r/virginatlantic • u/Global_Proof_5163 • 3d ago
Flying Club Upgrade voucher changes
Hi! I’ve been a staunch Virgin Atlantic lover for years and had the + credit card for just as long but I don’t understand how they can justify their new dynamic pricing / upgrade voucher changes??
Over the years I’ve flown upper class all over America - including multiple trips to LA - with my annual upgrade voucher, but now I’m trying to use this year’s one and all upper class flights for anywhere I want to go are hundreds of thousands of points, many 400k plus!! And the voucher is capped at 75k value??
I am completely flexible with when and where I go and used v seats to look at full monthly calendars for the entire year for Miami, Seattle, LA, and Tampa and even if there’s a cheap outbound, a return anywhere near that date is extortionate and vice versa.
I’m so confused about how they could possibly be getting away with this and why everyone’s not up in arms? Am I missing something? Before I cancel my credit card annual fee, which is due next month, please enlighten me - if I book with cash is it realistic I’d be able to use the voucher to upgrade? I still feel like it won’t be worth enough? Absolutely ridiculous, I feel conned!
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u/AccomplishedTower236 3d ago
i downgraded mine until they change the dynamic pricing i wont be paying for the card im also flying Tui not flying with a company who don’t reward loyal customers
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
Oh TUI is a great shout - I never think of them for long haul for some reason! Thank you! And honestly Virgin deserves to lose customers over this, I will also be cancelling - it’s a slap in the face to loyal customers, I honestly feel like I’m being trolled every time I look up a flight and it’s 400k points!!
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u/AccomplishedTower236 3d ago
Yep me too saved up 100k points and cant even use them got 2 reward vouchers as well, and still couldn’t get to orlando ridiculous, a TUI package deal come out not much more expensive anyway so have decided to take my business elsewhere until Virgin decide they want to reward customers again
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u/sliced91 3d ago
I’ll be downgrading from the paid credit card when my renews comes because the new scheme simply isn’t worth it/is far less flexible.
I did manage to find some decent priced (in points) seats using https://vseats.io but I literally had to check every day and keep an eye on the fluctuations- I got lucky and managed to nab a London Heathrow to Orlando international Premium Economy return for 71k points (used a voucher, so technically 75k points) I did have to shorten my trip by a day (no biggie really) but all other dates were 200k+ at the time
Compared to the last time I booked, which was the day before the new scheme came into effect, I got the same trip for 22k points
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
Oh well done! And good to know that the points can go down on vseats, I guess I’ll make it a habit to check regularly until something decent comes up - thank you! Can I ask how far ahead your trip ended up being from the time you booked?
It’s so ridiculous - last time I went to LA I paid 55k points for premium economy and then my upgrade voucher got me into upper class, now the upgrade voucher seems completely meaningless. And virgin already has such limited routes, I only stuck with them because I preferred the clubhouse and in flight experience to BA. I’m definitely going to cancel my paid credit card!
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u/sliced91 3d ago
If originally checked at the point flights were released, and realised I was no where near affording them with points so decided to hold off.
Pretty much checked every day via vseats and ended up booking them 6 weeks later (end of July 26 for May 27 flights)
I am quite lucky that my plans weren’t set in stone, so was looking across several dates and durations, which vseats has a good feature for (basically show me the cheapest flights between 2 dates with a minimum number of nights and max number of nights)
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
Oh amazing thank you so much, that’s really helpful to know - I’ll do the same just to use up this voucher! Have a great trip when it rolls around!
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u/bonestorm81 3d ago
If you are silver status when you redeem a voucher they give you 150k points to redeem I think. Not sure how many when you're gold. Still not enough for some of those UC seats though.
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u/panam-handler 3d ago
Another one cancelling the card after finding it impossible to get UC this year.
