The Virgin Atlantic and Texaco Star Points partnership has ended
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For many years, Virgin Flying Club has had a miles earning partnership with Texaco.
You can (still) find details here.
However, this offer appears to have ended. All references to Virgin Atlantic have been removed from the Texaco website and a reader who called Texaco to enquire was told that he could no longer make transfers.
The good news is that there are still other ways to earn Virgin Flying Club miles when buying petrol.
Texaco’s loyalty scheme is called Star Rewards. You earn 1 Star Rewards point for every 1 litre of fuel you purchase.
These could be transferred to Virgin Flying Club at the rate of 1:1, in multiples of 1,000.
Was this a good deal? It was OK, but not outstanding. For comparison, 1,000 Star Rewards points will also get you a £10 Texaco, Argos or M&S voucher. You were therefore effectively paying 1p per Virgin mile, so you needed to value them at more than this for it to be worthwhile.
The good news is that the other routes of earning Flying Club miles from petrol are also more lucrative.
Texaco Star Rewards is beaten by the Tesco petrol earning options.
Via Texaco, you are effectively getting 1 Virgin mile for every £1.30 spent on petrol (the average price of 1 litre of unleaded). Let’s compare that with the various ways of earning Clubcard points on petrol:
1.25 Virgin miles per £1 spent at a Tesco-branded filling station (ie 1 Clubcard point per £2 spent, based on swiping a normal Clubcard and not asking for your Tesco credit or debit card to be treated as a Clubcard)
0.96 Virgin miles per £1 spent at any participating Esso filling station which does NOT have a Tesco convenience store attached (technically 1 Clubcard point for every 2 litres of fuel purchased, based on £1.30 per litre)
0.83 Virgin miles per £1 spent at an Esso filling station which has a Tesco convenience store attached (1 Clubcard point per £3 spent). Full details of the Esso earning rates are here.
If you have a Tesco Mastercard or Tesco debit card, and use this as a Clubcard when paying at a Tesco garage, you earn even more. It works out at 2.5 Virgin Flying Club miles per £1 spent. This article explains how you get bonus points for buying petrol with a Tesco payment card.
And all of this ignores the fact that Texaco points can only be converted in chunks of 1,000 litres of petrol, which is a lot of trips to the garage. Using your Texaco points for retail gift vouchers only requires 500 points.
The bottom line is that, if you want to earn Virgin Flying Club from petrol, you were always better off ignoring the ‘official’ Texaco partnership and buying your fuel at Tesco or Esso instead. The end of the official partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Texaco Star Points should not be a major concern.
How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 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 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.
The Platinum Card from American Express
50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer 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.)
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