Virgin Atlantic status matching from BA Silver and BA Gold via Little Red
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Virgin Atlantic appears to have hit on a new trick to increase loads on its struggling Little Red UK domestic services – by offering to status match British Airways Executive Club customers to Virgin Flying Club!
I have heard from a couple of sources now that cabin crew on Little Red flights are coming around the cabin offering to status match British Airways Silver and British Airways Gold cardholders.
No other cards seem to be accepted, and it is not clear if you need to be carrying your BA card at the time.
Virgin Flying Club Silver status is not hugely valuable. Virgin Gold, however, lets you use the exceptional Clubhouse lounges in Heathrow and elsewhere, whatever your class of travel, when flying Virgin long haul.
More prosaicly, a Virgin Gold also gets lounge access at Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Manchester when flying Little Red. At Manchester Terminal 3, you can use the attractive Escape lounge (below) that I visited last year.
I wouldn’t take a special flight to Manchester just to try to get a Virgin status match! However, if you need to fly a domestic to Manchester, Edinburgh or Aberdeen from Heathrow, this may be the carrot you need to give Little Red a try.
In other Little Red news ….
Virgin Gold customers no longer have lounge access in Heathrow Terminal 1. The deal Little Red had with Servisair to use their lounge has ended. However, as this lounge was a complete dump, there is no great loss.
Virgin Gold card holders can now collect a £10 Costa Coffee voucher from the Little Red help desk by Gate 8.
This is only a temporary situation until Little Red moves to the brand new Terminal 2, although that is not expected to happen until the end of 2014. Little Red is currently planned to be the last airline to move across.
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.)
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