The best Upper Class and Premium deals in the Virgin Atlantic September promo

Virgin Atlantic has launched a September promotion, competing directly with the British Airways sale.

We have done two lengthy article in recent days on the BA sale.  First Class and Club World deals are covered here.  Premium Economy deals are covered here.  You can find Economy deals directly on the BA sale website.

You can see the Virgin Atlantic deals on this special page of their website.

Upper Class

Whilst our review of the Heathrow Clubhouse lounge yesterday was a little unenthusiastic, it remains an excellent facility which everyone should visit once.  The full Upper Class experience is outlined on the Virgin website here.

Here are the headline US prices.  However, the small print here is very cheeky.  These prices are ONLY available in March 2019.  You will pay more at other times.

• Boston £1329
• New York £1359
• San Francisco £1459
• Detroit £1529
• Miami £1539
• Los Angeles £1659

The Caribbean deals have better availability although you won’t find anything at these prices over November-January or Easter 2019:

• Jamaica £1212
• Tobago £1718
• St Lucia £1512

There are NO date restrictions on Delhi, Dubai or Shanghai:

• Dubai £1699
• Delhi £1749
• Shanghai £2399

Premium Economy

We did a side-by-side comparison of British Airways World Traveller Plus and Virgin Atlantic Premium earlier in the year – click here.  Virgin wins on virtually every metric.

Here is the promo pricing to the US – these fares are available from 28th October onwards, except for two weeks before Christmas:

• New York £707
• Boston £707
• Miami £720

Caribbean deals vary but are generally only available from March 2019:

• Barbados £735
• Havana £839
• Tobago £775
• Jamaica £794
• Antigua £745
• St Lucia £774

The other deals are widely available from late October to the end of March apart from Christmas and New Year:

• Shanghai £773
• Hong Kong £886
• Johannesburg £1049

Flight & Hotel packages now available for Economy flights

You can see the Economy deals on the sale website here.

However, you may get a better deal booking a Flight & Hotel bundle – details of those can be found here.  Unfortunately these deals are only available with Economy flights.  Whilst you will be offered a chance to upgrade your economy flight to Premium or Upper Class during the booking process, in my testing these prices do not offer much in the way of savings.

All in all, this is not the strongest Virgin Atlantic promotion ever.  The cheapest prices come with very tight travel dates, often well into the future.  As usual, though, if they fit around your travel plans then you may well get a good deal.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is one of the two Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cards.  These earn double miles (3 per £1 on the paid card or 1.5 per £1 on the free card) when you book at virginatlantic.com or via Virgin Holidays.  Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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):

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

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 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 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.)