Virgin Atlantic prizes - with a BIG catch!
In the current economic climate, with rising inflation fuelled by increased bills for utilities, petrol, food, mortgages and more, it’s entirely sensible for us all to be making an extra effort to save money where we can.
Surrounded by such doom and gloom, I’m sure many of us find ourselves even more tempted to spend a few moments every now and then to enter free prize draws and competitions for luxury prizes. Sure, we realise that our chances of winning are slim, but it’s nice to know that there’s still a chance that it could be you who receives that special letter, phone call or email. So you keep an eye out and maybe spend some time entering - as you certainly won’t win otherwise.
Part of Virgin Atlantic’s efforts to keep Flying Club members happy includes urging them to enter competitions for the chance to win “fantastic prizes that are waiting to be claimed”.
Two such competitions currently offer chances to “win 2 Economy flights to Hong Kong plus three nights at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong” or to “win 2 Economy flights to Hong Kong and 3 nights at the Island Shangri-La”.
Don’t those prizes sound great? Just the kind of thing that many people mightn’t be willing or able to buy, but would be delighted to win.
But guess what? Those flights aren’t actually free. Instead, the small print in the terms and conditions states that “passenger taxes, charges, fees and surcharges (the amount of which are subject to change) on the prize tickets are to be paid by the prize winner“!
So from a technical perspective, only the “fare” is free. A quick search today on Virgin Atlantic’s site revealed that example return fares for two (London to Hong Kong return) total £938.80 - of which £582.80 is taxes, fees, charges and surcharges!! I’m not great at maths, but I make that a LONG way off being free.
I think it’s appalling that Virgin is offering these supposed “prizes” with such enormous drawbacks. They may claim it’s all above board because it’s stated in the terms and conditions, but I’m a firm believer that a prize should be a prize - ie free, gratis, without catches.
A prize is certainly NOT something that you have should have to pay for. And most definitely not at over 60% of the regular price!
Virgin Atlantic is one of the last companies I’d have expected to find adding such horrible semi-hidden catches. It’s just plain wrong. And perhaps also a particularly telling sign of the times.
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