I have been a long term Virgin Atlantic customer and in the past have always been happy with the service. I recently booked my 3rd mileage flight for 2 adults, 1 child and 2 infants from Miami to London. At the time I didn't think much of the $1700.00 I was being charged on top of the 160,000 air miles the tickets cost. I knew I had to pay taxes and fees and just assumed that amounted to the $1700.00. It wasn't until I booked a flight on US Airways and was only charged $180 in taxes and fees that my suspicions were raised.
I was shocked to find out that the mileage tickets for my twin infant sons cost me MORE than if I would have bought their tickets with cash and I still used 5000 miles per ticket. I had been charged $246 per ticket in Virgin fees, this is on top of any taxes or other fees. I thought the point of earning miles WAS to PAY for your ticket. I have lodged a complaint with Virgin and would like to know why am I being charged fees that would not be charged to a regular fare paying passenger? Surly my milage covers the cost of the ticket and I should only pay the same fees and taxes that any cash paying passenger would pay.
I have since looked to see how much a mileage ticket on US Airways would cost, and they only charge around $600.00 for the same kind of trip. This includes a $50 mileage processing fee. Big difference. Essentially it works out that you are not getting your ticket (bar the said taxes and fees) for free - Virgin is charging $246 AND taking your miles. And the lemon juice in the paper cut is that the infant seats not only cost more, but they did not even get a seat!
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