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Many readers may know of Virgin Atlantic as an innovative and spirited airline, but they may not know that the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club offers some of the best value in award travel.
Founded in 1984 by the Virgin Group under the direction of enigmatic businessman Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic has spent the past decades developing valuable airline and banking partnerships. These alliances provide excellent partner booking opportunities. In addition, recent changes to the Flying Club program — including new dynamic award pricing — have opened the door to some amazing new deals.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club may not be on your radar, but — with its slew of international and domestic sweet spots — it should be.
Let's examine the basics of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and discover the hidden gems that make Virgin Points incredibly valuable.
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Why Join Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Flying Club members earn frequent flyer points for flights on Virgin Atlantic and dozens of partner airlines. These Virgin points are highly valuable; AwardWallet members have redeemed Virgin points at an average of 3.65¢ per point — one of the highest redemption values out there.
You can create your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account by using this link. After entering your personal details, you'll be provided with a Flying Club membership number. For ease in keeping track of this number, track your Flying Club account through AwardWallet.
Virgin Atlantic Partners
Based out of London Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic serves destinations across the globe, including the USA, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Moreover, its airline alliances significantly expand its global footprint, giving its members access to over 1,000 destinations in 170 countries worldwide.
Travelers can use Virgin points to book over 20 airlines, really making Flying Club shine.
SkyTeam
In 2023, Virgin Airlines officially joined SkyTeam, the world’s second-largest airline alliance. Flying Club members can now earn and redeem Virgin points with all alliance members, except for China Eastern, which Virgin Atlantic says will be available soon. SkyTeam partners include KLM/AirFrance, Delta, Aeromexico, Korean Air, and many others.
Non-alliance partners
In addition to the SkyTeam partners, Virgin Atlantic also partners with the following other airlines:
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- El Al Israel
- Hawaiian Airlines
- IndiGo
- LATAM Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- Virgin Australia
You can redeem Virgin points for reward flights with all of the partners above except IndiGo. In addition, Flying Club elite members can access elite benefits on many of these partner airlines. For more information on benefits, check out the Flying Club website.
How To Earn Virgin Points
Virgin Atlantic's numerous partnerships provide ample opportunities for redeeming points, as we'll discuss in a moment. Fortunately, there are also plenty of ways to earn Virgin points.
Flying on Virgin Atlantic or partners
Of course, the most straightforward way to earn points is by flying on Virgin Atlantic or its airline partners. You can check how many points your flight will earn you on the Flying Club's earning calculator. Here are the other ways to build up that Virgin points stash.
Credit cards
In the past, Virgin Atlantic offered multiple credit cards to U.S. applicants — these were issued by Bank of America. Now, there's just one credit card (for U.S. applicants) that earns Virgin points directly: the Virgin Red Rewards World Elite Mastercard. For the right traveler, this card can be extremely rewarding and help you stack points quickly.
Virgin Atlantic transfer partners
Luckily, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a transfer partner of all of the major transferable point currencies. This includes:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Capital One Miles (via Virgin Red)
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Citi ThankYou Points
- Marriott Bonvoy
Below are the transfer rates and time it takes to transfer these flexible rewards to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:
You may notice that you can't directly transfer Capital One Rewards to Virgin Atlantic. Rather, you have to transfer points to Virgin Red and — as long as your accounts are linked — Virgin points are automatically available through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club as well.
All of these transfer options make it easy to accumulate a healthy balance of Virgin points. Even better, keep your eye out for transfer bonuses from these partners to really rack up the points.
Points Booster
If you fly on Virgin Atlantic, you can use Flying Club's Points Booster to earn even more points on your trip. This only works on actual Virgin Atlantic flights, not partner airlines, but it does apply to both cash and rewards bookings as far as six months back.
The cost is typically 1 British pence (1.26 US cents at the time of publishing) per point. But be on the lookout for Flying Club Points Booster promotions that drop the price even cheaper.
Shopping portals
Members can earn Virgin points by shopping online through Flying Club's shopping portal Shops Away and through Virgin Red — which is the broader reward club for Virgin. If your Flying Club and Virgin Red accounts are linked, the Virgin points you earn in Virgin Red will be redeemable with Flying Club as well.
Related: The Beginner's Guide to Shopping Portals
Other earning partners
In addition to shopping portals, points can also be earned with the following other partners:
- Virgin Group: Book hotels, trains, experiences, and more with Virgin Group and earn Virgin points toward your next flight.
