finally got my Gold for Life email this morning but nothing has changed online?


Nothing does change online, the counter will still show you needing 1000 TPs to renew Au. I believe that from the VS side of things that they just lock the account to Au leaving everything else running as normal. You're right though a different landing page would have been nice.

getinjonathan wrote:Would it be too much to expect a GFL card? Or are members sent a new card every year?


In a few days you should received what looks like a normal Au renewal letter - and it is :-P The only thing that's different is a new card and pair of luggage tags that say LIFETIME MEMBER on them. Again a missed opportunity for them to make something out of this for the flyer - stock letter that congratulates you on renewing again, doesn't really cut it in my view. I am sure that VS Loyalty are just busy doing other things...

getinjonathan wrote:Are there any other perks that have been added over the months?


There is no difference in perks from Lifetime Gold to normal Gold. Only added benefit is no last minute tier point runs needed any more.

Congratulations again :cool:


Thanks so much! All that flying and tier runs for THIS? I left a friend's birthday party once, flew to DXB and back and joined part two of the party. LOL! Can't believe there are no new benefits.

I did call Flying Club, the rep told me if you input your number when asked, you are connected immediately and on this occasion I was. She also said from her terminal she sees a 'gold crown' sat atop the GFL's persons name.
#951408 by bnkarp
16 Jul 2019, 23:21
getinjonathan, could I ask: do you know how the date of your being granted GFL was determined? Was it 10 years to the day after you first qualified for Gold, subject to having earned at least 7500 TP on VS metal in that period?

I ask because my 10th anniversary of first qualifying for Gold will be 4th August, and I've earned over 9000 TP on VS metal in that period, so I'm *hoping* I become GFL on that day, and Flying Club has told me that this will be the case, though there's been a little diversity of view on V-Flyer as to whether it's the 10th anniversary of first becoming Gold or whether it's the 10th *renewal* of Gold that is the date of GFL qualification.

Thanks,
-Brad
#951411 by joeyc
17 Jul 2019, 02:59
Hi Brad,

The G4L qualification is judged per their loyalty dept on calendar year, so 10 full 12 month periods from when you initially achieved Au membership.

Using myself as an example.. I originally attained Gold on 30/06/09 ..... I subsequently reached the calendar requirement for Au for life on 30/06/19.

Hope that helps :cool:
#951426 by getinjonathan
17 Jul 2019, 22:01
bnkarp wrote:getinjonathan, could I ask: do you know how the date of your being granted GFL was determined? Was it 10 years to the day after you first qualified for Gold, subject to having earned at least 7500 TP on VS metal in that period?

I ask because my 10th anniversary of first qualifying for Gold will be 4th August, and I've earned over 9000 TP on VS metal in that period, so I'm *hoping* I become GFL on that day, and Flying Club has told me that this will be the case, though there's been a little diversity of view on V-Flyer as to whether it's the 10th anniversary of first becoming Gold or whether it's the 10th *renewal* of Gold that is the date of GFL qualification.

Thanks,
-Brad


Yup it's the day you first hit Gold. My card doesn't expire as such until next April, but it happened on Sunday of last week. Roll on 4th August!
#951427 by Sealink
17 Jul 2019, 22:33
christ0r wrote:Thanks. That's actaully very restrictive (forces an average of 750 TPs earned on Virgin booked-and-operated per year), so I was a bit surprised. But their program = their rules!


It should be restrictive.
#951639 by bnkarp
06 Aug 2019, 00:07
Update: today, the appointed day--10 years to the day since my first qualifying for FC Gold--an email duly arrived from FC informing me that I've been made Lifetime Gold. A decade of sweating every fare basis, always eyeing whether I'd hit the TP requalification threshold, comes to an end.

I must confess it feels a little anti-climactic: an email and that's it!

Still, it will be good to feel free to take advantage of Economy Light fares to the East Coast (on the shorter flights where I tend not to bother upgrading), without worrying about the next 1000 TP...

