Virgin Atlantic AMEX Card
Discussion
Hi,
I've been looking into this today and trying to see if it would actually benefit me.
They are currently 'giving' 18,500 miles for signing up (after first purchase) and another 11,500 miles after spending £3k.
I currently have around 10,000 miles and am booked to go to Barbados in August.
What I can't seem to find the answer for is would I be able to use them against an upgrade for Barbados or is that too soon?
It says that I would need 80,000 miles to upgrade to upperclass both ways so would need to do abit of spending but what i'm trying to workout is it a false economy as i'm not a frequent flyer so wouldn't exactly be racking up miles from just flying.
For example, i've seen you can actually buy miles (80,000 = £1200 which is half the price of actually buying upperclass tickets) so surely it's not that simple.
Hope this makes sense!
I've been looking into this today and trying to see if it would actually benefit me.
They are currently 'giving' 18,500 miles for signing up (after first purchase) and another 11,500 miles after spending £3k.
I currently have around 10,000 miles and am booked to go to Barbados in August.
What I can't seem to find the answer for is would I be able to use them against an upgrade for Barbados or is that too soon?
It says that I would need 80,000 miles to upgrade to upperclass both ways so would need to do abit of spending but what i'm trying to workout is it a false economy as i'm not a frequent flyer so wouldn't exactly be racking up miles from just flying.
For example, i've seen you can actually buy miles (80,000 = £1200 which is half the price of actually buying upperclass tickets) so surely it's not that simple.
Hope this makes sense!
I do the majority of spending on my Virgin AMEX (comes with a Visa for those places that don't accept it).
I fly with Virgin once or twice a year and use the points for upgrades. They've recently moved the goalposts though, you need more points than previously for upgrades.
Example costings, I used around 60,000 points and paid £1,200 for 2 PE flights to Florida last month which is about the same as 2 economy seats.
Sign up for e-rewards too and fill in a few surveys each week in front of the TV and earn even more.
Can't remember the name of the hotel company that gives you air miles but book any work accommodation through them and earn there too.
Use Tesco and auto convert to air miles gives you a boost.
Serves it's purpose for me.
I fly with Virgin once or twice a year and use the points for upgrades. They've recently moved the goalposts though, you need more points than previously for upgrades.
Example costings, I used around 60,000 points and paid £1,200 for 2 PE flights to Florida last month which is about the same as 2 economy seats.
Sign up for e-rewards too and fill in a few surveys each week in front of the TV and earn even more.
Can't remember the name of the hotel company that gives you air miles but book any work accommodation through them and earn there too.
Use Tesco and auto convert to air miles gives you a boost.
Serves it's purpose for me.
AB said:
I do the majority of spending on my Virgin AMEX (comes with a Visa for those places that don't accept it).
I fly with Virgin once or twice a year and use the points for upgrades. They've recently moved the goalposts though, you need more points than previously for upgrades.
Example costings, I used around 60,000 points and paid £1,200 for 2 PE flights to Florida last month which is about the same as 2 economy seats.
Sign up for e-rewards too and fill in a few surveys each week in front of the TV and earn even more.
Can't remember the name of the hotel company that gives you air miles but book any work accommodation through them and earn there too.
Use Tesco and auto convert to air miles gives you a boost.
Serves it's purpose for me.
When you upgraded your flights, was it an easy thing to do? As in it's not just on select flights etc?I fly with Virgin once or twice a year and use the points for upgrades. They've recently moved the goalposts though, you need more points than previously for upgrades.
Example costings, I used around 60,000 points and paid £1,200 for 2 PE flights to Florida last month which is about the same as 2 economy seats.
Sign up for e-rewards too and fill in a few surveys each week in front of the TV and earn even more.
Can't remember the name of the hotel company that gives you air miles but book any work accommodation through them and earn there too.
Use Tesco and auto convert to air miles gives you a boost.
Serves it's purpose for me.
Upgrading the flights isn't that simple unfortunately.
It all depends on what class of flights you bought (not economy, premium upper - but they have codes or bands for the type of flight you bought). If you have already purchased the flight and it was the cheapest on offer at the time, it is unlikely you'll be able to use your miles to upgrade it after you have already purchased. It's a bit of a dark art as you don't really know what class of flight you are buying until afterwards.
With Barbados in a few months time, it is unlikely that there will be availability and that you will gain enough points in that time, as the points are credited at the end of each month after your statement is issued.