- Rental cars: Virgin Atlantic partners with Hertz, Avis, Alamo, National, Enterprise and Sixt
- Rocketmiles: Book a hotel through Rocketmiles and earn points with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Buying Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
Flying Club members can purchase up to 100,000 Virgin points per calendar year in increments of 1,000. Virgin points cost £15/$25 per 1,000 points. However, keep in mind there is an additional $22 transaction fee tacked on to any transfer.
If you're considering buying points, keep your eye out for promotions. Periodically, Virgin Atlantic has promotions on buying Virgin points, which drops the cost per point down significantly.
Transferring points to other members
You may want to share your points with family or friends. Luckily, you can transfer Virgin points to other Flying Club members. Points must be transferred in increments of 1,000 points. After a recent change, Virgin charges a flat fee of just $15 for each transfer.
Virgin Atlantic Points Redemptions
Here comes the best part. You've got a big stash of points just burning a hole in your Flying Club account. How are you going to spend them? Virgin Atlantic makes it easy to find lots of great redemptions (and a few not-so-great ones, too).
Flights on Virgin Atlantic
The first way to use your Virgin points is, of course, by flying on Virgin Atlantic. Let's look at how to redeem them for award flights. When searching for seats on Virgin Atlantic's homepage, click the Rewards Flights tab above the search fields.
After you hit the search button, the airline will display a week's worth of award prices at the top of the page, in addition to the flights available on the day you searched for. You'll notice that the ones shown below are quite variable. If you can't find results that work for you, consider using Virgin's Reward Seat Checker.
In October 2024, Atlantic made massive changes to its program, moving from a fixed redemption chart to dynamic pricing. This means that, depending on demand, you can find both amazing and terrible deals.
Take this flight from New York JFK to London Heathrow in March. You can fly in economy seats for only 6,000 points each way, or in business class for only 29,000. But beware of the taxes and fees, which are also dynamic. This Upper Class ticket has a fee of $255, but some can be more than $400 a person as well.
These are great deals, but this option from Miami to London in April, is not so great. 230,000 points and $482 in taxes and fees? No thanks.
Lap infant award tickets
Virgin Atlantic also allows parents to book an award flight with a lap infant. The award prices depend on the class of the ticket and, of course, are only applicable for a child under the age of two. Pricing is as follows:
- Economy: 1,000 points
- Premium: 2,000 points
- Upper Class: 5,000 points
Booking partner awards
When people talk about Virgin Atlantic Flying Club sweet spots, this is where they are. Despite recent devaluations to All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Delta award pricing, there remain some excellent opportunities for getting outsized value from your Virgin points through partner awards.
Here's an overview of the best sweet spots bookable with Virgin points:
- Fly ANA first or business class between the U.S. and Japan. First class seats can be booked for as low as 145,000 points round trip, with business class costing just 90,000-95,000 round-trip. One way can be booked at half that rate. These awards can not be booked online, so a phone call is required. Fees on these redemptions are reasonable.
- Fly Delta domestically for as little as 7,500 points. Virgin Atlantic has a distance-based award chart for most Delta awards (except flights to the UK and mainland Europe). All flights under 500 miles cost just 7,500 points each way.
- Fly Air New Zealand in business class. Book nonstop flights for only 45,000 Virgin points each way between the South Pacific and Los Angeles. A caution though — these awards don't have a lot of availability and can be hard to find.
- Fly Korean Air from the U.S. to Seoul in business class. You can fly from the U.S. West Coast to Korea with Korean Air for 85,000 points in business class each way.
It's worth noting that each partner's redemption table is different. To view partner-specific tables, click here, and then choose an airline. If Virgin lets you redeem points for flights on that airline, you'll see a tab that says “Spend Virgin Points.”
For reference, here's what the top of the page looks like for Delta:
Booking with Points Plus Money
If reward seats are unavailable for your Virgin Atlantic flight, you could consider Points Plus Money as an option. However, except in rare circumstances, you probably shouldn't. It's rarely a great value for your points. Redemption options typically provide around 0.68 cents per point in value. That's nowhere near the average value of Virgin Atlantic points.
If you have no other way to top off your balance, Points Plus Money is available for all Virgin Atlantic-operated flights booked online. Each 3,000 points redeemed, lowers the cost of the flight ticket. You'll still earn Virgin points to boost your account balance as well as tier points, which help you earn toward Gold and Silver status.
