Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Virgin launches new reward sale in Economy and Premium Economy

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Virgin Atlantic has launched another 20% off sale for reward seats.

This time, Premium Economy is included as well.  The sale runs until 23rd September.

Virgin Atlantic 350

Virgin taxes on Economy redemptions are lower (by roughly £100) than British Airways although they are roughly similar for Premium Economy.  Following the Avios devaluation in April, you will also need substantially fewer miles than BA for an identical route.

Here are some example prices in both Economy and Premium Economy:

New York – 28,000 miles + £249 / 44,000 miles + £363

Barbados – 36,000 miles + £225 / 56,000 miles + £359

Delhi – 34,000 miles + £293 / 56,000 miles + £407

Hong Kong – 40,000 miles + £328 / 64,000 + £325

You can ALSO travel to Washington, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Antigua, Cuba, Grenada, Montago Bay, St Lucia, Cancun, Tobago, Johannesburg, Lagos, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai.  The taxes and miles needed can be found here.

What is interesting about this sale is that you can book for any time in the next 11 months.  There are no date restrictions as long as seats are available.  Remember that, even with 20% off, not all of these deals necessarily make sense in low season – New York cash tickets would only be £300 in January for example.

You must book before September 23rd.

If you are short of miles, remember that Virgin miles transfer INSTANTLY from American Express Membership Rewards as long as your accounts are already linked.  It will take a couple of days if you have not previously linked your accounts.

Transfers from Tesco Clubcard are also very fast, usually overnight – the ‘Clubcard to Virgin’ page is here.

You can combine these discounts with a CombiFare.  CombiFare is explained in this post, but basically if you can only find a redemption in one direction Virgin will sell you a cash ticket for the other half at a discounted rate.

You cannot do a ‘miles plus money’ redemption for these deals.  It has to be a 100% miles booking.

Virgin is also offering a 20% bonus on purchased miles and a 20% bonus on Miles Booster.  I will look at this in more detail tomorrow.

Full details of the Reward Seat Sale can be found here.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

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):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (50)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mark C says:
    10 Sep10 September 05:54

    Would the economy redemptions work with the Virgin Amex upgrade voucher? And if so, would you pay the taxes on an economy seat or a PE seat? Thanks

    • Idrive says:
      10 Sep10 September 06:31

      I think
      A) need avaialbility in PE
      B)you need to pay taxes in PE
      C)last time it was not possible to use the voucher let’s see if someone has the answer

      Yesterday i was not finding any availability for what i may like…argh!

      Does anyone know why on the Virgin site they are flying the routes to Tokyo and Singapore (flown by Ana and Singapore Airlines) and then at the time of booking they say the route doesn’t exist?
      So i have to call? I knew it before thanks! but why showing it on the website search then!

      • Pol says:
        10 Sep10 September 06:55

        Tokyo etc is shown on the search because you can purchase seats online for this route with cash, just not miles.

      • Joby says:
        10 Sep10 September 17:10

        I just booked today two redemption seats using upgrade vouchers.

    • Pol says:
      10 Sep10 September 06:53

      You can definitely use the upgrade voucher with this offer, its in the terms and conditions ( you could last time too ).
      There doesn’t need to be availability in Economy, only premium.
      You pay the taxes for a premium redemption.

      • Mark C says:
        10 Sep10 September 09:21

        Thanks Pol. Next question and slightly OT – do the same rules apply if you use the Lloyds BA upgrade voucher?

      • idrive says:
        10 Sep10 September 09:56

        no, last time, with the discounted US routes it was not possible to upgrade

    • Paul Irving says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:27

      I used my voucher fine the last sale so should work fine this time also, just make sure there is PE space on the flight you are looking at.

  • Nick says:
    10 Sep10 September 07:17

    Rob, on the Virgin website it states redemption bookings “to the UK”. Does this mean you have to book a return? or are these redemption seats available for a OW booking. I looked at DXB-LHR last night and it was showing no discounts in miles.

  • Kathy says:
    10 Sep10 September 07:37

    Spotted a typo: Las Vegas rather than Last Vegas.

    I think I’m going to hold my nerve and assume that they’ll run another one of these around January time, since they have done so in the past, as I will hopefully be in a better position to book my trip by then.

  • Chris says:
    10 Sep10 September 08:11

    So frustratingly I purchased reward seats for a flight in PE about 3 weeks ago. Anyone know if I can cancel them and then purchase in the sale?! I would assume not. I am gold with VA though if that might help?

    • Leilani says:
      10 Sep10 September 08:54

      Hi Chris,

      I did it the last time they had a sale (May, I believe). Bought an economy reward to DC and then they had a sale a week later. I called up, they cancelled the booking and then rebooked for the sale miles. Just make sure you get a ‘knowledgeable’ agent – you’ll know if they’ll be able to correctly help you once you explain your situation. And ask if there is availability in PE on the flights you have already before cancelling!

      From Virgin:
      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 per person for changes to flights originating in the UK, US$50 per person for changes to flights originating in the US or local currency equivalent of US$50 per person for changes to flights originating in any other region will apply

      They may waive the fee since you’re gold – doesn’t hurt to ask!

      Good luck!

      • Michael says:
        10 Sep10 September 09:20

        Hi, the £30 cancellation/change fee, would that be per person per flight or per person per booking e.g. including. return flights?

        • Gulz says:
          10 Sep10 September 09:51

          Believe its per person per booking. So cancellation of a return flight booked as a single ticket will cost you £30

          • Wicks says:
            10 Sep10 September 10:38

            I have done this today. Cancelled two one way PE flights to Hong Kong and rebooked, saving 16k miles. Cost me 2X £30, but the taxes for some reason were slightly cheaper this time, so overall £40 cost for 16k miles well worth it. I made sure I was very clear that I would have no risk of losing the flights before going ahead though..

          • RIccati says:
            10 Sep10 September 21:41

            YQ is less because of cheaper oil prices.

  • Leon says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:01

    Does anybody know if the 20% bonus miles only applies to seats booked as part of this sale? I have an upcoming flight which I haven’t boosted yet, as I’m waiting for the bonus however the terms aren’t awfully clear and the website where you purchase the miles makes no reference to “an extra XX miles” when purchasing.

    Thanks.

  • David says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:39

    Is the PE price for Hong Kong correct? The taxes are stated as £3 less than Economy.

  • Gulz says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:07

    Rob, trying to search for the May article about miles booster (dated 12th May). Come up in the search results, but when I try to open it… get a 404 page not found error.

  • Brian says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:18

    Quick question. If I book a reward flight to Chicago next Spring for 28,000 return. Can I then change the dates for the £30 fee? Or with new dates will the reward cost go up to 35,000 as technically its a cancellation and rebooking?

    • Gulz says:
      10 Sep10 September 10:33

      Just the £30 fee as it is just a date change not a cancellation and rebooking.

    • Pol says:
      11 Sep11 September 21:30

      You are charged miles at the rate that they are on the date you make the change, not the rate when they are booked.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!