Need a new job? You can apply to run Virgin Flying Club

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Want to run Virgin Flying Club? This is not an entirely facetious remark, since HFP is read by most people who work in UK travel loyalty.

Virgin Flying Club is looking for a new head. The full job ad is here.

Oli Byers isn’t going anywhere, but his empire now extends across sales and loyalty as a Senior Vice President. This role is for a VP whose sole responsibility will be running Virgin Flying Club.

Apply to run Virgin Flying Club

It is an interesting role because of the launch of Virgin Group Loyalty Company. VGLC is run out of Notting Hill and is totally separate to the airline, albeit that a lot of key Flying Club staff have moved across. VGLC is now the owner of your miles, not Virgin Atlantic. The airline buys miles from VGLC and sells it redemption seats.

This job is based at the Virgin Atlantic HQ in Crawley but you can’t have everything. It is actually a funky new building very near to Gatwick. From my discussions, VGLC seems to be leaving ‘the airline stuff’ with Virgin Atlantic so you will still be in charge of the Virgin Atlantic credit cards, airline partnerships and certain miles-earning deals aimed specifically at frequent flyers, as well as the day to day logistics of partnering with VGLC.

The closing date is 3rd June. If you get the job, let them know you read about it here so I can send Oli a bill for a £25,000 recruitment fee ….

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.

(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Kevin says:

1 Jun1 June 09:34

OT:

Has anyone ever had issues getting a refund back from BA? I booked a fully flexible ticket over a month ago, and I’m still waiting for the refund. I’ve had to call several times, and they keep telling me that it’s been processed, but still, the money isn’t in my account (and it’s a lot of money!). They never return calls, and always try and make it seem like it’s my problem.

I’m a silver member (on my way to gold), and I cannot believe how bad this service is. What are the next steps here? I can’t keep calling back and chasing them forever, and at some point I surely have to escalate this?
- Kevin says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 09:34
  
  Sorry that didn’t make sense. I *cancelled* a fully flexible ticket over a month ago, hence I am due a full refund.
  - David says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 09:39
    
    Call your credit card company and ask for a chargeback?
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 10:36
    
    Various times in the past I have had BA refunds get ‘stuck’ in the system. Quick call can get it on its way.
    - Fiona W says:
      
      1 Jun1 June 12:19
      
      “I’ve had to call several times, and they keep telling me that it’s been processed, but still, the money isn’t in my account (and it’s a lot of money!). They never return calls, and always try and make it seem like it’s my problem.”
      
      and Rob replies “Quick call can get it on its way.”
      
      Couldn’t make it up!
    - Kevin says:
      
      1 Jun1 June 12:52
      
      Unfortunately I’m now on ‘quick call’ number 5. The first time the agent ‘forgot’ to process it, even though it was cancelled. After that, I still hadn’t received the cancellation mail a week after, so I called back. Only then was it cancelled properly.
      
      I then waited another 7 days or so, and still no money in my account…
      
      I then get someone who literally insists that it’s been processed and it *has* to be in my account.
      
      Next person finally says he’ll open an investigation and “call me back later today”… which also hasn’t materialised.
      
      Finally the last person insisted it was processed on Friday. So I’m giving them until Monday before I contact Amex and move all my business away from BA.
      
      Useless bunch.
- Lady London says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 12:19
  
  Its meant to be 7 days and IME has been less.
  
  Call them again. If you want to really annoy them ask would the most practical thing be for you to contact your card company for a charge back.
  
  BTW I have noticed a couple of my cancelled bookings were still somehow in the reservations systems for a little while after cancelling albeit from what I could see, moved to spurious dates. Not sure why that was – perhaps awaiting some further processing.
ankomonkey says:

1 Jun1 June 09:56

I’d love the Virgin job. Just a shame I have no relevant professional experience. Might they take a gamble on a complete rookie who spends most of their time trying to take maximum value from these types of scheme using a variety of moral and immoral methods?
- Memesweeper says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 10:15
  
  Being a serial scheme abuser is unlikely to endear they to you in an interview 🙂
  - ChrisC says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 11:25
    
    It will if you tell them you’ll stop others doing the abuse!
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 19:31
    
    Here’s the thing. I know a guy (not well) who says he used to work for BAEC and Emirates’ loyalty scheme. I once tested his knowledge and he was an amateur compared to many who comment/write on this site. Unless he was hiding his real knowledge… I was also careful not to give too much away to him.
    - Shoestring says:
      
      1 Jun1 June 19:35
      
      there is no abuse
      
      there are rules – you keep to the rules = you’re not abusing
  - xcalx says:
    
