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If you're like many Flying Club members, you probably appreciate the award rates Virgin Atlantic can charge on routes — but not the taxes and fees that come with them.
And over the past several months, those fees have quietly crept higher.
So, it seems like a good time to take a fresh look at what you'll pay out of pocket on Virgin Atlantic-operated award tickets and whether redeeming Virgin points still makes sense.
What Fees Does Virgin Atlantic Charge on Award Tickets?
Like with any other airline, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club imposes taxes and fees on award bookings. But what separates Virgin Atlantic from other programs you might be familiar with is that its taxes and fees are steeper than most — particularly for flights it operates.
For comparison, many award programs only charge the passenger civil aviation security fee of just $5.60 on flights originating in the U.S.
Virgin passes along that fee too, but you’ll also be on the hook for assorted carrier-imposed international surcharges and transportation taxes.
On a simple economy ticket, you might pay around $164 on a Virgin Atlantic flight from the U.S. to London (on top of the points). On flights out of the U.K., Virgin charges closer to double that amount due to additional charges such as the infamous Air Passenger Duty (APD), APHIS fees, and higher passenger service charges.
All to say, these fees add up quickly. On top of that, they seem to keep rising.
Current Virgin Atlantic award fees
To give you an idea of where things stand now, here are the current one-way taxes and fees (converted to USD) we’re seeing on Virgin Atlantic award flights between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and the U.K.:
| Direction | Economy | Premium | Upper Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. → U.K. | $164 | $299 | $705 |
| U.K. → U.S. | $328 | $632 | $972 |
| Canada → U.K. | $194 | $327 | $734 |
| U.K. → Canada | $286 | $590 | $930 |
| Mexico → U.K. | $132 | $230 | N/A |
| U.K. → Mexico | $354 | $656 | N/A |
Generally speaking, these fees don’t vary by route. This means whether you’re flying from Los Angeles (LAX) or New York (JFK) to London (LHR), you’ll pay the same amount. And even if you fly into Manchester (MAN), Virgin imposes the same taxes and fees there as well.
Moreover, Virgin Atlantic prices its own flights dynamically. And whether your nonstop economy award from New York to London costs 6,000 points or 60,000, you’ll still pay the same $164 and change in taxes and fees on that U.S.-originating departure.
Related: Fly Without the Fees: Airline Programs That Don't Add Fuel Surcharges to Award Flights
Is It Still Worth Booking Virgin Atlantic Awards With Points?
It’s fair to wonder whether it’s worth redeeming points for a Virgin Atlantic award if you’ll still pay an arm and a leg in taxes and fees. Past a certain point, your points aren’t doing much if those charges eclipse most of the cost of a cash ticket.
To put this into perspective, consider this: On a random date in 2027, Virgin Atlantic might offer a flight from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) in economy for 7,500 points plus $164. These awards book into “Economy Classic,” which could otherwise cost $649 on the same date.
Plug that into a handy cents-per-point calculator, and you’re looking at a solid 6.47¢ per point. In this case, it’s not a bad deal to redeem points. But in other cabins, it might be a different story.
In that Miami example, Virgin is asking for 215,000 points plus $705 in taxes and fees for Upper Class. And I ran the numbers so you don’t have to: You’re getting just 0.86¢ per point on that redemption.
That’s well below the 3.55¢ per point that AwardWallet users typically get. Plus, it's just a downright crazy price to pay for this flight.
I’m not sure about you, but paying several hundred dollars on top of redeeming points doesn’t feel worth it — especially for business class — even if I'm getting a good deal on paper.
Sure, you’re getting a heavily discounted flight to or from Europe, and you might use relatively few points if saver space is available (like, as few as 29,000 points for Upper Class). But you may find better value with other programs, both in terms of the points required and the out-of-pocket cost.
We’d also be remiss not to mention that Virgin Atlantic offers a fixed number of Tier Points on award redemptions. So, for all intents and purposes, these awards count toward Flying Club status. If you’re flying on Virgin (but not its partner airline), you don’t have to choose between earning status on a cash ticket or redeeming points; you can get the best of both worlds.
Related: The Cheapest Ways to Book Award Flights to Europe Using Points and Miles
Bottom Line
Rather than viewing Flying Club as a program where you can score a virtually free flight with points and miles (at least on Virgin-operated flights; some partners have a lower out-of-pocket burden), it’s better to think of it as a way to get a deeply discounted trip to Europe.
And that’s not the worst thing in the world, considering how easy it is to earn Virgin points. Several programs offer transfers to Flying Club, which means award flights to Europe starting at 6,000 points (plus, wink, $164) are almost always within reach.
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