Virgin sale: up to 40% fewer miles needed for USA economy redemptions

Virgin Atlantic has launched a new reward seat sale, focussing exclusively on destinations in the USA.  Full details can be found here.

Virgin has occasional economy redemption sales where you can save 25% on a flight.  However, this sale is offering mileage discounts of up to 40%! 

Participating destinations are priced at a flat 25,000 miles return plus £249 of taxes and charges.

These rates are cheaper than comparable Avios redemptions at off-peak periods – and substantially cheaper than ‘peak period’ Avios redemptions.  Taxes on Virgin Atlantic are also, in economy, far lower than on British Airways.

Even better, this sale coincides with the current 20% transfer bonus on Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Virgin Atlantic.

Here are the rules:

Book by 20th May

No restriction on travel dates – you can book up to 11 months ahead

Economy only

The following routes are included:  Boston, New York JFK, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta (from Heathrow and Manchester), Detroit, Miami

Tax is fixed at £249 per person (£222 from Manchester to Atlanta)

100% miles redemptions only (no ‘Miles Plus Money’)

Open jaw flights (ie fly to New York, come back from Boston) OK as long as both destinations are in the sale

Virgin taxes on economy redemptions are lower (by roughly £100) than British Airways for economy redemptions.

This is what you would pay for a similar Avios redemption.  Remember that all of the Virgin routes cost 25,000 miles + £249 in taxes and charges:

New York JFK – 26,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £338

Boston – 26,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £338

Washington – 26,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £338

Chicago – 26,000 Avios off-peak / 40,000 peak + £338

Atlanta – 33,000 Avios off-peak / 50,000 peak + £338

Detroit – not a BA route

Miami – 33,000 Avios off-peak / 50,000 peak + £338 

This sale is pretty good. A return to New York will cost you 25,000 Virgin Flying Club miles compared to peak Avios pricing of 40,000 Avios. The taxes will be £246, saving £108 per person over BA.

It does not specifically mention whether these sale tickets can be combined with the Virgin credit card upgrade vouchers to Premium Economy, but that is not normally a problem.

Because of the two week booking period, there is plenty of time to convert some Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Virgin Flying Club if necessary.  There is currently a 20% bonus of Clubcard conversions so the rate is 300 miles per £1 of Tesco voucher.

You can also convert American Express Membership Rewards points to Virgin – these go across INSTANTLY as long as your Amex and Virgin accounts are already linked.

Virgin is also offering a 20% bonus if you buy Flying Club miles via this link before June 3rd. If you are a few thousand short then this is also an option. 

There is also a 20% bonus on ‘Miles Booster’ which I will look at in a day or so.

Full details of the Virgin Flying Club reward seat sale can be found here on their website.

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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.)