Virgin Atlantic has changed its archaic reward cancellation policy at last

My biggest gripe with Virgin Flying Club – which has been going out of its way to appear more attractive in the last year or so – was the, frankly, pathetic cancellation policy.

These were the rules:

Cancel your mileage flight and you lose 25% of the miles used

Cancel your mileage flight within 7 days of departure and you lose 100% of the miles used

As far as I was concerned, this was simply not acceptable.  People often save miles for years to get a reward flight, so impose a swingeing 25% penalty if they had to cancel – even many months before departure – was simply not on.

However, things may have changed.  Although, oddly, Virgin Atlantic hasn’t told anyone about it.

As was posted on Flyertalk yesterday, the Virgin terms and conditions for Flying Club redemptions now say this:

If for any reason a flight reward is cancelled by the Member outside 24 hours of departure, 100% of the Miles will be re-credited to the member’s account. 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. If for any reason a flight reward is cancelled within 24 hours prior to departure, no Miles will be refunded and no fee will be charged. If you change the original travel date (within 24 hours of departure) and later decide to cancel your flights, you will forfeit the mileage used for the reward. Once travel has commenced Miles cannot be refunded. Except as expressly stated in these Flying Club Terms, Miles are not refundable and changes or revalidation are not permitted in case of no-show.

Truly, miracles do happen!  This now makes Flying Club a far more attractive proposition for me.  I need to book a long way ahead to get 4 seats for my family, but booking a long way ahead obviously means more chance that plans will change.  I might even do a transfer to Flying Club now via the Tesco or Amex conversion bonuses ….. my current balance of 8,000 won’t get me far!

Next week, I will run a post outlining all of the reasons why you might want to consider collecting Virgin miles via the current transfer bonuses, even if you don’t already have any.  Ironically, I had already written that post when this news came in … time for a re-write!

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)