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Virgin pilots strike cancelled, whilst Virgin Atlantic / Flybe talks continue

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The proposed Virgin Atlantic pilot strike, which we covered last week, has been blocked in the courts.

The strike was due to run from today to Christmas Day and then on additional dates in the New Year.  It would only have impacted flights flown by the Professional Pilots Union.  As the court judgement was given on the grounds of an improper strike ballot, there is no risk of any action until a fresh ballot has taken place.

Meanwhile …..

Virgin Atlantic and Flybe ‘still in talks’

Virgin Atlantic issued a fresh statement, under Stock Exchange rules, on Wednesday regarding Flybe. 

It said:

“Following our statement on 23 November 2018, Virgin Atlantic confirms that we continue to review our options in respect of Flybe, including potentially making an offer for Flybe. Discussions with Flybe and its management are continuing. Virgin Atlantic emphasises there can be no certainty that any offer will be made nor as to the terms upon which any offer may be made.”

So …. something may still happen between the two companies.  There was some speculation that Virgin Atlantic was not serious and was simply taking the opportunity to have a good look at Flybe’s books, but this does not seem to be the case.

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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (88)

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

  • Jo says:
    22 Dec22 December 04:07

    Oh nice!! Do you get points for dining at Hilton hotels if you are not a guest there?

    • The Original Nick says:
      22 Dec22 December 06:06

      Nope.

    • Trev says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:07

      If you have the (currently unavailable to new applicants) Hilton credit card, hotel restaurant spend does earn the enhanced 3hh/£ for Hilton chain charges just by using the card (I expect the same could be true for the IHG cards in IHG hotel restaurants?) since it is still billed by the hotel. Might not always be the case but it certainly did at the Marco restaurant at the Hampton near my office..

  • Oli says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:03

    OT – Amex referrer bonus. What happens if the referee does not activate his card, or cancels it short after receiving it? Looking to maximise the 5 referrer’s bonus on an Amex Plat, but I don’t really need more credit cards at the moment.

    • Shoestring says:
      22 Dec22 December 06:54

      referrer gets the bonus regardless

      • Stu N says:
        22 Dec22 December 13:50

        Yep. One of my referees ordered the wrong card, cancelled on receipt and ordered the right one. I got 36k points. This was a genuine mistake – wouldn’t want to make a habit of it for referrer or referee though.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Dec22 December 11:06

      FYI 90k limit resets in a week or so.

      Managed to get my last referral in a couple weeks ago so not on hiatus until the new year.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:43

    Cash rates at the Lincoln are only just north of £100 for much of January. Would have been perfect for me for NYE as I’m celebrating just round the corner but unfortunately the rates are significantly higher for that night (and I’m not paying 80k for a room I’ll barely see!).

  • Nigel the pensioner says:
    22 Dec22 December 07:03

    Flybe’s appalling reputation for timing and cancellations detracts from its value for route network. Im pretty sure the bearded one will heavily emphasise this in discussions. Without a hefty discount from Flybe’s self proposed worth, he will walk away. As a public company, all the books are available to view any time.
    What some people seem to forget, in an effort to boost their pensions, is that air travel is a necessity and not a luxury (apologies to the world savers who will be wringing their wrists at the thought) and as such the route network must continue. It will not be cherry picked for the benefit of investors im afraid, so only serious offers from seasoned travel providers will be considered. This is why i see a long distance coach operator seeing this as a golden opportunity.
    Cruz and Walsh have shown that you can be as indifferent as you like and still make a profit from an airline. Imagine what a company could do if they understood travellers needs and aimed to provide that!!
    T5 lounge is quiet this morning!

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:14

      No one would seriously buy a company based on their public filings. Well, maybe Sir Fred Goodwin, but no one esle.

      I’m a fan of Flybe and think there is real value to their model. They would benefit from a marketing push that someone like Virgin would give but I agree they would be better run by Stagecoach or alike.

      HfP readers probably arent typical. We are off to a wedding in Norwich in the Summer and we are flying from Man. You would be surprised, or maybe your wouldn’t, how few other guests even considered this as an option.