We get good value from our card, but in your particular circumstance I would say it will be extremely unlikely you'll be able to do what you propose in such a short time frame.
However, don't let that put you off the card long term as I think it is good value.
It all depends on what class of flights you bought (not economy, premium upper - but they have codes or bands for the type of flight you bought). If you have already purchased the flight and it was the cheapest on offer at the time, it is unlikely you'll be able to use your miles to upgrade it after you have already purchased. It's a bit of a dark art as you don't really know what class of flight you are buying until afterwards.
With Barbados in a few months time, it is unlikely that there will be availability and that you will gain enough points in that time, as the points are credited at the end of each month after your statement is issued.
We get good value from our card, but in your particular circumstance I would say it will be extremely unlikely you'll be able to do what you propose in such a short time frame.
However, don't let that put you off the card long term as I think it is good value.
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
85Carrera said:
I had a gold card with VA. "Earned" me a companion ticket. But only if I paid full fare, which, funnily enough, was the twice of two tickets with them. So the companion ticket was worth f
k all.
BA a better option. Fewer chavs in Upper/Business Class too.
It's weird, I've noticed that. The Virgin flights seem to have a lot of people who are hoping to see someone famous. It seems to start in the lounge, I've been noticing lots of people doing a lap to see who is in which I've never noticed with BA. k all.BA a better option. Fewer chavs in Upper/Business Class too.
The BA Amex companion flight seems to work well and gives me a genuine saving each year and I wasn't surprised by your remark that the VA ticket meant bugger all. All firms are cheeky with their marketing wheezes but VA does seem to very much favour form over function heavily.
bad company said:
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Don't forget that there are forex fees it is just that they wrap them into the spread. Deals that do that normally cost more as you can hide some walloping comms in a widened or skewed spread. No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Don't forget that there are forex fees it is just that they wrap them into the spread. Deals that do that normally cost more as you can hide some walloping comms in a widened or skewed spread. No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
bad company said:
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Don't forget that there are forex fees it is just that they wrap them into the spread. Deals that do that normally cost more as you can hide some walloping comms in a widened or skewed spread. No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Lloyds wont be any cheaper than AMEx or any other operator. They simply package the charges differently to suit their target customer.
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Don't forget that there are forex fees it is just that they wrap them into the spread. Deals that do that normally cost more as you can hide some walloping comms in a widened or skewed spread. No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
bad company said:
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
DonkeyApple said:
bad company said:
This is a much better card IMO:- https://www.lloydsbank.com/credit-cards/avios-rewa...
No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Don't forget that there are forex fees it is just that they wrap them into the spread. Deals that do that normally cost more as you can hide some walloping comms in a widened or skewed spread. No forex fees, Avios points & only £24 per year.
Physical forex is unregulated so it's a rapists paradise. Note that if you look into your Lloyds fx transactions small print you will almost certainly notice that the transactions are not carried out by the company that holds the banking license. That's the most common loophole used.
Obviously, if you're just going to putting a few quid through your card the effort isn't worth it at all but the cost differential mounts very rapidly.
rich12 said:
Spoke to Virgin. They said that the 'miles' tickets have all gone for the outgoing flight so that answers my question.
My travel agent has quoted me £1800 to upgrade from economy to upper class outbound (for both of us) and we will stay premium economy inbound.
Very tempted tbh.
Worth it all day long! However, if it was a choice I'd be UC inbound as you'll probably want to sleep.My travel agent has quoted me £1800 to upgrade from economy to upper class outbound (for both of us) and we will stay premium economy inbound.
Very tempted tbh.
rich12 said:
When you upgraded your flights, was it an easy thing to do? As in it's not just on select flights etc?
I don't upgrade afterwards. I call them and sort it all out at time of booking. Helps a bit if you can be flexible i.e +/- 3 days which I generally don't have a problem with as we have a place in Florida so accommodation isn't a worry.craig1912 said:
bad company said:
So how do you pay hotels & restaurants etc., when overseas?
I use a Halifax Clarity Card- no fees and the exchange rate used doesn't rip you off eitherrich12 said:
I did look at UC inbound but my reason for staying PE is that yes we will just be sleeping (night flight) so don't really want to pay cicra £2k to sleep whereas I know we will really enjoy UC on the way out.
PE is a pile of st, its barely any better than E.I would do as you say, make use of the UC on the way out, food, booze, etc - lets be honest, on no plane without a proper cabin (not sure VA have these yet?) are you going to get a 'good' nights sleep, so makes little odds.
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