I’ve been an unabashed Virgin fan, but the airline has amazingly –
unbelievably — now driven me closer to British Airways. The hated BA, which I
have to say, looks much better as I measure up the frequent flyer programs.
Virgin’s Not So Generous
Frequent Flyer Program is my post from last year, when I looked at how hard
it was for me to use my Virgin miles for anything. I’ve just now tried to book
tickets for a family trip in October. I have four companion award tickets to
use, plus 350,000 miles. Can I splurge on the big seats to fly over? Nope. Can’t
use the companion tickets, and it’s strictly only economy left for a range of
dates I checked.
"It’s the school holidays," is the usual Virgin refrain. Duh. Of course it
is, but the bigger problem is you don’t release enough seats. Meanwhile, I’ve
been flying BA more recently, as they’ve either had exceptionally better prices
than Virgin or fly into places Virgin doesn’t go. I’ve built up some miles,
enough to see what BA might have to offer on the family trip. Big seats? No
problem.
I really, really enjoy Virgin. I’ve paid more to fly them in the past. But
I’m tired of accumulating useless miles. It’s nice to be a gold member, and the
Virgin lounge at Heathrow has no match to what I’ve seen elsewhere. But I think
I’ll build up my status on BA instead. What a change for someone who
has hated them so much in the past.
And what a change in particular because of problems with something that’s
supposed to keep my loyal, a useless loyalty program.
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I could not agree more. I build about 450,000 miles a year through my Amex card but i struggle each year to find upper class flights that can be bokked using these miles. There are simply never any flights available on suitable dates even when booked 6 months in advance!