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Virgin Atlantic has unveiled its new ex-airberlin leased A330-200 aircraft

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Virgin Atlantic has released footage of their new aircraft “Daydream Believer” (G-VMNK), the first of four A330-200 leased from the remnants of Air Berlin to replace some of its B787 aircraft whilst engine issues are being sorted.

From March 2018 the A330-200 will operate on the Manchester routes to New York, Boston, San Francisco and Barbados.

The seat configuration will be different to the usual Virgin Atlantic aircraft.

Upper Class will have 19 seats with three different variations: Love Suite (in the centre of the cabin and ideal for couples or groups travelling together), Solo Freedom Suite (direct aisle access) and Solo Corner Suite (extra privacy).  This is, in truth, a way of selling as a benefit the lower level of privacy that some Air Berlin seats have compared to the standard Upper Class seat.

The Economy cabin will have 46 Economy Extra Legroom seats and 222 Economy seats.  There is no Premium Economy.

The planes are fully Wi-Fi enabled with free messaging in Upper Class.

You can see the transformation of the exterior from Air Berlin to Virgin Atlantic in this rather cool video below.


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 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 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 (77)

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

  • Cuchlainn says:

    OT – Hilton Honors :
    Just got 80% free per annum offer via email – 80,000 + 64,000 bonus for $800 ( currently £567.44 on Lloyds FX + Avios ) – worth a punt or hold out for possible 100% bonus ?

    • Genghis says:

      When do you need the points? If not yet I’d wait. If specific redemption soon, run the numbers.

      • Cuchlainn says:

        Genghis,
        Just been accepted for Hilton Plat Visa as intending to use it for July 2018 Florida trip. Intention is trigger free night certificate close to MCO , followed by a 5 for price of 4 stay around Naples / Marco Island area, I have a lovely apartment already booked in Treasure Island and then back to Orlando for 3 nights / SWMBO retail therapy…….so either rack up points by buying now in 80% offer, or pay for 5for4 on Hilton card and use in future.

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

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