Virgin Atlantic announces new domestic brand and details of lounges and in-flight service

This month will see the long-awaited launch of Virgin’s domestic service from Manchester to Heathrow, followed by Aberdeen and Edinburgh in April.

The Virgin website now has full details of the facilities and services that passengers will receive when they use the new service.

There is also a new name and a logo – ‘Little Red‘:

It was already known that the flights would use Terminal 1 at Heathrow, and would use three Airbus 320 aircraft, leased from Aer Lingus.

Food and drink on Little Red

The food and drink offering is here:

We’ll be providing you with the best in British food and snacks onboard your short haul flight.

Flights departing before 9am:

• Delicious bacon rolls.
• Hot tea, coffee and juice.

Flights departing after 9am:

• A selection of tasty cookies or Tyrell’s crisps .
• Full bar service.
• Hot tea and coffee.
• Irn Bru (on Aberdeen and Edinburgh flights only).

To be honest, this is not desperately exciting and will not have BA quaking in its boots.  (BA serves breakfast up to 9.30, by the way, not 9am.)  There is also no provision to order a special meal, which will be unfortunate for non-bacon eaters.  (Although … the website has since changed to read ‘breakfast roll’ and not ‘bacon roll’, so who knows?)

Lounges

The Virgin website says:

We’ve also secured shared lounges at all short haul destinations:

• MAN – Manchester Airport Authority Lounge
• EDI – Servisair Lounge
• ABZ – Servisair Lounge

What is more interesting is what the website does NOT say:

a)  There is no mention of lounge access at Terminal 1 at Heathrow.

b)  You cannot buy a domestic ticket which gets you lounge access.  The ONLY way to get into the lounge is to either have a Virgin Flying Club Gold card or to be connecting to a long-haul flight with an Upper Class seat.

If you have a Priority Pass lounge club card you won’t need to worry as the Servisair lounges are part of that programme.

Little Red luggage rules

Nothing exciting here.  You get one free checked bag per person and one piece of hand baggage.  The only exception is if you are connecting to a Virgin long-haul flight, where the rules for that flight will apply.

One piece of hand-baggage is not great news for the business traveller, especially if they class a handbag as one piece.

All in all, I am very unimpressed by all of this.  In particular, the failure to offer lounge access to full fare ticket holders seems to be a mistake.

The flight times are also not ideal, with only Edinburgh (6 flights per day) offering a truly competitive schedule.  Three flights a day to and from Manchester and Aberdeen may not be enough.

Let’s see.  I hope to give the Virgin domestic services a try soon and will report back.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.