LAST DAY: 30% off Virgin economy redemptions, Miles Booster and buy miles

Today is the last day to take advantage of the current Virgin Atlantic promotion on Economy redemptions.  You book for any date in the next 11 months.

Here is a reminder of what is on offer.

30% off the miles needed for Economy redemptions

All Economy redemptions have the ‘miles’ element reduced by 30%.

Taxes are unchanged, but Virgin taxes on Economy redemptions are already lower (by roughly £50-£70) than British Airways.  Following the Avios devaluation last April, you will also need substantially fewer miles than BA for an identical route, especially on a ‘peak’ Avios day.

Here are some example prices in Economy:

New York – 24,500 miles + £231

Barbados – 31,500 miles + £209

Delhi – 29,750 miles + £250

Hong Kong – 35,000 miles + £260

Almost all other routes are bookable too.  A full list of taxes and the miles required can be found here.

As an example, an off-peak Avios redemption to New York in World Traveller currently prices at 26,000 Avios + £301.  On a peak day, however, the Avios price is 40,000 + £301.  This compares with the Virgin cost of 24,500 miles + £231.

What is interesting about the Virgin sales 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 30% off, not all of these deals necessarily make sense in low season.

The closing date for booking is TODAY, 11th May.  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.

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.

Full details of the reward flight sale are here.

30% bonus on buying miles and Miles Booster

Virgin is also offering a 30% bonus on purchased miles and on Miles Booster.

The link to buy, transfer or gift miles is here.  You only get the bonus on buying miles, however.

This is still not a great deal.  To buy 20,000 miles, for example, comes out at £315. With the 30% bonus, you would actually receive 26,000 miles. This works out at 1.21p. You would struggle to get good value if you bought all of the miles you needed for a redemption at that price but of course topping up an account is a different matter.

Before buying, think if you have any Amex Membership Rewards points, Tesco points, Heathrow Rewards points or hotel loyalty points which you could transfer instead.  Remember that Amex points transfer instantly if your accounts are already linked.

‘Miles Booster’ IS a potentially very good deal.

Miles Booster only works if you have a Virgin Atlantic cash or reward flight booked or have taken one in the last six months. You are able to buy an additional 200% of the base miles you will earn from the flight for just 1p each.

Click here for details. If you have a New York economy flight booked, for example, you would earn 6,916 base miles from your trip.

Miles Booster allows you to buy up to 13,832 additional miles for just 1p. Plus, with this promotion, you would get an extra 30% bonus as well.

If you maximised the Miles Booster option for your New York flight, you would be able to buy a total of 17,981 Virgin Flying Club miles for just £138.32. That is 0.77p each, which is well worth considering.

You can retrospectively buy miles via Miles Booster for any Virgin Atlantic flights taken in the last six months, cash or reward. Even if you don’t have any current bookings, you may be able to take advantage of this.  At this price, I would consider it if you know that you will be using them in short or medium term.

Remember that all of these deals end TODAY, Wednesday.

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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.)