3. Earning miles, tier points and purchasing miles

3.1. General 

3.1.1 You may earn Miles from the day you enrol in the Programme by travelling with us or using other goods or services supplied by Participating Companies. Miles which you earn will be automatically added into your account as long as you provide your membership number at time of booking or travel. 

3.1.2 If you do not provide your membership number at the time of booking or travel you may seek to earn mileage on Virgin Atlantic flights for up to six months after the date of travel / activity. The time limits to register Miles for other goods or services may vary for other Participating Companies. Please refer to Missing Partner Miles page on our website for further information.

3.1.3 Missing Virgin Atlantic Miles can be claimed online by entering the booking reference, ticket number or presentation of either the original or a copy of the boarding pass for such flight. Any attempt by a Member to claim mileage from the same boarding pass on more than one occasion with different carriers will constitute a breach of this agreement and the termination provisions in clause 9.2 will apply. 

3.1.4 Provided that you supply your membership number at time of booking or travel, Virgin Atlantic Miles should be credited to your account within 7 days of travel, and any Participating Company Miles will usually be credited to your account within 30 days of the activity. Certain Participating Companies’ Miles may take slightly longer to credit to your account. You will need to save evidence of your mileage entitlement until the Miles appear in your account. Flying Club may at its discretion, determine whether any item of proof is sufficient. If any activity has not been automatically added to your account within the above timeframes or if you failed to provide your membership number at the time of booking or travel then you may request retrospective credits to be made. All requests for retrospective mileage and Tier Point credits must be made within the time limits set out in paragraph 3.1.2. 

3.1.5 If a delayed credit affects a Member’s status Virgin Atlantic may manually upgrade a Member on instruction from the Member and receipt on the account of the late credit.

3.1.6 Miles and Tier Points will be issued only for flights actually flown by you and will be based on the class of ticket you have paid for and will not reflect any complimentary or Reward upgrades. Miles and Tier Points will only be credited once travel has been completed, not at time of booking. Miles and Tier Points cannot be earned on any free or reduced rate tickets including, without limitation, reward travel, upgraded reward travel including upgrades purchased at the airport and Plusgrade, travel agent or industry discounts, Charter flights operated by VAA, Vex Courier, and complimentary tickets. Members who have purchased cash upgrades within 24 hours of departure will receive the original mileage before the booking was upgraded.

3.1.7 Miles and Tier Points have no cash value and are not exchangeable under any circumstances for cash.

3.1.8 The Miles and Rewards available through the Programme will change from time to time.  Please refer to the Virgin Atlantic website for the most up to date information relating to membership, Miles and Reward offers. VAA may offer other Rewards and/or opportunities to earn Miles for limited periods in other Flying Club publications. Such Rewards or opportunities to earn Miles will be subject to the Flying Club Terms and may also be subject to specific additional requirements or conditions as set out in the relevant publication. 

3.2. Virgin Atlantic Flights

3.2.1 You automatically qualify to earn Miles and Tier Points from your first qualifying revenue flight in Economy Light, Economy Classic, Economy Delight, Premium or Upper Class. 

3.2.2 You will earn a percentage or multiple of Miles for each “Base Mile” flown according to the booking class, the cabin and product purchased, and your tier status. Miles earned can vary between the Economy Light, Economy Classic and Economy Delight products. Further details on how Flying Club miles are earned are shown on the Virgin Atlantic website.

3.2.3 Tier Points are earned for each qualifying flight taken as a Flying Club Member. The number of Tier Points earned per qualifying Virgin Atlantic flight is determined by the booking class paid and the cabin flown. Tier points earned could vary between the Economy Light, Economy Classic and Economy Delight products. The breakdown of Tier Points earned per flight is listed on the Tier Points page on our website.

3.2.4 Tier Points can also be earned when travelling with Participating Company airlines (“Partner Airlines”) when earning Miles in qualifying classes. Please refer to the relevant Partner Airlines’ pages on our website for qualifying booking classes and for information on the number of Miles and Tier Points that can be earned. 

3.3. Codeshare Flights

Miles and Tier Points will only be earned on a code share flight with a Partner Airline that has a “VS” prefix and booked in an applicable class. Information on Partner Airlines and applicable classes is shown on the Partner pages on our website. All other code share operated or marketed flights by a partner with an airline other than Virgin Atlantic will not qualify for Miles.

3.4. Participating Companies 

3.4.1 Participating Companies may impose additional conditions that affect the way you may earn Miles from other Participating Companies. Please read each Participating Company’s rules on the Virgin Atlantic website, regarding earning Miles. 

3.4.2 A Member may only earn Miles from Participating Companies for flights or other goods or services actually taken up by that Member, except in circumstances expressly provided for elsewhere in these Flying Club Terms. 

3.4.3 To ensure you earn the correct Miles, you will need to give your name as it appears on your Flying Club account and your account number to the Participating Company or when specified by the Participating Company or VAA. You should show your Flying Club membership card or digital membership card at the relevant time and make sure your account number has been correctly recorded by the Participating Company. 

3.4.4 Once Miles have been awarded to your Flying Club account or to an account with another Participating Company for an activity on Virgin Atlantic or a Participating Company the Miles cannot be transferred between the two accounts. 

3.5. Cancelled Flights or Involuntary Transfers

If you are transferred to another VAA flight or Participating Company airline, which differs from the original issued ticket, the mileage earned on the resulting flight will be credited to your account. However if you are involuntarily transferred to a non-Participating Company airline, you may request Miles for your original VAA booking. In this case you will be required to send in a cover letter to outline the original flight details, along with a copy of your original boarding pass and new ticket details, to your Customer Centre. Please note that VAA shall not be liable to award Miles where either (i) you voluntarily transfer to a non-Participating Company airline; or (ii) you are transferred to a non-Participating Company airline in circumstances where your original VAA flight is cancelled due to natural disasters/disruption, weather, fire, strikes, war, civil unrest, closed airports, acts of terrorism or any other reason beyond VAA’s reasonable control.

Buy Miles and Gift Miles, Transfer Miles and Miles Booster.

a) Members are able to purchase miles and pay to transfer and gift miles to other Members’ Flying Club accounts using the service provided by Virgin Atlantic on the website and the Customer Centre. Members can also pay to increase the number of Miles earned on a Virgin Atlantic flight using the Miles Booster service. The Miles Booster and purchase, transfer and gift facility of Flying Club Miles through Virgin Atlantic is operated on behalf of Virgin Atlantic by Points International Ltd. Full details can be found on the Virgin Atlantic website under the relevant sections.