Using points to upgrade
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club allows you to use points to upgrade one or two classes or services on eligible flights. Only flights serviced by Virgin Atlantic and booked with cash or Points Plus Money are eligible for points upgrades. Additionally, the cheapest fares are not eligible for upgrades (V, N, and O codes), and upgrades are subject to availability. To determine the number of points needed to upgrade, reference this chart for peak travel dates, based on round-trip travel.
| Route To/From UK | Economy Classic to Premium | Premium to Upper Class | Economy Classic to Upper Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Israel | 18,000 | 26,000 | 44,000 |
| India and Abu Dubai | 15,000 | 40,000 | 55,000 |
| USA-North East (Boston, New York JFK, Washington DC) | 15,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| Caribbean | 15,000 | 80,000 | 95,000 |
| USA-Midwest & South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Tampa) | 20,000 | 50,000 | 70,000 |
| Nigeria and China | 20,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| South Africa and Indian Ocean | 40,000 | 50,000 | 90,000 |
| USA-West (Austin, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle) | 25,000 | 80,000 | 105,000 |
Use this upgrade chart for standard (off-peak) dates. This chart lists prices for round-trip travel. To upgrade a one-way flight, simply divide the cost in half.
| Route to/from UK | Economy Classic to Premium | Premium to Upper Class | Economy Classic to Upper Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Israel | 14,000 | 24,000 | 38,000 |
| India & Dubai | 15,000 | 40,000 | 55,000 |
| USA - Northeast (Boston, New York JFK, Washington DC) | 15,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| Caribbean | 15,000 | 80,000 | 95,000 |
| USA - Midwest & South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Tampa) | 20,000 | 50,000 | 70,000 |
| Nigeria and China | 20,000 | 70,000 | 90,000 |
| South Africa and Indian Ocean | 25,000 | 65,000 | 90,000 |
| USA - West (Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 25,000 | 80,000 | 105,000 |
Redeeming on Virgin Red
Virgin Red allows members to redeem their points for non-flight awards. Some of these redemptions offer poor value for your points when compared with flight redemptions, but there are others worth redeeming. Be sure to compare the point and cash costs to ensure you are getting a good deal.
Through Virgin Red, you can book various experiences, theater and event tickets, and even cruises on Virgin Voyages, though availability varies. There are also once-in-a-lifetime luxury trips available — such as a stay at Richard Branson's private island home on Necker Island or even a luxurious safari camp stay at Mahali Mzuri in Kenya.
How To Earn Virgin Atlantic Elite Status
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has three membership levels: Red, Silver and Gold. Red is the base level for anyone who joins the Flying Club loyalty program. All membership tiers allow you to earn and use Virgin points, and even Virgin Red members now get priority boarding.
Elite status is achieved by accumulating Tier Points from flights with Virgin Atlantic or its partners. Reaching Silver status requires 400 Tier Points annually, while Gold status requires 1,000 points within a year. Tier Points expire after 12 months, so maintaining your status requires you to continue earning tier points at the same level.
It's worth noting that Virgin Atlantic is one of a few airlines that lets you earn elite status credits on award travel — though this only applies to flights operated by Virgin Atlantic, not its partners.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Silver status benefits
Silver status is comprised of benefits to simplify the airport experience and a few onboard perks. These include:
- 30% more Virgin points on flights
- 1 extra piece of checked baggage
- Priority baggage
- Premium check-in, regardless of service class
- Advanced seat assignment in economy cabins
- SkyTeam Elite status perks when flying on other SkyTeam partners
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Gold status benefits
Gold status is quite a step up from Silver. In addition to all of the Silver benefits, Gold member benefits include:
- 60% bonus Virgin points on flights
- Upper-class check-in, regardless of your class of service
- Access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses and London Heathrow Revivals lounges
- Extra luggage allowance, no matter which cabin you fly
- Gold Reward Seats — turn any seat into a Reward Seat for double the usual points price
- Free exit row seat in Economy Classic
- SkyTeam Elite Plus perks when flying on other SkyTeam airlines.
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses located in Boston (BOS), Johannesburg (JNB), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington-Dulles (IAD) are some of the nicest lounges out there, so this benefit is a great perk for Gold members. An added benefit of Flying Club elite status is that the perks are extended to members flying on Delta, including:
- Extra baggage
- Priority check-in
- Priority baggage and boarding
- Access to Delta Sky Club (only if you have a transatlantic sector to or from the UK on the same day within the same itinerary)
- Complimentary access to Delta Comfort+ at the gate
Other partners offer Flying Club Gold members elite benefits that vary by airline.
Final Thoughts
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club boasts numerous partnerships that make earning and using Virgin points easy. Points can be readily earned through flying Virgin Atlantic and its partners, spending on credit cards, renting cars, booking hotels, and transferring points from flexible point programs.
Not all Virgin point redemptions are created equal, but Virgin points remain one of the most valuable currencies for booking flights due to partner booking sweet spots. Plus, elite Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can enjoy numerous benefits on both Virgin Atlantic flights and those of their partner airlines. This is one airline loyalty program that you shouldn't ignore.
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