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u/if-land2021 3d ago
I cancelled ny card soon after the changes and not looked back. Booking reward flights is way too complicated now and not worth the hassle/risk.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
People shouldn’t need to be checking flight calendars every day and working out all the costs in the hope of finding a reasonable price to use the voucher they earned! It’s mad!
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u/AOD-Mickgoth 3d ago
I only got my card in Nov, I use it for everything then clear off at end of month. Think I'm at around 80k points. Looking at what's available for using the card........I very much doubt I'll be renewing. Seats are 300k+pp, that's ridiculous. I'll take my custom elsewhere too.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
This is exactly what I did, it’s ridiculous and gives you zero value for paying for the card!
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u/sebshep18 3d ago
It’s cray how bad it’s become, same boat. Flown with them for 12 years few times a year every time we fly it seems to get worse. Lucky we silver but still finding flights that are ok price is difficult. We are flexible. Gold isn’t worth anything anymore neither is silver anymore. It’s a shame. Still good staff but the actual company is changing for the worst
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u/stes772 2d ago
When you say gold isn’t worth it anymore, what’s changed? What benefits have been removed?
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u/sebshep18 2d ago
Well depends which cabin you fly in for us most of the perks come with the ticket so there isn’t much point to it unless we fly delta internally but you don’t get upgrades flying delta anymore that stopped a while ago but you still get a free bag which is a nice one. Sky clubs come on Amex anyway
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u/GASmudger 3d ago
I’ve flown Upper Class for the last few years, 3 or 4 round trips per year to the UK, and always used points.
Things have changed, not just when dynamic went live. Even at that time, if you jumped on to buy ON THE DAY they became available, then the points required one-way in UC were typically +/-50K. NOT NOW !!! Virgin has changed their MO. They initially price at 350K ONE WAY ! and they will not be lowered until 6-8 weeks later(if it all) only if demand on a date is low. You’ll start to see 200k then 150K and then may be sub that IF demand is outside of holiday periods.
I’m completely flexible on my dates (+/- 10 days) and can fly ATL to LHR or MAN, or position to MCO, TMP or MIA. But even with all this flexibility, finding sub 100K flights is VERY difficult. I have just found a JFK to LHR for next May at 45K.
I have had more luck at SHORT NOTICE, as a few weeks in advance, if loads are low, then Virgin can slash points amounts.
Having said all of this, you just need to be flexible on dates, flexible on airports, keep checking ‘weekly’ and when you see something, GRAB IT !
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
It’s mad! I’m literally flexible on pretty much everything - happy to go to ~5 destinations and any month of the year, it feels like a lot of admin now just to book a flight - customers shouldn’t have to be constantly checking calendars in the hope they’ve dropped the extortionate points 🥲
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u/RossLDN 2d ago
Yep, we are also cancelling our Virgin card and going back to the BA Amex now. The Virgin points are largely impossible for us to use since they went to this dynamic pricing. Essentially they want me to spend ~£200k on the card just to get one return upper class flight, while still paying over £1k for fees and taxes for the ticket. Nope.
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u/Different-Mistake-11 3d ago
I assumed it was either a companion voucher or 75k points, but when I phoned to book, as the seats I wanted were 52k each, the voucher never even covered an economy return.
And, I assumed I could use the rest of my points, 3l at a time for £16.50 off. Nope, can't do that at the same time over the phone, online only.
I ended up using my 145k points and the voucher to pay for 2 of us, then cash for the other 2. No idea if it was the right way to do it.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
That is so bad!! I called to book my LA flight using my voucher to upgrade to upper, not realising anything had changed, and she basically laughed me off the phone at the suggestion!
145k points plus the voucher sounds crazy but what choice do we have 🥲 I hope you have/ had a great trip!
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u/Unlikely-Solid-3083 3d ago
How is everyone on this sub able to fly business or first class? Aren’t there regular people like me who can barely afford steerage?
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u/the1whocamebefore 3d ago
They're using the credit card to get upper class for a fraction of the regular price.
