Virgin Flyer or High Flyer Credit Card - 2 for 1 fare booking class?

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Moopere

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Anyone who has one of these cards and has used the 2 for 1 bookings that come with it (4 times a year). Do you know the booking class / restrictions on the second seat?

For example, can you book any seat that has availability and get the second seat in the same class or is the deal limited to specific seat classes, like O class or D class, etc, etc.

Before going for one of these cards I want to have a look at fare bucket availability to try and judge if its all hype or a real and usable benefit.
 
I have a high flyer CC and used it to book 2 J seats SYD-PER. As I only paid for 1 the saving on this alone pays the annual fee for a few years.

I'm not sure what other booking classes are available
 
Anyone who has one of these cards and has used the 2 for 1 bookings that come with it (4 times a year). Do you know the booking class / restrictions on the second seat?

For example, can you book any seat that has availability and get the second seat in the same class or is the deal limited to specific seat classes, like O class or D class, etc, etc.

Before going for one of these cards I want to have a look at fare bucket availability to try and judge if its all hype or a real and usable benefit.

I'm not sure what bucket it books into but I used it to book 2 flexi fares to OOL. No dramas at all. Could have booked savers too.

Btw it's 4 flights, ie 2 return trips per year.
 
+1 I have used all of my 2 for 1 also without any dramas. Checked availability of 2 seats on the VA website and rang up to book. I was asked each time which fare I wanted to book as all fare types were available to the flights I was booking. I think the only restriction is that there has to be availablity of 2 identical fare types (saver, flexi, business)
 
Correct Princess Fiona. Must be 2 of the same fare types.. Worked for me as my daughter family pools to me.. :D
 
Have used three segments so far. Fantastic product. Used during peak times SYD-MEL so saved a few hundred.
 
Thanks for the replies folks. Can anyone remember the booking classes that were used? Posts above sound like any available seat can be booked in this way, but I wonder ... I'd love someone to have their boarding pass close by for a quick look - both Economy and Business classes would be interesting.

My thoughts are that this would book into a restricted class, but that there is probably good availability which is why we're not noticing any troubles.
 
Im pretty sure Savers from last weekend were 2-4-1 and my boarding pass says 'R' class.

It used to be that only the very cheapest Saver fares were available (i dont know the class but we're talking serious sale fares) so it used to be impossible to redeem at peak times (week of christmas there would be none available for several days in a row). I understand now they have significantly relaxed this meaning you can get any fare 2-4-1.

So can you get J 2-4-1? Where you are booking at a late date and only flex are available I guess it would be a pretty good deal?
 
Thanks for the replies folks. Can anyone remember the booking classes that were used? Posts above sound like any available seat can be booked in this way, but I wonder ... I'd love someone to have their boarding pass close by for a quick look - both Economy and Business classes would be interesting.

My thoughts are that this would book into a restricted class, but that there is probably good availability which is why we're not noticing any troubles.

Mine didn't have a fare code on the e-ticket, just Flexi. as I've upgraded to J now I can't help you there!
 
Im pretty sure Savers from last weekend were 2-4-1 and my boarding pass says 'R' class.

Thanks for that. I could understand it being R being as R has been linked elsewhere with the Amex "free" annual flight booking class. Essentially a Flexi but restricted numbers. Did you get any FF or SC earn from the R class ticket?


It used to be that only the very cheapest Saver fares were available (i dont know the class but we're talking serious sale fares) so it used to be impossible to redeem at peak times (week of christmas there would be none available for several days in a row). I understand now they have significantly relaxed this meaning you can get any fare 2-4-1.

Perhaps I'm wrong to be trying to chase only one class for the 2:1 then ... it may book into several. Getting folks boarding pass records will help here.


So can you get J 2-4-1? Where you are booking at a late date and only flex are available I guess it would be a pretty good deal?

I don't know this to be the case but the wording doesn't seem to discriminate. 2:1 on "domestic" fares is what it says, the fine print says saver, flexi and "Premium" fares. I'm reading Premium as Business.
 
I think I found a bit of a gotcha with the V Flyer free flights. And it might suggest they do book into a specific fare bucket which identifies them as freebies.

My partner and I both have the V Flyer card. I recently booked a one-way flight for us using the free flight. My available free flights went from 4 to 3.

Then I added my partners Velocity number to the booking...and their available free flights went from 4 to 3 as well!! Seems like a bit of a flaw!
 
My 2 cents - I have the Virgin Flyer card and have actually somehow managed to book 5 trips on it this year. Although one flight required a stopover I thought that it would count as 2 flights but I must have been mistake. Anyways, the card has more than paid for itself - I have saved about a grand i think :)
 
My 2 cents - I have the Virgin Flyer card and have actually somehow managed to book 5 trips on it this year. Although one flight required a stopover I thought that it would count as 2 flights but I must have been mistake. Anyways, the card has more than paid for itself - I have saved about a grand i think :)

Each sector should use 1 free flight so yes, it should've counted as 2.
 
Each sector should use 1 free flight so yes, it should've counted as 2.

