Virgin Atlantic is one of the largest airlines in the United Kingdom. While it may not be totally obvious at first glance, Virgin Atlantic has some of the best deals in travel for some of its partner routes.
In this guide article, we'll delve into how you can earn Virgin Atlantic points, the best Virgin Atlantic sweet spots, and the program's award cancellation policies.
How To Earn Virgin Atlantic Points
Flying On Virgin Atlantic & Partners
When flying on Virgin Atlantic operated and marketed flights, you're subject to the following earning calculator. Unlike other airlines that typically have a published chart on mileage earnings, it's not totally clear how earning works on Virgin Atlantic flights outside of the context of their calculator.
However, flying on Skyteam partners is typically a bit more of a fruitful process. There are tables fully established for these purposes, which make it relatively simple to figure out just how many miles you'll be earning on a flight. Typically, you'll earn based on the distance and fare class traveled.
Credit Card Transfer Partners
Virgin Atlantic points are very easy to come by, since they are actually transfer partners with every major credit card issuer out there:
These credit card issuers will typically run transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic, meaning you could get a lot more value out of your points then. In the past, we've seen crazy transfer bonuses to Virgin of up to 150% from Bilt. The other programs usually offer more modest transfer bonuses of around 20%.
Buy Virgin Atlantic Points
You can also purchase Virgin Atlantic points directly. Generally speaking, buying points at face value is not recommended since the cost per point can be really high. However, with promotional sales, buying points can actually make sense for a lot of people.
For instance, with Virgin Atlantic's most recent sale, you can buy points at 1.48 cents each, which becomes very reasonable all things considered.
How To Earn Virgin Atlantic Status
Virgin Atlantic has 3 tiers of status: Red, Silver, and Gold. Red status is given to all members, whereas Silver and Gold require more extensive flying.
To earn Silver status, you must accumulate 400 Tier Points. Gold is earned at 1,000 Tier Points. Earning Tier Points is different from earning Virgin Atlantic miles:
Virgin Atlantic status can give you access to extra checked bags, free seat selection, upgrade vouchers, and priority check in. Gold status is equivalent to SkyTeam Elite, which allows you to access SkyTeam business class lounges when traveling in eligible cabins.
What Are Virgin Atlantic's Partners?
Virgin Atlantic is a part of the SkyTeam alliance, which is currently comprised of 19 airlines servicing 437+ million passengers per year. Some major partners in this alliance include Delta, Air France/KLM, and Vietnam Airlines. When flying on any SkyTeam partner, you're eligible to earn Virgin Atlantic miles and will receive reciprocal benefits where offered.
Virgin Atlantic also has other airline partners across the globe. Most notably, ANA and Air New Zealand are among this bunch, which are some of Virgin Atlantic's highest value redemptions. Others include:
- Hawaiian Airlines
- IndiGo
- Latam Airlines
- SAS Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- Virgin Australia
Virgin Atlantic Award Chart
Virgin Atlantic prices its flights on a variable basis depending on the type of flight you're booking. In the case of partner flights, Virgin Atlantic has a specific award chart for each airline partner. So, we'll walk through the individual pricing of each combination to explore the sweet spot redemptions.
Virgin Atlantic Sweet Spot Redemptions
North America, Europe, Australia <> Japan On ANA Business/First Class: 45k Virgin Atlantic Miles
The Virgin Atlantic deal to book ANA flights ranks as one of the best award deals in all of travel, even after its devaluation in 2023. When flying between Australia, Canada, or the Western US (e.g. SFO, LAX), you can fly on ANA's incredible business class for just 52,500 Virgin miles in each direction. Flying from the East Coast (e.g. JFK, ORD) runs just 60,000 Virgin miles, which is still just as incredible.
You could even fly on ANA’s first class product for just 72.5–85k Virgin points each direction as well. For context, ANA’s first class can sometimes sell for upwards of $20,000 roundtrip from the East Coast, meaning you can really get a lot out of your hard-earned points with this redemption.
However, when booking flights, you cannot simply search for ANA awards on Virgin Atlantic’s website. To make things more complicated, you have to call Virgin Atlantic directly and speak to an agent for them to book the award flight.
