Virgin Atlantic is a British airline that offers a number of routes worldwide with their hub located at London Heathrow.
As Virgin Atlantic is part of the SkyTeam airline alliance, there are a number of excellent use cases for Virgin Atlantic miles, even when not flying on Virgin Atlantic metal. Similar to many other frequent flyer programs, the best opportunities for earning these miles are from transferring other currencies into the program.
Let’s delve into the specifics of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, with a comprehensive guide on how to earn and make the most of your miles.
Acquiring Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points can be earned through various methods including flying on Virgin Atlantic and partner airlines, transferring points from other loyalty programs, earning through hotel stays and purchases through a shopping portal, or buying them outright.
Flying on Virgin Atlantic & Skyteam Alliance Partner Airlines
The most traditional way of earning Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points is by flying on Virgin Atlantic or their alliance partner airlines. Coincidentally, this is also not the easiest or quickest way to earn a large amount of points if you are looking to make a redemption through the Flying Club program.
In the table below, we have outlined the earning rate for a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Red member when flying on various fare classes on Virgin Atlantic flights. The total points earned are calculated by the base miles flown multiplied by the fare class percentage multiplier.
| Virgin Atlantic Fare Class | Virgin Points Earned |
|---|---|
| Economy Light | 25% |
| Economy Classic | 50-150% |
| Economy Delight | 150% |
| Premium Economy Standard (H & K) | 100% |
| Premium Economy Flexible (W & S) | 200% |
| Upper Class Standard (I & Z) | 200% |
| Upper Class Flexible (J, C, & D) | 400% |
Flights on a SkyTeam alliance airline that are credited to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program earn points at various rates. For all details, visit this page and click on the SkyTeam partner you are interested in learning more about.
Transferring Points From Other Loyalty Programs
The easiest and most straightforward way to earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points is to transfer other loyalty program points into the program. These transfer opportunities mostly only exist for those who hold credit cards in the United States.
However, Canadians who have obtained credit cards can accrue large amounts of Flying Club points through transferring especially when coupled with transfer bonuses. If you want to learn more, check out our guide to how Canadians can access US credit cards.
The following loyalty program currencies are able to be transferred to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at the specified ratios:
| Loyalty Program Partner | Transfer Ratio |
|---|---|
| American Express Membership Rewards (US) | 1:1 |
| Bilt Rewards | 1:1 |
| Capital One Miles | 1:1 |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 1:1 |
| Citi ThankYou Rewards | 1:1 |
On the other hand, there are four hotel loyalty programs that can transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:
| Hotel Loyalty Program Partner | Transfer Ratio |
|---|---|
| Marriott Bonvoy | 3:1 |
| Hilton Honors | 20:3 |
| World of Hyatt | 5:3 |
| IHG Hotels & Resorts | 5:1 |
There are often transfer bonuses of up to 30% when transferring to Virgin Flying Club, so it might be worth waiting for one of these promotions before transferring a chunk of points. You can learn more about these transfer options by viewing our Miles & Points Transfer Partner tool.
Shopping Through Virgin Atlantic’s “Shops Away” Portal
Virgin Atlantic offers a shopping portal, aptly titled “Shops Away”, in which Flying Club members can earn points by making purchases at various partnered retailers. There are only US and UK versions of the “Shops Away” portal, making it less than useful for Canadians who are interested in earning points through this avenue.
The portal works similarly to the Aeroplan eStore and Air Miles Shops, in that users must log in and then click through to the retailer via the portal. Once they complete their purchase, the purchase will show as pending within five business days. Points will be deposited to the account once the transaction is confirmed with the retailer which can take up to 45 days.
You can view the United States version of the Virgin Atlantic “Shops Away” portal here.
Booking Hotel Stays Through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can earn points on hotel stays when booked through a variety of methods and partners.
The most straightforward way is to book through Virgin Hotels which results in which members can earn 5 Virgin points per $1 USD spent. You can learn more about how to earn Virgin points when booking through Virgin Hotels here.