That's what I thought so I am certainly not complaining, and I am not going to put up the details of the flights just in case Virgin staff peruse these boards (which they damn well might!). Anyway, this card is an absolute no brainer for anyone flying with a partner (e.g. couples). The flyer has a $1.5k monthly limit for $1 to 1 velocity point conversion.

I'd also be interested if anyone has purchased the High Flyer card?

I did consider the High Flyer with the extra insurances and 1.25 point per dollar (with no points capping), but I have a Platinum charge amex so I charge most purchases to that (therefore $1.5k is perfect for a monthly VISA card spend). Amex also includes all the extra insurances, so the only benefit of going for the HIGH flyer card is 1.25 points per dollar. So I figured if I maintained my $1500 spend per month, that is $18,000 which means an extra 4500 points. Given I value points are roughly 1 cent per point, 4500 points represents about a $45 value to me. No where near the extra $150 ($249 annual fee) required.
 
Can I just confirm that you DO earn normal rates for these flights? Presume I use my 2for1 flight to book two one way Flexi fares MEL-SYD for me and the other half, do we both earn the FLEXI rate? Or do we both earn nothing? Or does only 1 person earn?

Cheers,
 
I have booked the cheapest category avaialble, and both I and my travelling companion earned Velocity points.

I am not sure of the fare category, but generally I've been able to book the flight times/dates I wanted... even travelling over Easter Weekend.
 
Can I just confirm that you DO earn normal rates for these flights? Presume I use my 2for1 flight to book two one way Flexi fares MEL-SYD for me and the other half, do we both earn the FLEXI rate? Or do we both earn nothing? Or does only 1 person earn?

Cheers,
You'll both earn full SCs and half points. Technically you are getting 50% discount off both fares. That way you get to pay both CC fees :)
 
You'll both earn full SCs and half points. Technically you are getting 50% discount off both fares. That way you get to pay both CC fees :)

Confirming that this is exactly what happened with my flights last week. Happy days :)
 
That's what I thought so I am certainly not complaining, and I am not going to put up the details of the flights just in case Virgin staff peruse these boards (which they damn well might!). Anyway, this card is an absolute no brainer for anyone flying with a partner (e.g. couples). The flyer has a $1.5k monthly limit for $1 to 1 velocity point conversion.

I'd also be interested if anyone has purchased the High Flyer card?

I did consider the High Flyer with the extra insurances and 1.25 point per dollar (with no points capping), but I have a Platinum charge amex so I charge most purchases to that (therefore $1.5k is perfect for a monthly VISA card spend). Amex also includes all the extra insurances, so the only benefit of going for the HIGH flyer card is 1.25 points per dollar. So I figured if I maintained my $1500 spend per month, that is $18,000 which means an extra 4500 points. Given I value points are roughly 1 cent per point, 4500 points represents about a $45 value to me. No where near the extra $150 ($249 annual fee) required.

Completely agree with everything you've said. For someone who flies regularly with a partner and spends in the region of $10,000 - $25,000 per year on VISA the Flyer card for me is FANTASTIC. Both me and my partner have 1, we both got 20K sign-on points for $99 annual fee and between us now eight(!) 2-4-1 flights per year. Last year we would have saved a good $400 each on the flights so its a no-brainer. This would be an excellent card for a retired couple who visit kids/grandkids interstate several times a year - they wouldn't have to fly Virgin any other time of the year but if they both had the card they could travel together 4 times a year for half price. The sign-on bonus would probably give them enough points for a free 5th trip.

I also did the maths as my best mate has the High Flyer card because he says the 1.25 pp$ makes it worth it. I put through around $20,000 a year on this card (usually sit just around the cap each month), so the 5,000 or so extra points Id get each year are not worth the $150 extra fee. I've tried to tell him this (he would only put $10K max through his card each year as he's a student) but he doesn't understand, nor is interested in the logic of it (doesn't play the game like us here!).

It's not a perfect card by any means- the website is easily the worst website I have EVER dealt with and I avoid it like the plague. It's also very annoying having to spend 20+ minutes on the phone to book each of these flights as it can't be done online. It does make me laugh that you can log onto velocity, see how many 2-4-1 flights you have left in your account, book normal redemptions using points but can't book your 2-4-1 redemptions online! And charging a credit card surcharge when you are booking a flight on your virgin credit card is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard of - even LCC's dont do this!

I know they relaxed the fare rules for the 2-4-1 flight a LOT last year - it used to be only the absolute cheapest sale fares you could get 2-4-1 (i.e. everyday fares were not available, even when booked 6 months out meaning their might be 1 7am flight available each day and that was it) but I understand you can now book at least any available Saver fare and they will give you the other one for free. I haven't booked one of these for a while (used them all up last year and now clicking over onto year 2 so get them all again) - have they relaxed them more?

Can you only buy saver fares? I would seriously consider 2-4-1 J class if they were available as they wouldn't be much more than a flexi ticket if they were half price (or maybe even less). I paid $800 to fly MEL-CNS-MEL on a last-minute school holiday Flexi last year. If I could get 2-4-1 J on that route for, say, $1400 I would seriously consider it!
 
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