To find Virgin Atlantic award availability, the easiest way is to check on United Airlines, LifeMiles, or Australia Velocity's websites. You need to start off by searching on these airline's websites to see if you can find award space that ANA is releasing to partners. If at least 2 other ANA partners say they can book the flight online, then you should be able to book the flight with Virgin Atlantic
After finding potential availability, you'll need to call Virgin Atlantic to confirm it directly. Thankfully, Virgin Atlantic agents are pretty competent.
Here's a step-by-step process on how to do this:
- Give Virgin Atlantic a call at 1 (800) 862-8621
- Confirm the award availability with the agent and request the award booking to be held for 24-48 hours
- Transfer your points to Virgin Atlantic
- Call Virgin Atlantic again at 1 (800) 862-8621 to pay for your booking
- Note the ANA Record Locator and navigate to ANA's reservation page to access and edit your booking
U.S. <> Auckland On Air New Zealand Business Class: 62.5k Virgin Miles
Virgin Atlantic's partnership with Air New Zealand showcases some exciting award redemptions for just 62,500 Virgin miles one-way and minimal taxes/fees. Flying over the Pacific Ocean in business class for just that is extremely high value. However, finding these high-value award redemptions is no easy feat.
However, similar to ANA, you cannot find Air New Zealand flights on the Virgin Atlantic website. To find Air New Zealand award flights, you need to search for the flights through partner airlines. In this particular case, it's usually best to search for the flights on United Airlines.
This Roame search shows a Air New Zealand flight at 110k pts, but the fact that this flight exists is very promising. Since it's in fare class I, that means it should also exist on Virgin Atlantic's side. You can book these flights by calling Virgin Atlantic directly and talking with one of their many competent agents.
- Give Virgin Atlantic a call at 1 (800) 862-8621
- Confirm the award availability with the agent and request the award booking to be held for 24-48 hours (this may not be possible)
- Transfer your points to Virgin Atlantic
- Call Virgin Atlantic again at 1 (800) 862-8621 to pay for your booking
- Note the Air New Zealand record locator
U.S. <> Europe On Air France/KLM Business Class
Virgin Atlantic points can also be used to book Air France/KLM business class tickets for as low as 48,500 points + taxes during off-peak seasons and as high as 58,500 during on-peak seasons. Given award inflation over the last few years, this is a fantastic deal to hop on a fantastic business class product over the Atlantic.
Virgin uses a zone based system to determine its award pricing when booking Air France/KLM tickets. As such, you will see these excellent prices for flights flying to/from Zone 1 and Zone 6 (defined below):
- Zone 1: UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Balearic Islands, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway and Sweden.
- Zone 6: East Coast USA, East Canada, Antigua, Barbados, Bahamas, Cuba, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Caiman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Martinique, Haiti, Porto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Marteen.
You can use Roame's premium SkyView product to easily search for deals:
London <> West Coast (LHR <> SFO/SEA/LAX) In Economy Class
Flying to the United Kingdom nowadays isn't as cheap as it used to be. A roundtrip economy flight can run about $800+ nowadays for flights departing on the weekends. With this sale, you can save a bit of cash and just have to pay the award taxes.
So, instead of paying the full $800+ required, you could just book roundtrip for 30k pts + ~$430 USD. Despite the high fees, you're also getting to fly nonstop; so, if you were planning on flying to Europe anyways, this seems like a great way to use some points to get significant value out of them.
Virgin Atlantic Award Cancellation Fees
Virgin has its award cancellation fees laid out pretty clearly:
- A cancellation fee of £30 for changes to flights originating in the UK
- US$50 for changes to flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 for changes to flights originating in any other region will apply
All things considered, $50 USD is not a bad price to be able to fully refund your award ticket, especially if it houses a significant number of points.
Conclusion
Virgin Atlantic is not typically a popular program used to book its own flights. However, it is super popular for partner flights bookings and has some of the best deals in travel around. It's definitely worth taking a serious look into the program to see if you can derive any value of it.
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