      • Shoestring says:
        22 Dec22 December 07:49

        @Nige – as long as they don’t tinker with Newquay – Heathrow! 🙂

      • RussellH says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:09

        Last time I went to Norwich (for a funeral) I took one train south to Manchester, and then the through train from Oxford Road to Norwich. Travelling through the Hope Valley is very pleasant, as are the Fens around Ely and the stretch across Breckland.
        I avoided the ghastlyness of Manchester Airport, and the cost of getting from Norwich Airport to the city centre.
        I also avoided the cramped aircraft and the noise – it would presumably have been a turbo-prop which I have flown and found Fly-BE’s unpleasant too.
        I have no idea how the price compares, but flying would have to be a lot cheaper to make me do that.

        • signol says:
          22 Dec22 December 12:54

          The Manchester to Norwich flight is operated by Loganair, on a Dornier turboprop. From March next year changing to an ERJ.

        • RussellH says:
          22 Dec22 December 22:33

          signol says:
          22 December 2018 at 12:54

          > The Manchester to Norwich flight is operated by Loganair, on a Dornier turboprop.
          > From March next year changing to an ERJ.

          OK. But unless you need to go from Manchester Airport to Norwich Airport, rather than from city centre to city centre AND you are in a hurry, I would always take the train. Even more so in my case with 120 miles to MAN.

      • Imbruce says:
        23 Dec23 December 15:51

        Fred’s was stripped of his knighthood after the RBS fiasco

    • Oli says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:48

      I had 12 flights with Flybe this year, all of them were on time, and Avios posted in all cases.

    • Crafty says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:58

      “All the books are available to view any time”

      I dread to think what you did before taking your pension.

    • TripRep says:
      22 Dec22 December 12:23

      Flying is a priviledge, not a necessity.

      Like so many things, its been a gift of a once in a species opportunity from the discovery and exploitation of fossil fuels.

      • the_real_a says:
        22 Dec22 December 13:53

        So is driving a car, owning a house, eating Brie cheese… Very few things are necessities. Its all relative.

        • TripRep says:
          22 Dec22 December 17:11

          Yep, I’d agree on all those things as would the majority of the world’s population.

  • Shoestring says:
    22 Dec22 December 07:31

    O.T BPme – all 4 uses now credited.

    However, I got the offer on *6* cards. I was at a PFS this week with card #5 pre-loaded & approved to the app, standing ready to fill tank £30, when the card got repeatedly rejected. Card #6 had failed to load at home so I drove away.

    At home, I set up a new BPme a/c in my wife’s name & both cards #5 & #6 failed to load. I think they might have worked out we got 6 offers at the same address and be cute enough to stop us using more than 4, seems slightly fanciful but I can’t think of any other explanation except crap app over 2 days.

    Will just have to be happy with my £40 saving 🙂

    • SimonW says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:43

      my BP app updated this week – “to fix a problem with scanning Amex cards”. So maybe check you have the latest version.

    • The Original Nick says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:58

      Thanks for that Harry. I’m currently loading other cards so I need to be careful. Luckily the PFS is a stones through from me. I have noticed I have a pending charge on my Platinum card though which I used last week which is a 2nd transaction on the same day so I need to contact Amex chat about that one. Going to set my OH’s app up this now and add her cards.
      On another note, as I know you’ve recently had the Amex SPG and hit your bonus how long did it take for the bonus points to hit your SPG account after you’d spent the 1k?

      • Shoestring says:
        22 Dec22 December 08:11

        It was quick, can’t remember how many days. But getting the SPG points into your SPG a/c may take considerably longer… 🙂

        • The Original Nick says:
          22 Dec22 December 08:19

          Thanks Harry.

        • Shoestring says:
          22 Dec22 December 08:23

          Yep there’s a random monthly date when the Amex SPG points get swept into your Starwood a/c. Probably not random but related to a/c opening date or somesuch.

        • RussellH says:
          22 Dec22 December 11:13

          First batch of points swept from my new SPG Amex late yesterday. In my Marriott a/c now. Must have taken 12 to 18 hours. Cannot complain.

      • Peter K says:
        22 Dec22 December 08:57

        Took out the SPG card less than 2 weeks ago, hit target straight away, points showing after a handful of days (3?). Not swept across to Marriott yet though.