    2 Jun2 June 10:51
    
    Poacher to gamekeeper.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 10:34
  
  Given the relationships with VGLC, Delta, AF KLM, Virgin Money and the other airlines, it is more about bridge building skills.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 19:27
    
    Building bridges? Doesn’t that encourage people to take Eurostar instead of AF or KLM? 😉
Bootlace says:

1 Jun1 June 09:59

O/T went to BAHeritage centre this week with youngest son during half term, I would recommend it to all interested flyers on HFP. Started with a 45 minute presentation about the history of BA from 1919. Followed by Q and A and as much time to browse around as you like, there are some excellent books by Paul Jarvis on BA history. The Queen was there a couple days earlier and we were lucky enough to see an extra section that was set up for her. The place is staffed largely by volunteers, thanks to Jim and Keith who were excellent.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 10:32
  
  It is on the list for a proper HFP visit and article.
- Michael says:
  
  5 Jun5 June 16:39
  
  Jim really knows his stuff. Used to work for BOAC. I visited after getting off a morning flight from Washington, he told me the flight number i’d been on straight away.
John says:

1 Jun1 June 10:01

OT:

Given the recent flurry around Amex turning the platinum card into Metal from 11 June…

Will the other cards from AMEX UK follow suit? Is the/will the Green Charge be metal?

Or is this a privilege for the highest fee card?

Yours,
John
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 10:32
  
  The US has now got a rose Gold card in metal so it may happen.
  - Memesweeper says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 16:06
    
    In plastic IMHO Green looks best, followed by Gold, then Plat. The Plat actually looks cheap and nasty, nothing classy about it at all. Hopefully the metal finish will improve the looks on the card.
    - marcw says:
      
      1 Jun1 June 20:24
      
      Who cares like cards look like. Soon all physical cards will disappear… mobile payments are the future.
      - Matt says:
        
        2 Jun2 June 00:01
        
        I agree green looks best, and Plat looks cheap silver.
    - Andy says:
      
      2 Jun2 June 18:39
      
      In my humble opinion, Zync or RED look best in plastic….but of course you can’t get them any more.
      Won’t be closing mine any time soon.
Joseph Heenan says:

1 Jun1 June 10:29

OT: I’ve got an BA PP 241 J redemption booking I was thinking to upgrade to F, but ‘manage my booking’->change date/time’ just gives ‘You are unable to make changes to this flight online’.

Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? I thought it was possible to do changes/upgrades online usually.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 10:31
  
  241s struggle with the BA systems. You need to call.
  - Joseph Heenan says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 15:53
    
    Ahh. Thanks Rob and Craig! That explains it, my memories of doing it online previously must have not involved a 241.
- Craig says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 15:15
  
  Just done just that, for some reason loads of availability just appeared to BNA (Nashville) in F? On the date I’m going 4 of the 8 seats in the First cabin were released for Avios booking.
- Graham Walsh says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 22:35
  
  As a side note, I upgraded from WTP to CW on a 241 last night. 241 was in g/f name as she earned it. So I said take payment from my BA Amex. It kept getting declined so agent in the US where I called said he’d try later and it would take 5-7 days for ticket to be updated.
  
  Got an alert in AW of seat change this evening so knew upgrade had been processed. Then get a call from India. It was a BA agent about the extra payment. Turns out it must be the cardholder of the 241 that pays the upgrade fee too.
rob says:

1 Jun1 June 10:39

OT

I assume I’m not missing anything and using avios.com to book Aer Lingus flights is the cheapest tax price I’ll get?

I need NQY – DUB and tax is £38 if booked online.

Many thanks
Jimbo says:

1 Jun1 June 11:46

bought in error?

How does one purchase concert tickets in error – twice?
Graham Walsh says:

1 Jun1 June 12:04

OT Anyone else been locked out of their BA account by Award Wallet? Got a mail from BA about a 3rd party trying to access the account.
- Peter K says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 12:24
  
  Nope, but BA had asked me 3 times recently to change my password, twice via award wallet and once logging in direct 🙄
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 12:24
  
  Yep disabled auto logins now so only updates on a pc/laptop
- Rob says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 13:11
  
  I got this, set a new BA password and all has been well with AW since.
- Lady London says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 14:39
  
  typical of airlines trying to protect access to their systems by “robots” which they figure are either malicioius, or people actually trying to use a competing service to access their accounts that BA doesn’t offer! witness the demise of the excellent myflights service which all the airlines blocked as they didn’t want customers to have access to their own information that easily.