Members can also earn points when staying at Virgin Limited Edition hotels, a small set of boutique hotels curated by Richard Branson himself. The earning rates vary based on the property; view the hotels and resorts that participate in this program here.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club also partners with a number of other hotel chains which allow members to earn Virgin points when booking through them. The hotel chains and earning rates are as follows:
| Hotel Partner | Earning Rates |
|---|---|
| Best Western | Earn 500 Virgin Points per qualifying stay worldwide |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Earn 2 or 1 Virgin Points per dollar spent depending on the Marriott hotel brand |
| Hyatt | Earn 750 Virgin Points per qualifying stay worldwide |
| IHG Hotels & Resorts | Earn between 300 to 500 Virgin Points per qualifying stay worldwide depending on the IHG hotel brand |
You can learn more about Virgin’s hotel partners here. Refer to the details for each partner regarding how to book as it may require a specific process or offer code in order to earn Virgin points.
Rental Cars
Members can earn Virgin points when booking rental cars through Hertz, AVIS, Alamo, National, Enterprise, and SIXT. Points will be earned based on the criteria in the table below:
| Rental Car Partner | Earning Rates |
|---|---|
| Hertz | Earn 5 Virgin points for every £1 spent |
| AVIS | Earn between 250 to 1000 Virgin points per rental |
| Alamo Rent A Car | Earn 1000 Virgin points per rental in North America |
| National Car Rental | Earn 1000 Virgin points per rental in North America Earn 600 or 1200 Virgin points per rental in Europe (depending on length of rental) |
| Enterprise Rent-A-Car | Earn 100 Virgin points per car rental day |
| SIXT | Earn 500 Virgin points per car rental |
You can learn more about Virgin’s rental car partners here. Refer to the details for each partner regarding how to book as it may require a specific process or offer code in order to earn Virgin points.
Virgin Atlantic Holidays
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can earn both Virgin points and tier points when booking through the Virgin Atlantic Holidays platform. This includes holiday packages in addition to Virgin Atlantic flight plus hotel bookings.
The amount of Virgin points earned on a holiday booking corresponds with the member’s status level based on the table below:
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Status Level | Earning Rates |
|---|---|
| Red Status | 2 Virgin Points for every £ spent |
| Silver Status | 3 Virgin Points for every £ spent |
| Gold Status | 4 Virgin Points for every £ spent |
On the other hand, tier points are earned solely based on the dollar amount spent. Members will earn 20 tier points for every £500 you spend on your Virgin Atlantic Holidays booking, up to a maximum of 400 Tier Points per trip.
You can learn more about Virgin Atlantic Holidays here.
Purchase Virgin Points
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can purchase Virgin points with cash. This can be a good option if you have a redemption in mind and know that there is availability, as this method can often be cheaper than paying for a first class or business class flight with cash.
Purchasing points can also make sense if you are a few points short of your next redemption. We would never recommend speculatively purchasing points even with a bonus promotion, as the risks are too great as frequent flyer programs change and devalue regularly.
Virgin points can be purchased at a rate of £15.00 per 1,000 Virgin points. Each purchase will also incur a transaction fee of $22.00 USD or £15.00. Each Flying Club member may purchase up to 100,000 Flying Club Virgin Points for themselves in a calendar year.
If you are interested in purchasing Virgin Flying Club points, you can do so here.
Redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points
There are a number of ways to redeem Virgin points however to maximize the value of your Virgin miles, we recommend redeeming them exclusively for flight rewards. Redeeming your Virgin miles for other options like car rentals or hotels offers significantly lower value in comparison, and should only be an option if you have an excess of miles.
Redeeming Virgin Atlantic Points for Reward Flights
The best usage for your Virgin points is to redeem them for flights, however, you typically want to avoid redeeming them for Virgin Atlantic flights. Virgin flights are fraught with high taxes and fees, making them a suboptimal redemption unless if you are deadset on flying on Virgin Atlantic.
However, there is a ton of value in redeeming Virgin points on any of their partner airlines. Since Virgin is aligned with SkyTeam, many popular airlines including Air France, KLM, and Delta Airlines are all bookable with Virgin points.
In order to initiate a search on Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for award flights, start here.
Fill out all relevant details including routes, dates, and passenger numbers. Ensure you expand the search options to select that you wish to book with points and choose the class of service. Virgin Atlantic refers to business class as “Upper Class” so that is the option you want to select if you are interested in flying in that cabin. It is also recommended to check the “Show Flexible Dates” box.
