Last chance to convert Amex points to Virgin Flying Club for 20% bonus

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• Etk says:

  19 Mar19 March 06:48

  Is there any limit on the number of transfers you can do in a year?

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 08:12

    No

• JB says:

  19 Mar19 March 08:31

  I appear to have 2 MR accounts- would this work for the first transfer from each online or do you think I should ring MR and get them merged and then transfer? Thanks for the heads up- I had forgotten about this and just had the platinum upgrade bonus post yesterday!

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 09:07

    Good question. Gut feeling is that Virgin adds the bonus so it is once per Flying Club account but could go either way!

• thomas says:

  19 Mar19 March 09:42

  2 things I noticed.
  The bonus points are posted immediatley.
  I did 2 transfers and BOTH times, I got the bonus, so it seems not to be limited to 1st time only.

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 09:46

    Thanks Thomas. Good to know if anyone wants to squeeze an extra one in, although if it didn’t work 2nd time you would have no grounds to complain!

    • thomas says:

      19 Mar19 March 09:58

      To Virgin’s credit, points when transferred or earned always post very quickly and hassle free.
      Having recently booked Virgin Guest List for my parents, the 5000 bonus points were there right away.

• Thunderbirds says:

  19 Mar19 March 12:33

  I recently had the opportunity to test AMEX transfers to Virgin, Virgin 20% bonus and Virgin purchases and all three turned up immediately (after a logout and login) allowing me to book 4 upper class tickets to Tokyo. The only question remaining is whether the Virgin experience is any better or worse than BA. If quality of service differs markedly then chasing bonus transfers shouldn’t drive choice of airline. I haven’t flow Virgin for 15 years so it will be interesting to see the difference.

  • thomas says:

    19 Mar19 March 13:25

    The Upper cabin layout is slightly strange and can appear cramped, but the seats are comfortable.
    The food and the bar are good.
    I think it depends on what plane you will be on.
    Of course the Lounges are a great plus.
    Downside ? The ridiculous saftey video that they now play and Richard Branson appearing on screen before every selected film.

  • Rob says:

    19 Mar19 March 16:20

    I haven’t flown Virgin in 15 years either! I do now have a stack of Flying Club miles, though, so will try to squeeze something in this year.

• Cristian says:

  19 Mar19 March 14:06

  Maybe you can use this bonus to travel cheaply from now 2015, according to the news today:

  From April 1 2015, all long-haul flights will be moved into band B, meaning customers travelling to the Caribbean will pay the same as if they were travelling to the US.

  George Osborne said: “From next year, all long-haul flights will carry the same, lower, band B tax rate that you now pay to fly to the United States.”

  The Budget document said: “To help British businesses strengthen links with high growth markets, and to go further to make the UK an attractive option for business visitors and tourists, Budget 2014 announces that the government will reform air passenger duty (APD) by abolishing bands C and D from 1 April 2015.

  “This will eliminate the two highest rates of APD charged on flights to countries over 4,000 miles from Britain, cutting tax for millions of passengers travelling to China, India, Brazil and many other emerging markets.

  • squills says:

    19 Mar19 March 19:21

    What’s the saving, typically, pls?

    • Alan says:

      19 Mar19 March 22:05

      In premium cabins it’d be £188 down to £134 as the max saving (£54) – see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/apd.htm – they’re limiting costs to Band B. Wish it was sooner, I’d quite like some cash back on my SQ Suites redemption 😛

      • Chilibenny says:

        20 Mar20 March 16:16

        Yes but when you are thinking of the saving don’t forget there will be an RPI-inflation rise in the existing system from April 1 this year and another RPI-inflation rise on the new, two-band system from April 1 next year.

• Maximus says:

  20 Mar20 March 05:36

  This week I transferred, for the first time, Amex MR points. I am saving for flights to Tokyo with Virgin Atlantic. To ensure I benefitted from the current 20% bonus I decided to call Amex Customer Services in person to carry out the transfer.

  The customer service agent was very polite, very efficient and helpful. i guess that is what you get when paying £450 annaul fees for a Platinum card! Anyway, the transfer of points was instant, including the bonus. I saw the Virgin account change online whilst i was still on the telephone to her. You can’t get more instant than that!

  I have only flown Virgin Atlantic once, earler this month on a last minute leisure trip to NYC in PE seats (which is fine for me to the US East Coast, I would never sleep). I did pay extra to use the Virgin Clubhouse, undoubtedly the best Business Lounge I have ever been in. The inflight service in PE was good, no complaints. I did find the crew more relaxed and friendly than most BA crews.

  It will be interesting to compare UC with CW but like everything there will be pros and cons to both.

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