Save, Save, Save . . . . Air Miles!?!?

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As many of you know I have not long returned from Jamaica - fab holiday, did not want to come home. Fab holiday it was but getting to Jamaica nowadays for a reasonable price is like pulling teeth from a stone! Virgin Atlantic and British Airways are the only 2 airlines that fly to Jamaica throughout the year, and with no competition from other airlines, flight prices are horrendously expensive! Not only that, Virgin Atlantic only fly to Montego Bay and British Airways fly to Kingston, which leaves passengers no choice but to travel these two airlines. Putting that to one side, I stayed near Montego Bay which meant I had to fly Virgin Atlantic (I have flown them previously to the US, but never to the Caribbean). I booked my ticket online through the Virgin Atlantic website and also opened a Flying Club membership account. What is Flying Club I hear you say? Keep reading . . 

In a nutshell Virgin Atlantic have described the Flying Club as . . 

''Every time you fly you’ll earn miles to spend on brilliant rewards like flights to our fabulous destinations, upgrades and much more. You can also earn miles with our global network of car rental, hotel and airline partners, and even when you shop online. Plus you can claim back miles from any flights you’ve taken with us in the last six months'' 

(Virgin Atlantic, 2013) 

 Originally I thought ''meh this is pants'', but I am starting to realise it's actually a pretty good scheme. I don't fly very often but I do a lot of online shopping as do many of you bloggers. Unbeknown to me last week I was busy faffing about with my account and discovered Virgin Atlantic are in partnership with Tesco. Any Tesco clubcard points you have accumulated, you can convert to flying club miles (which I did immediately last week; linked my tesco clubcard to my flying club account). I then discovered a variety of online retailers, such as ASOS, Selfridges, Apple, Hotel Chocolat, Debenhams, House of Fraser (to name but a few) are also in partnership with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. For every £1 you spend online, you get so many miles, for example Selfridges is 8miles/£1. You're probably wondering ''So what does this all do?'' Well here comes the 'ker-ching' bit.

Everytime you fly with Virgin Atlantic, shop online you earn miles, which built up overtime gets money taken off air fares/upgrades on your next flight. With air fares gradually going up and up, I think this is pretty good. With the little bit of mileage I have built up over the past few weeks, so far it knocks £30 off my next flight. Ok it doesn't sound a lot but if I can accumulate that over a couple of weeks, then what will I have this time next year? You can also earn points from Virgin financial services, shopping outlets, and much much more.

(Points so far, although I have outstanding points waiting to be accredited to my account).

Personally, I think it is definitely a scheme to join and although flight prices are expensive these days, this is definitely an incentive that has encouraged me to spend/save to at least reduce my next flight price to Jamaica (yes, I am going again . . .soon lol).

If you're interested in knowing more about the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, click here.

Are you a member of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club?

Disclaimer: I do not work for, or have I been sponsored by Virgin Atlantic to write about this incentive. Just simply letting you lovely people know about the scheme.