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Great Virgin Flying Club redemption: fly Amsterdam to Toronto on Jet Airways

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You may not know that you can use Virgin Flying Club miles to book rewards flights with India’s Jet Airways.  It is explained on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Virgin has an obscure range of partner airlines – you can see the list on the Flying Club website – and there are some good deals.  Unfortunately the Air China deal to Beijing went up massively in price recently and is no longer attractive.  We covered that here.

You can also use Flying Club miles to fly on Japanese airline ANA.  I reviewed ANA’s business class service here and wrote about how to redeem your Virgin Atlantic miles to fly with them here.

Redeem Virgin Flying Club miles on Jet Airways

We haven’t looked at Jet Airways before.  If you want to fly to India they are a good option, of course, with flights from Heathrow to Delhi and Mumbai.

Hands up, though.  There was something we didn’t know.

Jet Airways flies a ‘5th Freedom’ flight from Amsterdam to Toronto as a continuation of its Delhi to Amsterdam service.

You can redeem just for the Amsterdam to Toronto leg, and it is a bargain.

The flight is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER.  It features eight First Class suites and 30 Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 herringbone configuration, so all seats have direct aisle access.

We haven’t reviewed Jet Airways’ First Class yet, but looking at the pictures and from what we’ve read elsewhere, it’s a very good product.  They are meant to be removing First Class at some point in the future but you are OK for now.

Here is the Business Class seat on the Boeing 777 which is very similar to the Virgin Atlantic one:

Using Virgin Atlantic miles on Jet Airways

and

Using Virgin Atlantic miles on Jet Airways

The First Class Suite has closing doors and looks like this – there are worse ways of going to Toronto.

Using Virgin Atlantic miles on Jet Airways

How many Flying Club miles do you need?

Flying between Toronto and Amsterdam, a one-way flight costs 20,500 Virgin miles in Economy, 41,000 Virgin miles in Business and 60,000 Virgin miles in the First Class suites.

A child on your lap costs 1,000 additional miles in economy, 5,000 in business and 7,000 in the first class suites, all one way.

What about taxes?

In theory there are no taxes on Jet Airways awards.  However, Virgin Atlantic is sneaking in some surcharges, even though there are no grounds for doing so.  Recent reader reports suggest that a one-way flight from Amsterdam in Economy incurs surcharges of £150.

How about availability?

It is reportedly very good, from the reports I have found.  As Jet is not in any airline alliance there is no easy way of checking without a call to Virgin Flying Club.

Flights depart daily from Amsterdam at 12.10, arriving in Toronto at 14.15.  This means you can get an early flight from the UK without staying overnight.

The return leaves Toronto at 18.30, landing at 07.55 in Amsterdam.

Is there a catch?

Yes.  Jet Airways is in serious financial trouble as a quick Google search will show you.  I wouldn’t recommend booking a ticket to fly next Summer, although hopefully you will be OK in the short term.  It is a risk however.

If you don’t like paying high taxes, this could be the redemption for you.  We will add it to our ‘to do’ list and cross our fingers that Jet Airways survives long enough.

The Virgin Atlantic / Jet Airways partnership page on the Flying Club website is here.

You can learn more about Jet Airways on their 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 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 (28)

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

  • Stu R says:

    Anyone considering availing themselves of this redemption might first want to watch the recent review of Jet Airways biz by Josh Cahill of GoTravelYourWay. Add to this the backlash and threats Josh received having posted his review, and the increasingly precarious financial state of the airline as mentioned by Rob, and it might definitely be one to pass over!

    • KP says:

      I really think you should take that video as a one-off event. There are countless videos on Youtube which show 9W in a very positive light. I’ve flown them countless of times to India and trust me, theyre not that bad.

    • ChrisC says:

      These days anyone who posts a review of anything is going to get a reaction of some sort. Just look at some of the comments Rob and Annika get on some of theirs.

      If it’s a bad one you will have people insisting your experience is a one off as otherwise they are brilliant.

      If it’s a good one you will have people insisting your experience is a one off as otherwise they are dire.

  • The Original Nick says:

    I flew DUB-YYZ in May using Avios on AI in J which you can’t knock as IMO. If I go again I’m definitely be trying this option.

    • ChrisC says:

      You mean EI – Aer Lingus – not AI – Air India I presume!

      I’ve not done an EI TATL but friends who have say J is very good and preferable to BA but IIRC no BAEC tier points unless booked on BA codeshares for cash fares.

      I did an AI in Y LHR to JFK in about 1999 was actually very good. my main worry was it being a dry flight and only curry to eat but it wasn’t and was actually pretty. It’s probably changed now. Booked it after seeing an advert on teletext and having to sit waiting for it to scroll round 20 pages before I could see it again and pause lol

  • VK says:

    I fly 9W J a lot from LHR to BOM. Best direct flight seat to BOM. 23 inches wide. Mattress. They give PJs. Very good service. Avg catering. Lot of cost cutting in the last 1 yr.

    Easy to check availability on jet airways website for award seats if you sign up for jet privilege.

    That Josh thing was a domestic flight in one of their wide bodies. I think. Domestic crew is very different to intl. Having said that, I think he was very unlucky.

    With regards to the financial crisis, that’s the big worry. They have stuck a deal with Boeing who have given their deposit money back in good faith (loads of 737 max orders). They just recently sold their FF programme as well to raise money. Sky team has already been investing in jet.

    I dunno where they will head, but they are a big brand in India.

    I am dreading the day 9w fails. I will have no option but to fly BA to BOM in fake business class for stupid prices cause no way in hell I’m flying AI !

    • Lady London says:

      I believe QR also does India? Meanwhile I saw lots of good feedback on Jet Air in the past.

    • Memesweeper says:

      When I try and check availability on Jet’s website it says I’m short of the required miles.

  • Mike says:

    What happens if jet fail? Would virgin refund the miles?

    • Georges says:

      I was wondering the same thing, surely they would have to. I presume also that Virgin do not have to pay them in advance for the redemption so they would not even be out of pocket if they had to refund the miles.

    • Memesweeper says:

      yes, they would.

  • KevMc says:

    I don’t think so. The voucher must be used on Virgin metal, so the closest you could get to is Hong Kong…should easy enough to get a flight onwards to Japan from there though.

  • Paul Higham says:

    Never, ever fly Jet in economy. A truly awful experience.

  • Aneesh says:

    You can easily check Jet Airways redemption availability on delta.com as they are partners. I’ve redeemed SkyMiles for 9W a few times – one of the better and obscure ish redemption opportunities IMO.

  • Raj says:

    Travelled only one time grom Bahrain to Trivandrum thru Mumbai . Hundreds of jet airways staff available there but no one avaiable to guide transit passengers no to miss connection flight. Priority sticker have no meaning. No priority either handbag security chk nor luggage. All are in one que. This result connection flight missing and waiting another 6 hours . Jet airways airport staff are not speaking politely. Angry with passengers for Jet miss management system. I wish to ask any responsible person is available with this airline. It was a worst experience and I never ever choose Jet airways in my life for international.travel.

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

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