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Two years ago, Virgin Atlantic took the positive step of guaranteeing at least 12 award seats on every flight. But this guarantee is no more; Virgin is eliminating this feature of its program. Why? Because — and you will struggle not to laugh — loyal program members didn't like it and wanted more flexibility with awards instead!
Virgin Atlantic Scraps Its Award Seat Guarantee in Secret
Virgin Atlantic hosts an invite-only Travel Talk forum for its most loyal Flying Club members. The airline values these travelers so highly that it set up a special forum just for them. The airline shared a four-page PDF defending its recently introduced changes, such as dynamic award pricing, and addressing the elimination of the 12-award seat guarantee.
As you can imagine, the forum did not respond well to this document and was utterly scathing at some of Virgin’s reasoning. Go figure.
Related: What Is Dynamic Pricing? How This Award Pricing Model Works
Why Did Virgin Atlantic Eliminate Its Award Seat Guarantee?
Perhaps it is best to let Virgin speak for itself on why it scrapped the award seat guarantee:
“We listened to member feedback and while the minimum 12 seat guarantee was valued, the high demand for those seats showed us that we needed more flexibility. We considered including a guaranteed number of seats in the new Saver product, but feedback showed that booking 11 months in advance to secure one was unfair and impractical for many members. Instead, we’ve reinvested that value into better pricing for all. This way, you can use your points anytime.”
Yes, you read that right. According to Virgin Atlantic, its loyal members weren't content with all that guaranteed award space and would much rather fight over the odd saver seat here and the odd saver seat there — as long as they have more flexibility.
We'll clarify that there are positives associated with Virgin Atlantic adopting dynamic pricing. For example, some saver awards from the United States to the UK come dirt cheap — think 29k Virgin points for a ride in Upper Class with reasonable taxes and fees. But juxtapose those low rates with exponentially higher rates for the same ticket a day later, and it's easy to see where the problem lies. But hey, at least seats are available!
Virgin Atlantic discussed other program changes but explained away the bad
The document — which Virgin Atlantic didn't share publicly — does not only address the award seat availability but does reference other negative issues affecting the program in recent times, including:
- The current points devaluation after the shift to dynamic pricing.
- The capping of Companion Voucher redemptions at 75,000 points for Red members and 150,000 points for Silver and Gold elites.
- What can smaller program members who do not accrue many points do to deal with the current devaluation?
Interestingly, after reading through the available answers shared by Head for Points, we applaud Virgin for its excellent PR gymnastics. The statements never give concrete answers, with many instances of terms like “building value,” “making Flying Club more rewarding,” and so on.
The statement is full of spin and dancing around the issue; it never addresses the details of how people are supposed to wrangle with the negative impacts of its recent program changes.
Our Take
It's frustrating to see Virgin Atlantic announce program adjustments and spin a negative like it's a positive. Yes, some members may value having more seats bookable — especially if they struggled to book an award long in advance and grab one of the guaranteed seats.
Now, they can grab a seat whenever there's one available with cash. However, the downside is that the award rates could be higher than anyone should ever consider paying. That's a devaluation — removing value from the program instead of building value.
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