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Save 25,000 miles as Virgin Atlantic launches Upper Class reward sale from Manchester

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Virgin Flying Club has launched a one month sale on Upper Class redemptions to the USA from Manchester.

Full details are on the Flying Club website here.

The good news is that there are no black-out dates.  If there is a redemption seat available in the next 11 months, you can have it at the discounted price.

Virgin Atlantic 787

The discounts are impressive and even if you live nearer Heathrow or Gatwick than Manchester you might want to consider heading up there.  The major downside is that you are trading the excellent Virgin Clubhouse lounges in Heathrow and Gatwick for the shared, and frankly not comparable, Escape lounge at Manchester.

Here are the redemption prices, return, in the sale:

Boston – 70,000 miles off-peak, 90,000 miles peak

New York – 70,000 miles off-peak, 90,000 miles peak

Atlanta – 70,000 miles off-peak, 90,000 miles peak

Orlando – 70,000 miles off-peak, 90,000 miles peak

Las Vegas – 110,000 miles off-peak, 130,000 miles peak

San Francisco – 110,000 off-peak, 130,000 miles peak

These represent a discount of 25,000 miles per return flight.

Remember that, if you are a few miles short, you can also transfer Amex Membership Rewards points (transfer instantly), Tesco points (transfer overnight), Heathrow Rewards points or various hotel loyalty points to Flying Club.

Here are peak dates:

22nd June – 6th September

13th December – 6th January 2018

29th March – 16th April 2018

Tickets must be booked by 31st July for travel up to 11 months in advance.  Remember that these sale rates only apply to direct flights from Manchester on Virgin Atlantic aircraft and that not all routes operate year-round.

You can find the full details on Virgin’s website 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.)

Comments (15)

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

  • shd says:

    Can you get a connection from mainland Europe to London or Manchester, to avoid paying APD on an ex-UK VS miles redemption?

    • TripRep says:

      I’d like to know this too, there’s the potential option of INV with FlyBE.

      Would be nice if Virgin could advise if it’s possible.

  • barnaby100 says:

    Unless you are very short of miles I would use the extra 20,000 to go from LHR. The Manchester ground experience is dire and the LHR is excellent (drive through check in, dedicated scanning lane, great lounge). I flew from Manchester last year to Boston and whilst I would fly back into Manchester again I would never fly out of their again with Virgin. The airport is really dated with limited facilities and the shared lounge they use is dire, overcrowded, inedible food, limited alcohol choice. 30 minute queue to check in – in upper class. The Virgin UC ground experience at LHR is what makes it worth while over other airlines.

    • Johnny Tabasco says:

      Overall I’d agree about the ground experience at LHR though I’d have to point out the last couple of times I’ve used the Clubhouse it’s been so busy it hasn’t been quite as special as previous visits. In May we could only find 3 seats together upstairs, hardly the end of the world but it was clear there were loads of people kicking off about wait times for food and drink etc

      • Clive says:

        There is usually so little UC redemption availability to USA from London, it might be a case of MAN or nothing…

    • Ah says:

      big trade off….
      20,000 miles to use V UC lounge.

    • stron says:

      Book MAN then call up to change to LHR – I did this and managed to keep the discount. I have the necessary points ready but they didn’t get taken. Definitely worth a try if you want to fly from LHR. Worst case you’ll lose the GBP30 change fee if they charge you the milage upcharge.

  • barnaby100 says:

    To add. We only paid £998 to fly UC from Manchester to Boston at Easter last year. it was less than £1300 with the full car service at each end etc

  • Idrive says:

    What about Miles Booster bonus, haven’t heard in a while?

  • Mark says:

    Hi Rob

    I have the 30% uplift email, my wife doesn’t. We have similar miles balance and are both Silver!!!

  • Alan says:

    Nice, I thought 85k was decent value for my BOS trip too! Just be aware some non-refurbished planes on this route with 4 rather than 3 across in UC (see Rob’s recent article).

    Also worth remembering there’s a train station at Manchester Airport – I managed to get a one way from there to Edinburgh for £13, cheaper than a taxi from my house in Edinburgh to Edinburgh Airport!

  • John says:

    Last month I booked an u/c redemption to JFK from Manchester in September for 95k miles. The sale price was 70k miles, so I spoke to reservations with a view to cancelling my 95k flight and rebooking the 70k version (£30 fee applies for cancellations). The agent decided not to cancel and rebook, but instead just charge me a £30 fee and credit my account with 25k miles. Im sure even Rob would agree that 0.12p/mile is a no brainer 🙂

    • Alan says:

      Excellent result – I really like when CS staff can make sensible and pragmatic decisions like that 🙂

  • Mark says:

    Hi all
    This is the link to the buy more miles with the 30% uplift…..seems a tad expensive to me!

    I found it without using the email link.

    https://storefront.points.com/virgin-atlantic/en-GB/buy

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

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