Virgin Atlantic’s Reward Seat Checker Makes Finding Cheap Award Flights Easy

Finding Virgin Atlantic award space used to require searching one date at a time and hoping the results lined up with your travel plans. The Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker makes that process much easier by showing award availability across an entire month.

That’s especially useful now that Virgin Atlantic prices its own awards dynamically and labels its lowest-priced awards as Saver reward seats. With the Reward Seat Checker, you can quickly compare dates, spot lower-priced awards, and see which cabins are available before moving over to the main Virgin Atlantic site to book.

It’s not a perfect tool, and it no longer helps with Delta award availability. But for travelers looking to redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points on Virgin-operated flights, it’s one of the easiest ways to narrow down your best options.

Here’s how the Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker works and how to use it to find better Flying Club award redemptions.

How Does the Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker Work?

The Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker is intuitive and easy to use. Start here and choose your departure airport. You can select any airport Virgin Atlantic operates from, including New York, Delhi, Dubai (returning 2027), and more.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Next, choose your destination and desired month of travel. We'll peruse availability for a March 2027 flight from London Heathrow (LHR) to New York (JFK) to show how the tool works.

Hit “Find reward seats,” and voila! All the award space for March 2027 on Virgin's flagship route is displayed on the screen in front of you. You'll see the price in points for each available booking type. However, you'll need to go through the booking process to determine if more than one seat is available at that price.

Awards with a red Saver label indicate Saver reward seats, which offer Virgin Atlantic's lowest points prices.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

To view another month, use the arrows at the top right to scroll forward or backward. To check availability for your return flight, click the reversing arrows at the top.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

The Reward Seat Checker will then display award space for the return route. As with the initial search, you can cycle through the months to see additional award space.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

After finding availability, head over to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club site and book the itinerary you found.

Some Examples of Virgin Atlantic's Award Availability

Saver reward availability can vary considerably by route, travel date, and cabin. While every available seat on Virgin Atlantic-operated flights can be booked with points, Saver prices aren't guaranteed on every flight or in every cabin.

For example, in February 2027, Saver rewards from Los Angeles (LAX) to London (LHR) are hard to come by, with only a handful available in economy.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Saver reward space is similarly limited between Manchester (MAN) and Orlando (MCO) in November, although there are a few premium-cabin options available.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Looking ahead, Saver reward space is even harder to find in January 2027 between London (LHR) and Cape Town, South Africa (CPT); in fact, there is none in any class.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

In February 2027, there are a few dates; however, the only available space is in economy — not ideal for a 12-hour overnight flight.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

London to New York offers a much different picture. We found plenty of Saver reward availability in November 2026 and March 2027, making it much easier to find a lower-priced award.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Bookmark URLs To Check Back for Virgin Award Space

The Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker also makes it easy to check back for award space later. Each search URL contains the route, month, and year.

Credit: Virgin Atlantic

Simply bookmark the page, and you can quickly return to the same search to see if award space has opened up — or if the space you wanted is still available. This can be especially useful when planning more complex itineraries involving multiple Virgin Atlantic flights.

Virgin Atlantic Axed Checking for Delta Award Availability

As mentioned above, the Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker previously displayed award availability on select Delta routes. A workaround even made it possible to manipulate the URL to view Delta award space on additional routes.

Unfortunately, that functionality is gone, and the Reward Seat Checker can no longer be used to search for Delta award availability.

You can still redeem Virgin points for eligible Delta-operated award flights, but you'll need another way to find availability. One option is Seats.aero, which tracks award space across multiple programs. Pro members can also use its Delta One Finder to quickly search specifically for Delta One award availability.

Credit: Seats.aero

Credit: Seats.aero

How To Boost Your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Balance

Virgin Atlantic partners with several flexible rewards programs that allow you to earn the points necessary to book the award you've found through the Reward Seat Checker. Virgin points are one of the best currencies for free (or nearly free) travel.

Here's an overview of the programs that offer transfers to Flying Club:

That gives you a slew of options for boosting your Virgin point balance through credit cards. U.S.-based travelers can earn bonuses on any of the following and then transfer the points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

Welcome Bonus Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Apply Now

Annual Fee

$95Rates & Fees

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

• 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
• 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
• 3X points on gas and EV charging
• 3X points on vacation homes at top brands like Airbnb, Vrbo and more
• 3X points on eligible streaming services
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
• 2X points on all other travel
• 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Welcome Offer Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening.

How to Apply

Annual Fee

$95

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

• 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment
• 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases

Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card

Welcome Offer Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Apply Now

Annual Fee

$95Rates & Fees

Credit Score

Excellent, Good

• 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
• 1X point per $1 on all other purchases

Note that Capital One miles don't directly transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Instead, you will need to transfer your miles to Virgin Red first. Once you've linked your Virgin Red and Flying Club accounts, you can use those Virgin points through Flying Club.

Related: Do Virgin Atlantic Points Expire?

Our Take

The Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker is an incredibly useful tool for Flying Club members, particularly if your travel dates are flexible. Instead of searching for award flights date by date, you can quickly compare prices and look for Saver reward seats across an entire month.

And since Saver rewards offer Virgin Atlantic's lowest points prices, the checker can make it much easier to spot the best opportunities to use your Virgin points.

We'd love to see more airlines offer similarly simple tools for finding their lowest-priced award seats.

What do you think of this incredible tool from Virgin Atlantic?

For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)