Mistake or madness? Virgin Flying Club adds £200+ to USA Upper Class flight surcharges

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• Frenzie01 says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:02

  It is a bit of both.
  It is a MISTAKE because I shall stop collecting Virgin miles for now and focus on AVIOS.
  It is MADNESS, because if you pay £700+ for something it isn’t really a reward anymore is it?

  • RakishDriver says:

    13 Apr13 April 07:18

    Couldn’t have put it better myself!

  • Darren says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:05

    You might want avoid BA to SIN, over £900 in ‘fees’.

    • Darren says:

      13 Apr13 April 08:13

      ‘Fact Checked’ my comment on BA and it looks like the fee’s are £595 but on RewardFlightFinder.com it states £926??

      Apologies.

      • Polly says:

        13 Apr13 April 20:19

        I saw that higher price , and left SIN out of my search. Must add it back in.

        If Tim is reading this, maybe he can correct the pricing.

  • TripRep says:

    13 Apr13 April 10:12

    BA to Virgin

    “You’ve just upped you YQ for funding a new A350 fleet?”

    “Hold my beer”

• JAXBA says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:24

  Please, please, please use the correct phrase of “taxes, fees, and charges” when referring to the sum of government taxes, airport fees, and airline surcharges collected on a ticket. You can abbreviate as “TFCs” after first use.

  Using the phrase “taxes” is incorrect financially and journalistically, and even though some may understand that the phrase is only shorthand for TFCs; many will not, and the error perpetuates.

  • Big norm says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:56

    I just don’t understand why there is so much anger at the use of a phrase.
    Yes it’s incorrect to say this full amount is a tax, but it’s a general phrase used across the industry.
    Nobody cares what the real breakdown of this is when you consider what is technically a tax and what is technically a charge.
    Ultimately can’t change it so does it really matter what the breakdown is.

    At the core of a mileage program the miles you receive are free, it’s a reward for flying with the airline . Therefore in theory the taxes you pay are the only thing you are paying for the flight – and on paper £700 for a business class flight is a very good deal.

    For the record I don’t think that the increase is fair . But at the same time it wouldn’t stop me from redeeming if it was a route I wanted to fly . Unless JetBlue starts doing £1200 returns on mint.

    • shd says:

      13 Apr13 April 09:05

      > Nobody cares what the real breakdown of this is…

      Speak for yourself!

      > on paper £700 for a business class flight is a very good deal

      You’re actually valuing your miles at zero? NB: Whether you paid for something and whether it has a value are separate things to most people.

    • TripRep says:

      13 Apr13 April 10:14

      “Nobody cares what the real breakdown of this is when you consider what is technically a tax and what is technically a charge.”

      Ridiculous generalisation.

      Just ask HMRC if they care if a company is misrepresenting hidden charges and claiming they are Government taxes.

      • Jonah says:

        13 Apr13 April 10:47

        It’s not a ridiculous generalisation – most points collectors readers here I bet don’t care about terminology – they just want to know what’s coming out of their wallet. As Rob says time and again the comments section her represents a small fraction of readership.

      • TripRep says:

        13 Apr13 April 13:27

        Jonah – actually to say nobody cares is a ridiculous generalisation.

        It’s factually incorrect to say nobody cares, plain and simple.

        Clearly people do care, otherwise you wouldn’t see comments on here ensuring that the distinction is made between the taxes and surcharges.

        And if you plan redemptions according, it’s perfectly possible to avoid APD, hence surcharges really stand out as the significant portion of the £ coming out of your wallet.

    • Matt says:

      13 Apr13 April 11:45

      Because a) it’s incorrect and b) because it mis-represents what the airlines are doing. The more people who are misled into thinking it’s a tax the less pressure there is to stop them.

    • JAXBA says:

      13 Apr13 April 15:22

      I agree, knowing the breakdown doesn’t change the amount that needs to be paid. I don’t like paying YQ either, but at least I know what it is, and have ways of minimising it.

      There are some of us who know that “taxes” means “TFCs”, but many do not know the difference. There are even many in the industry; professionals, like airline employees and travel agents who don’t know the difference, and really, really should.

      If the breakdown doesn’t bother you, fair enough. If a large “tax” makes you question what you’re paying, then understanding the distinction really does help.

• Catalan says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:37

  Well someone’s got to pay for those new ‘half-a-door’ suites!

  • Alex Sm says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:00

    Perhaps, they need £700 to finance the other half of the door?

    • David says:

      14 Apr14 April 00:57

      loved this

• Alex says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:11

  Yep I noticed that, just as I am looking to make a booking, anything to do with them announcing a huge loss? Very suspicious

• Freddy says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:33

  Don’t understand why virgin weren’t approached to clarify in order to complete the article.

  • TigerTanaka says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:38

    I wrote the exact same thing (you beat me to it).

    • Rob says:

      13 Apr13 April 09:31

      I’m on holiday and chose to write this at 10pm last night.

• TigerTanaka says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:36

  Interesting story just like the Amex Platinum insurance “change” last week.

  However, HFP is now a very grown up website and should surely be contacting Virgin/Amex before publication to give them the opportunity to explain why things have changed. Speculation is fine but we just end up with 100s of comments/opinions, a few more data points and no one knows why things have happened.

  • Alex Sm says:

    13 Apr13 April 11:38

    I’m sure Virgin will be happy to provide a well-crafted quote with lots of corporate comms speak – similar to those they supplied to Rob for the New York flight competition dressed as survey (or vice versa)

• Matt B says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:46

  Yep I’m one of those who boosted an upcoming flight last weekend. I’ll be getting a refund ASAP.

  • TripRep says:

    13 Apr13 April 10:16

    good idea, be sure to let them know why

• Alan says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:50

  I paid £638 recently for a VS UC redemption to the USA from Manchester and just assumed that was the standard taxes/fees/carrier surcharge that they charged! I paid £525.97 in 2017 on a at trip.

  What did VS have to say? I’m wondering if they’re mistakenly forgetting to charge it in DL redemptions rather than charging something extra on their own!

  • Alan says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:58

    PS just checked ITA for my booking and DL about £120 cheaper than VS, however this is due to underlying fare difference. Carrier surcharge showing as £500 on both.

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