Once you search, if there are available seats on the week that you are looking to book, you will see a calendar like the one below. This will allow you to quickly comb through the various pricing and availabilities to determine the best flight for your needs.
Once you select the dates, you will be able to see all available options for that date. Since Virgin Atlantic partners with many airlines, you might see multiple airlines and routing options available on your chosen date for very different prices when it comes to both points and taxes. Simply select the flight you are interested in and proceed with the rest of the booking process to reserve your ticket.
That’s all there is to it! As always, finding availability is the hardest piece and might require some effort, including taking advantage of various flight award search tools. Before making any redemption, consider reading about our best practices when making flight award redemptions.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can also hold award tickets for up to one day at no fee, if they need additional time to transfer points into the program. Click to learn more about which frequent flyer programs offer the ability to hold award seats.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Sweet Spots
While there are a bunch of good flight redemptions that you can make with Virgin points, there are a few that stick out to us for various reasons. This list is not exhaustive but might help in giving you an idea as to how you can redeem your Virgin points for unique flight awards.
The most popular option is to redeem for All Nippon Airways (ANA) business class or first class to Japan. Members can redeem 45,000 Virgin points to travel from the West Coast or 47,500 points from the East Coast when flying in business class. On the other hand, members can redeem 72,500 Virgin points to travel from the West Coast or 85,000 points from the East Coast in first class.
While these are attractive redemptions if you are looking to visit Japan, be aware that these routes are in high demand and it can be insanely difficult to find more than one award ticket on the same flight. Before you consider using Flying Club to book your Japan adventure, ensure you do a lot of searching to determine availability and total pricing.
An easier-to-find redemption is Delta One Business Class which can be booked with a route from North America to Europe for 50,000 Virgin points plus a reasonable amount in taxes and fees.
Finally, ITA Airways is a recent partner addition to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and this is a good way to get to Rome in business class. A one-way flight from the East Coast to Rome on ITA will cost 75,000 Virgin points plus only $5 USD in taxes and fees (if flying from the West Coast, it costs nominally more in points only).
While the point pricing is higher, availability seems to be much better and the rock-bottom taxes and fees do make this an attractive redemption if you aren’t as worried about paying the lowest possible amounts of points. If you want to save on points, look for Air France availability but know that you will have to pay significantly more in taxes and fees.
Virgin Atlantic Holidays
Members can use their Virgin points to receive a discount on Virgin Atlantic Holiday bookings. When redeeming points for this option, members will receive a £16.50 discount on the Virgin Atlantic Holidays package for every 3,000 Virgin Points redeemed. There is no maximum limit on the points that can be redeemed through this option.
In order to access this option, you will need to select the package you want to book and input the guest names for that booking. You will then be prompted to enter your Virgin Flying Club number, at which point you will be able to redeem Virgin points to reduce the cost of the booking.
You can search for Virgin Atlantic Holidays here.
Hotel Stays
Members can redeem for hotel stays through Virgin Atlantic’s partnership with Kaligo. When booking through Kaligo, hotels are broken into three different categories:
- Standard hotels at a cost of 20,000 Virgin points per night
- Premium hotels at a cost of 30,000 Virgin points per night
- Luxury hotels at a cost of 40,000 Virgin points per night
In order to redeem, members will need to contact the Flying Club helpline to redeem their Virgin points for Kaligo e-vouchers of the required level.
Once they have received their voucher(s), they can search for and book the hotel while applying their voucher codes to make the hotel stay free. The voucher category is clearly outlined when searching for hotels, so it would be a good idea to search and choose your hotel before calling to redeem your points for a voucher.
To search for hotels and to learn more about this redemption option, click here.
Virgin Experiences
Similar to Marriott Bonvoy Moments, there are a number of Virgin Experiences that can be booked with Virgin points. These options change regularly but can include experiences such as various date night and thrill seeker experiences.
You can see all available experiences here.
Virgin Voyages
One of the more unique redemption opportunities of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program is that you can book an adults-only cruise with Virgin points on Virgin Voyages. This falls within the category of Virgin Experiences but is such a unique redemption option that it deserves its own call-out.
