You can now earn Virgin Atlantic miles on KLM and Air France codeshares

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Guadeloophole says:

  5 Mar5 March 08:13

  If you’ve already booked AF flights and linked your AF/KLM (can’t even remember what their scheme is – SkyTeam?) membership number to the booking, but not flown yet, presume you can change it at check-in to get the miles credited your VS account?

  • Rob says:

    5 Mar5 March 08:35

    If you have already booked it won’t be on the codeshares (booking only opened yesterday) and so won’t credit – unless the full partnership launches first.

    • Guadeloophole says:

      5 Mar5 March 09:00

      cheers Rob. The booking is 5 pax on AF to/from PTP/FDF so I’ll wait to see i) if they launch the full partnership first or ii) their definition of Transatlantic includes the Caribbean. If not will just credit it to AF. Salut a tous!

    • john says:

      5 Mar5 March 09:33

      One takes it therefore that this means:

      “You can earn Virgin Flying Club miles and tier points when flying Air France and KLM transatlantic, as long as the flights carry a Virgin Atlantic flight number”

      you have to book on to the VS flight number on AF/KLM metal rather than their own.

• Ron Harris says:

  5 Mar5 March 08:45

  AN example from the regions might have been more appropriate as you can already fly Virgin direct to USA from LHR so I’m not sure why you would want to add 6 hours to your journey by using a crappier airline.

• Frenske says:

  5 Mar5 March 08:59

  I flew twice on SAS with Virgin account number added to the booking. I never received the points and to claim it retrospective one needs to have ticket number which is of course I no longer have.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Mar5 March 18:39

    you may still be able to find it on amadeus website. I forget the name. that always used to show the ticket number. Plus you could also phone the airline – if the flight was recent-ish I expect they would still be able to see it?

• shd says:

  5 Mar5 March 09:09

  For those of us allergic to paying APD on redemptions, can we expect to be able to book an ex-EU feeder (AF or KL metal) to a VS l/h redemption once all this goes through, and so save the APD?

• Jake Mc says:

  5 Mar5 March 09:15

  Said “sharp-eyed HFP reader” is also “sharp-eyed HFP reader who is not in work today”…

  I therefore gave virgin a call to attempt to redeem miles with SAS. The operator knew nothing about it and said there had been no communication of any change.

  Not to say it won’t be announced but also just potentially a mistake.

• Drolma-la says:

  5 Mar5 March 09:30

  I wonder whether flight rewards (i.e. PE upgrades) from the Virgin Money credit cards can be used with codeshare flights.

  • TripRep says:

    5 Mar5 March 12:39

    Drolma-la – And I thought I was being optimistic lol

    not a chance, ok maybe 1%

• BlueHorizonuk says:

  5 Mar5 March 09:35

  This earning chart seems to not allow any points earning if flying in First as Virgin don’t sell first class.

  • Dev says:

    5 Mar5 March 11:12

    The same holds true for Singapore Airlines. Whenever I have flown Suites or First on SQ and credited to my Virgin Flying Club account, I received more miles than I did for Business Class on the same route, but the tier points were the same as Business Class: 350 for a long haul round trip.

• 1nfrequent says:

  5 Mar5 March 10:31

  Would be interested in the views of those who comment here. I have never flown Virgin but have flown AF short-haul for work and have a handful of points in the AF scheme. I am looking to diversify my miles out of Oneworld and have been waiting for this unification to progress as given my travel over the next couple of years, it looks like I will be using Virgin.

  I know there’s no hard and fast rule and everyone has different needs but does anyone have a view on which of AF, KLM, Delta and Virgin it’s best to credit to in terms of:
  – earning and redemptions (I’m guessing Virgin is the best through the Tesco and credit card route as an extra but don’t know much about flying credits); and
  – gaining status quickly through long haul flights (which is the bulk of my leisure travel)?

  Opinions gratefully received.

  1F

  • marcw says:

    5 Mar5 March 11:33

    With Flying Blue, once you have a tier, it’s kinda easy to renew. Also, unused XP points roll over to the next year. The problem is to go from entry level to platinum in one go. That’s more challenging. With 100XP you are silver, then you need another 180 XP to qualify for gold and another 300 XP for platinum. But to renew Silver/God/Platinum you only need 100/180/300 XP in a year.

    Even though earning are revenue based, the key is to book codeshares. Flying Blue can be topped up with MR points and there is also the equivalent for Avios&Money, reducing up to 25% de value in miles (usually you pay 1 eurocent for each mile in economy, 1.5 in premium economy and 2 eurocents per mile in business). You can take advantage of FlyingBlue Promos, particularly interesting when your travel dates and destinations are flexible.

    If you have status, you can buy unlimited miles. Every now and again there are some buy miles promotions. With silver, you can take free luggage on HBO fares on AirFrance/KLM.
    The good thing is FlyingBlue changed last year, so it won’t change for the next couple of years (At least).