      • Liz says:
        22 Dec22 December 10:41

        @Original Nick – The 2nd payment will drop off after a few days as it’s the preauthorisation amount – we put £35 in the app and buy £31 of fuel – the £31 goes through and the £35 disappears a few days later.

    • Doug M says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:06

      I got really determined with this, had the offer on my BAPP and a sup card in that account. With both cards loaded on the app in my Android phone, I tried two separate BPs over the space of a few days, always failing, clearly the app didn’t work. Despite all logic saying give up I removed the app from ‘droid phone and installed it on iPhone. Repeat. This time the failure was further on in the process, and clearly the app was working, one BP actually said ‘the network’ was down. My Amex account has about 8 pending £35 from BP, so the failure was some way into the process. Undeterred, I yesterday went to a 3rd BP, large one in Wandsworth, shocked to find it worked, £30 something on each of the cards. If the £20 materialises, I’d guess that having overpaid 10p litre for fuel, and driven quite a number of miles pointlessly, so long as I don’t factor in the waste of time, I may have broke even. If BP funded this, then I can assure them this is one customer they didn’t win over. If Amex funded it, nice little obstacle course you had BP construct to minimise take up of the offer. All in this damaged my perception of BP, and further soured my view of Amex in regard to the underlying reality of these offers that are not quite as straight forward as they seem when you activate them.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        23 Dec23 December 09:08

        I’ve used the offer 6 times at numerous stations without any trouble at all.

        However I couldbt register my final card will give it another go or register it on somebody else’s app

    • the_real_a says:
      22 Dec22 December 13:54

      Visa offers now showing the same offer for HSBC and Nationwide cards… if you are registered it might be worth taking a look.

  • Jake says:
    22 Dec22 December 07:45

    OT anyone have any luck claiming from amex plat for alternative travel (train) due to cancelled domestic Gatwick flight?

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:
      23 Dec23 December 09:33

      Not from Gatwick but I had a BA flight from EDI-LCY cancelled a couple of years ago. It was an Avios redemption and BA couldn’t put me on another flight until the next day.

      So I bought a first class ticket to King’s Cross. Amex paid for this and also a taxi home. I got my Avios refunded and Amex paid for the additional travel minus the cash component of the BA refund.

  • Alan says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:35

    OT – I remember reading one other post mentioning successful receipt of the Shangri-la points for using their app – has anyone else received them? Still nothing for me.

  • Benylin says:
    22 Dec22 December 08:47

    OT: Any recommendation for tour operator / tour group for India to do Golden Triangle (Delhi/Jaipur/Agra)? Thanks

    • Barry cutters says:
      22 Dec22 December 08:59

      I did it about 4 years ago With intrepid travel- but only used them as they take club card vouchers at 3x value . Those were the days of racking up £300 vouchers a quarter from printer cartridges and crazy in store offers . So I had plenty to go around . You can still get 3x value up to maximum of about £800 now . So a big chunk of the trip is free. Although it’s not a genuine 3x as the trip is a bit more expensive to start with.
      Honestly you don’t need a tour guide the whole thing is easy with many busses and train options .
      Personally though I wouldn’t do it – Taj Mahal is busier than you can even imagine . You can’t even really see it properly there are so many people . The other bits are nice Jaipur etc, but the whole thing is a bit of a let down if I’m truly honest. Also Delhi is the dirtiest city I have ever been to.

      • Graeme says:
        22 Dec22 December 09:25

        All part of the experience!

      • Craig says:
        22 Dec22 December 14:57

        Yes the Taj is busy and Delhi is definitely not my favourite city in India. By booking the way we did we had a private driver and private guides at most places we visited. A private guide at the Taj made a big difference. I think you have to go once but that’s more than enough, Jaipur on the other hand I really enjoyed, the observatory is fascinating.

    • Craig says:
      22 Dec22 December 10:11

      I’ve had two good experiences with Magic Tours.

    • reds says:
      23 Dec23 December 00:15

      Just back last week doing Golden Triangle plus Jailsalmer(Thar desert). Trinetra did a great job with transport and guides. A little more expensive but very professional. Taj was busy but still an unforgettable visit. Great value with points staying with ITC Mughal in Agra and Sheraton four points near Delhi airport.

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