The ability to redeem points for a Virgin Voyages cruise is not always available as Virgin is most likely using this redemption as a mechanism to fill empty cabins in advance of cruise dates. It does however seem to be offered at least a few times a year, so it is worth keeping an eye out if you are interested in making this redemption.
Learn More: How to Book a Cruise with Virgin Points
If there are any Virgin Voyages cruises available for redemption, they will be displayed on this page. For example, in the past we have seen Virgin Voyages offer multiple sailings as redemption options from either Athens or Barcelona for only 80,000 Virgin Red points. Members will need to create and link their Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account to a Virgin Red account to take advantage of this redemption opportunity.
As cash rates range from $3,800 to $4,500 CAD for the cruises that are often seen listed in this redemption offer, this is a great redemption if you are interested in exploring the world via a cruise.
Transfer to Hilton Honors or IHG
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is one of the few airline loyalty programs that gives members the option to transfer their points to two different hotel loyalty programs: Hilton Honors and IHG.
Virgin points can be transferred to Hilton Honors points at a rate of 2:3 with a minimum transfer of 10,000 Virgin points and in increments of 10,000 Virgin points. On the other hand, Virgin points can be transferred to IHG at a rate of 1:1 with a minimum transfer of 10,000 Virgin points and in increments of 5,000 Virgin points.
Transfers to either hotel loyalty program can be initiated by calling the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club helpdesk. Transfers take around 2-4 weeks to complete, so do not expect to see the points in your account quickly.
While it is always good to be aware of the redemption options available, this would be a not recommended redemption as the value you will get out of your Virgin points will be quite poor as a result of the gap in point value between Virgin and Hilton/IHG.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Membership Tiers
Similar to other frequent flyer programs, the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club offers multiple levels of status which can be earned and come with numerous benefits These levels include Red status, Silver status, and Gold status.
Status is earned by accruing tier points, which are separate from Virgin points. Tier points are earned when you fly with Virgin Atlantic, one of our partner airlines, or book with Virgin Atlantic Holidays.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Red status is the base level and does not come with any notable benefits.
Silver status is awarded once the member earns 400 tier points within a year. Members with Silver status can expect to receive 30% more Virgin Points on flights, 1 extra piece of checked baggage for free, premium check in, and advanced seat assignment in Economy cabins.
Gold status is awarded once the member earns 1,000 tier points within a year. This is the highest status in the program which means it offers the best and most bountiful benefits. Members with Gold status can expect to receive 60% more Virgin Points on flights, Upper Class check in, access to Clubhouses and London Heathrow Revivals lounges, extra luggage allowance, and Gold Reward Seats which is the ability to turn any seat into a Reward Seat for double the usual points price.
Gold members also have the ability to earn a companion voucher when renewing their Gold status by earning 1,000 tier points in a year. They can also earn an upgrade voucher upon earning 2,000 tier points in a year.
In order to remain at the earned status level, the Flying Club member will need to earn the required amount of tier points each year. If the member does not earn the required amount of tier points in a year, they will be automatically moved down one membership level.
Frequently Asked Questions
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points are each worth 1.1 cents per point. This should be the baseline to aim for when making redemptions with Virgin Atlantic points.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points never expire.
Yes. Changes or cancellations to any award booking made with Virgin Atlantic points will incur a $50 USD fee per person.
This differs slightly depending on each bank, though we’ve found on average, points transfers can be instant or may take up to 2 business days to reach your account.
Virgin Atlantic points can be redeemed for a wide range of rewards, including flights with Virgin Atlantic and its partner airlines, hotel stays, car rentals, experiences, and more.
Posts About Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Definitive Guide: Booking ANA Business Class with Points ANA business class is a desirable redemption for traveling to Japan in luxury. Click to learn how you can book this experience with miles and points.
Flight Award Redemptions: Change & Cancellation Fees The flexibility that is offered through changing or cancelling an award ticket might come with a cost depending on the program. Click to learn more.
How I Used Miles & Points to See Taylor Swift in Europe Miles & points can unlock some amazing experiences on a budget. Click to learn how I saw Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour on points!
How to Book a Virgin Cruise with Points Redeeming points for a Virgin Voyage cruise for two presents an interesting value proposition if you are the cruising type. Click to learn how to book a Virgin Cruise with points.
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