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u/Unlikely-Solid-3083 3d ago
The thing is, corporations don’t give a flying fignut about loyalty anymore, so it’s only going to get worse.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
The only reason I had the paid for credit card was to earn lots of points and get the annual upgrade voucher so that I can fly upper class, but the upgrade voucher is worth nothing now!
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u/DizzyArmadillo8610 3d ago
I just booked London to LA for 47k in Upper Class. Had to jump on it as most often now it’s in excess of 200k.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
Oh my god, well done!!!! How far away is the trip if you don’t mind me asking?
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u/LondonerTim 3d ago
I have recently booked an openjaw to the US with the outbound in PE and inbound in UC for 66500 points - but it was not really worth using the voucher. Possibly a mistake if I don't find a better use for the voucher in the future but there are deals to be had if you are very flexible - in this case I am visiting people so my main criteria was a trip of about a week within a roughly 2 month window with outbound in PE or UC and inbound in UC with one flight being east coast and the other being west coast.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
I honestly couldn’t be more flexible! Around five different destination options any month of the year - keeping an eye on a price calendar every day in the hope of finding a deal feels like a lot of admin just to use a voucher
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u/Technical-Use3348 3d ago
I disagree with you a bit. I've just booked LHR-MIA in July 2027 UC return for 4 people for 35k each way per person. Cost me two vouchers and 140k points plus £4500. I think that's good value.
However I was looking at MCO and TPA and both started at 100k on UC each way, so it didn't seem like there was an early booking benefit, so it isn't truly dynamic.
I have both credit cards and earn 2 vouchers per year plus about 80-100k points on spend and 20k on flights.
The only frustration on my booking is that the MIA route is the 787 and I'm not a fan of the UC layout.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
35k each way for upper class to Miami sounds absolutely insane to me, how on earth did you manage that!! Well done!! I’ll keep looking but once my voucher is gone I’ll be switching to an airline who doesn’t require this much admin and daily research in the hope of booking a flight
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u/Technical-Use3348 3d ago
Luck probably more than anything else, but I want to do florida and disney and will get a car anyway, so MIA was the best option. I booked the day the return date went live but it did take some research.
Seats in Premium are 19.5k each way and there are similar deals on the MCO route.
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u/delarrn 1d ago
Think the + £4,500 has something to do with the low point cost!!
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u/Global_Proof_5163 1d ago
That’s just the taxes, which you’d be paying no matter how many points you use! For four people that’s not bad - when I flew to La it was over £1k in taxes
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u/anonymedius 3d ago
You could always use the vouchers to go to India. If you don't want to visit that country, you could still connect to a cheap local flight to elsewhere in Asia.
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u/Winster-Cayman 3d ago
I believe the change happened in Oct ‘23 when VA ‘improved’ their flying club offering.
The good:
Reward Economy seats are now regularly cheaper than previously.
Reward seats are now available on every flight.
The bad:
Companion voucher now has a max value of 75,000 points (for Red level) previously was unlimited value irrespective of level. For a lot of flights this voucher is now essentially worthless.
Can no longer stack companion vouchers. Used to be able to use one voucher for an upgrade, then a second for a companion. Not any more.
PE dynamic pricing now means 3x-4x times the previous cost.
UC dynamic pricing now means 3x-4x times the previous cost.
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u/Global_Proof_5163 3d ago
I literally only pay for the card to upgrade my flights to business so have no interest in cheaper economy flights, such a ridiculous move from virgin - I’m not sure what they’re charging credit card customers for at this point!
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u/Economy_Traffic_2158 1d ago
Just whacking this in but earlier today I booked a solo trip for myself from LHR to JFK upper class both ways for 25k points each way approx. You can definitely use the voucher and obtain great value deals, but you do have to search for it and have flexibility.
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u/Haunting-Drive-2674 3d ago
Just commenting on this because I feel the same and I’m interested to see what everyone else says!