Thanks to everyone who reported on their own experiences with when they hit Lifetime Gold, given the multiple possible interpretations of the written rules.

-Brad
#951664 by getinjonathan
07 Aug 2019, 13:44
bnkarp wrote:Update: today, the appointed day--10 years to the day since my first qualifying for FC Gold--an email duly arrived from FC informing me that I've been made Lifetime Gold. A decade of sweating every fare basis, always eyeing whether I'd hit the TP requalification threshold, comes to an end.

I must confess it feels a little anti-climactic: an email and that's it!

Still, it will be good to feel free to take advantage of Economy Light fares to the East Coast (on the shorter flights where I tend not to bother upgrading), without worrying about the next 1000 TP...

Thanks to everyone who reported on their own experiences with when they hit Lifetime Gold, given the multiple possible interpretations of the written rules.

-Brad


Welcome to the club Brad. :-D
#951694 by joeyc
08 Aug 2019, 15:28
bnkarp wrote:Update: today, the appointed day--10 years to the day since my first qualifying for FC Gold--an email duly arrived from FC informing me that I've been made Lifetime Gold. A decade of sweating every fare basis, always eyeing whether I'd hit the TP requalification threshold, comes to an end.

I must confess it feels a little anti-climactic: an email and that's it!

Still, it will be good to feel free to take advantage of Economy Light fares to the East Coast (on the shorter flights where I tend not to bother upgrading), without worrying about the next 1000 TP...

Thanks to everyone who reported on their own experiences with when they hit Lifetime Gold, given the multiple possible interpretations of the written rules.

-Brad


Congratulations Brad, all that flying was worth it in the end :cool:
#951810 by bnkarp
14 Aug 2019, 20:54
And now, just as joeyc reported, I, too, have received the usual FC Gold renewal pack by post (a few days after the email welcoming me to Lifetime Gold), with a standard letter saying that I've renewed for "another year," but with a card and luggage tags that read LIFETIME MEMBER where the expiration date previously was.

It occurs to me I may need to be careful with these...as they don't expire, perhaps I won't be able to rely on receiving replacements once a year. ;-)

Aside: the VS web site still doesn't indicate anything about Lifetime Gold; it in fact says that I need another 300-some TP by March 2020 to requalify. Not so important, though it would be nice to see consistent information on the web site.

-Brad
#951813 by getinjonathan
15 Aug 2019, 00:51
bnkarp wrote:And now, just as joeyc reported, I, too, have received the usual FC Gold renewal pack by post (a few days after the email welcoming me to Lifetime Gold), with a standard letter saying that I've renewed for "another year," but with a card and luggage tags that read LIFETIME MEMBER where the expiration date previously was.

It occurs to me I may need to be careful with these...as they don't expire, perhaps I won't be able to rely on receiving replacements once a year. ;-)

Aside: the VS web site still doesn't indicate anything about Lifetime Gold; it in fact says that I need another 300-some TP by March 2020 to requalify. Not so important, though it would be nice to see consistent information on the web site.

-Brad


I made my first flight last week as LG to MBJ and recognition was top notch. Check in, Clubhouse, boarding, and right throughout the flight. Congratulations from senior crew and chit chat, pretty much how they treat non-celebrity UNIQs.

I know need to bin the credit cards that no longer serve me and concentrate on those that do.
#952479 by arawnsley
29 Sep 2019, 11:03
At 21:13 last night the email from FC landed in my inbox confirming that I'm being awarded Lifetime Gold :-D

Just as Brad reported it is 10 years to the day since qualifying for FC Gold this time around. The actual flight that got me to Gold that time was EWR-LHR on 27/09/09 in Upper.

I've been a member of FC since the days when it was Freeway, joining back in June 1991, during those 28 years I've held Gold for 21 years but this is the first time it has been for 10 consecutive years.

If I log in to FC it still shows my tier point balance and the April 2020 date for requalification but, based on reports here, I'm expecting the website to catch up sometime later...

Cheers,

Andy
Virgin Atlantic

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