When cashback sites really aren’t worth the trouble

I have decided that it is about time I reviewed the new Virgin Little Red domestic services, from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester to Heathrow.

A flight has now been booked, so look out for my thoughts in a couple of weeks.

Being the good little money saver that I am, I booked the flight via the Virgin Atlantic link on Quidco. And this is what I got back:

This is a tracking receipt for your recent purchase through Quidco.

Date: 25th May 2013 16:30:18

Retailer: Virgin Atlantic (Avg payment speed 5 weeks)

Purchase Amount: £8.00

Cashback Amount: £0.08

Booking flights, especially cheap ones, via cashback sites is a bit of a swizz. The airlines will generally deduct all taxes and surcharges from the amount you get paid on. This is just about acceptable for Government-imposed taxes, but there is no excuse at all for not paying out on the fuel surcharge. After all, my flight cost substantially more than £8!

I suppose 8p is better than nothing – although you need to have a pretty low value on your time to justify clearing cookies, opening up Quidco, finding Virgin Atlantic, clicking through etc (plus opening and deleting all the Quidco emails about tracking, payment etc) to find 8p a good return.

PS. If you are reading this but are not a regular Head for Points visitor, please consider signing up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters. They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and deals to improve how you travel. To sign up, visit this page of the site or click any of the ‘Subscribe’ links on this page. Thank you.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (January 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.

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 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 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. 

(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.)