    I think there’s value in Flying Blue, but it’s not a straight line. It’s a good idea to go a check out how redemptions work (there’s no chart) – so you get an idea “how many miles do I need to fly between A and B”.

    • 1nfrequent says:

      5 Mar5 March 12:13

      Thanks, marcw. I hadn’t picked up that you needed the extra XPs to progress. Will also check out the chart.

      1F

      • marcw says:

        5 Mar5 March 12:43

        Yeahhh… that’s the problem when going from entry level to high status. But once you have, say Gold, you only need 180 XP points a year to renew. And any extra XP points roll over to the following year.

      • Clive says:

        7 Mar7 March 00:14

        Yes but the problem with FB is keeping the miles alive. If you don’t fly they die.

  • Jake Mc says:

    5 Mar5 March 11:42

    Best to credit to the scheme on which aircraft you would like to fly- generally. (ie if you want to fly virgin metal then credit your flights to flying club, likewise to flying blue for Air France).

    Additionally for UK residents earning flying club miles (virgin) is easiest due to credit card availability.

    Also, if your long haul travel is leisure based I would also focus on the quality of product and destinations. No point earning miles in a scheme if the airline doesn’t suit your needs – especially as your holiday time will likely feel too short as it is

    • 1nfrequent says:

      5 Mar5 March 12:15

      Understood. The problem with getting into the points/status game though is that you get a bit obsessed with trying to maximise value through the system. I think I need to sit down one weekend and really take an in depth look at the different offerings and schemes and then knock up some itineraries to get an idea of what is best.

      Thank you.

      1F

      • LewisB says:

        5 Mar5 March 12:42

        Just to add in on the Flying Blue Promos, these change on the 1st of each month and usually there is a couple of juicy long-haul receptions. This month has 50% off from anywhere in Europe to Montreal and back. Flying times are always restricted but there’s generally a two month window. When I searched for availability from CWL it was wide open and came to 56k points and just under 600EUR in taxes. If you live outside of London and near a regional airport that has regular KLM flights I would definitively keep an eye on these promos. In the past few months I’ve seen 50% off (in business) Taipei, Montreal, Boston and Vancouver. Taxes are still high but I’m personally keeping a little stash of miles in my Flying Blue account to wait for the right promo.

      • marcw says:

        5 Mar5 March 12:49

        Totally agree @LewisB – there’s always something interesting in the list. I keep a good chunk of FB miles for Promo Awards, and in Asia, for when I have to go to places that require connections (penalised in Avios scheme). In Asia you can redeem on JAL, China Airlines, China Eastern, Vietnam, Malaysia Airlines, Korean, Xiamen, Bangkok Airways and Garuda. There’s always some availability.

        On some of them taxes are outrageous, but on others it’s only taxes (no surcharges).

      • Rob says:

        5 Mar5 March 14:20

        Exactly. Go where you want to go. Redemption seats to civil war-ridden dumps tend to be excellent value, because cash flights are rarely sold cheaply in sales as the traffic is 100% corporate, but that doesn’t mean you should be redeeming your Avios to go there. Darfur is likely to offer solid value on a pence per Avios basis but is a little low on shopping and galleries these days.

        Similarly the best value for hotel points is often one-star dumps which sell for a low number of points but can be pricey when events are on. That doesn’t mean I recommend staying there instead of somewhere pleasant.

      • Mikeact says:

        5 Mar5 March 19:53

        I’m looking forward to using my FB Platinum for life card with my wife in the Virgin flagship lounge at Heathrow…….hopefully !

        As a follow up, the regular KL/AF monthly Promo discounts can be well worth going for if you see a particular destination. The miles required have changed dramatically over the last few years, as have the destinations, as well as the inclusion of Business Class awards. You could normally always guarantee a 50% discount with many more destinations than currently offered. We’ve struck lucky with the Caribbean…Curaçao with KL ,up front, and not out of season either, and Vancouver , also turning left, which was a bit chilly, but when you have friends there……This destination was on offer via both partners, but with different timings out of Paris or Amsterdam. AMS showed no reward availability out of London on the dates we wanted, but was available direct from AMS, so to grab the seats, booked there and then…..and then a BA RFS for the short hop over the North Sea.
        I have to say that our last two visits to Australia have been very easy to book using rewards, both Business there and back.
        But you have to be prepared for the routing offered which can be totally different every day……all part of the holiday !

    • Alex W says:

      5 Mar5 March 14:21

      @Jake Mc not necessarily true. If you want to fly BA then you could be better off crediting to Alaskan Airlines, for example. Partner redemptions are often the sweet spots of a lot of frequent flyer schemes, it seems.

      • Jake Mc says:

        5 Mar5 March 15:59

        @alex w: yeah fair point. And likewise with virgin miles on ANA.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.