Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Upgrade for £30 to Virgin Atlantic Economy Delight – which I highly recommend

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Starting today, and running until Saturday, Virgin Atlantic is offering upgrades from Economy Classic to Economy Delight for just £30 each way.

This is an EXCEPTIONALLY good deal and you’d be mad to turn it down.  There are two good reasons – one relating to comfort and one relating to miles.

First up is comfort.  Here is the difference between Economy Classic and Economy Delight:

Virgin Economy Delight offer

Economy Classic:  Standard Economy fare with checked luggage included, can be upgraded to Premium Economy with miles

Economy Delight: Extra legroom (34″ pitch), priority check-in and priority boarding, can be upgraded to Premium Economy with miles

So …. for £30 you are getting extra three inches of legroom, priority check-in and priority boarding.  This is clearly worth doing.  Both tickets types come with free seat selection.

And that’s before we get to reason two to upgrade – more miles.

Economy Classic:  earns 50% of miles flown plus 25 tier points each-way 

Economy Delight:  earns 150% of miles flown plus 50 tier points each-way

This makes the £30 deal a no-brainer.  Flying to San Francisco, for example, you’d earn an extra 5,350 Virgin Flying Club miles (which I’d value at £53.50) each way.

We reviewed Economy Delight last year on a flight to New York which you can read here.

This page of the Virgin Atlantic site shows you the differences between the fare classes.

The Virgin Atlantic booking page is here.  Date restrictions apply.

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.


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 (137)

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

  • Jtz says:

    OT does anyone know how long hilton status match takes from plat?
    It’s been a couple of weeks, I’ve spoke to both Amex and hilton and both keep saying call the other.

    Thanks

    • guesswho2000 says:

      Since you mention Amex, I presume you’re talking about the Platinum charge card, and the Gold status that comes with it? If that’s the case, it could take a few weeks, and you need to keep hounding Amex about it (Hilton won’t upgrade it on your say so, Amex need to keep pushing them).

      If it’s the status match, as in matching your status with other hotels, that only takes a few days. I matched my IHG Platinum to HH Diamond and it took less than a week.

      • Ant says:

        I am also struggling to get the Shangri La upgraded to Jade via the Amex Platinum card. It keeps showing as pending.

        • Froggee says:

          I just had mine upgraded – maybe took a week from the online request.

      • Luthar says:

        I assume you mean you matched IHG Spire Elite to HH Diamond?

      • Jtz says:

        Yep I’ve called both multiple times, most recent call, Amex said wait another week, hope it gets done soon

  • Allycat says:

    O/T Groupon Spain Avios offer is open for 2000 Avios for €19 again as of this morning. I seem to have successfully bought and redeemed one, just need to wait for them to post into the Iberia Plus account in ~10 days

    • MD says:

      Thank you Allycat! 2000 avios bundles still available at the time of writing.

    • Grant says:

      Excellent, thanks. Still available with the usual one per customer limit.

  • FlyingChris says:

    IHG Singapore hotels – Intercontinental (the older one?) or the newly added Regent on a points stay. IC higher rated on Tripadvisor?

    • Genghis says:

      We liked IC on Middle Rd. Remember though no upgrades on points stay if AMB.

      • FlyingChris says:

        Yeah that’s the one I’ve been leaning towards. Good to know about lack of AMB upgrades.

      • Young L says:

        OT, surprised that you have visit so many places in Japan. I went there at least once a year for the past 5 years, but the places I visited are quiet limited.

  • Chris A says:

    O/T Internal reward flights in SA
    Does anybody have experience of booking SAA flights with VFC miles, and have an idea of what the taxes/fees might be? The change to the Comair reward flights booked via BA.com does, of course, make Economy redemptions less worthwhile.

  • ChrisC says:

    Quick one re IHG accelerate

    If I stay in 3 brands I get 28k points

    Also have an offer to get 4K points back if I do a points and cash redemption

    Can I mix n match these two offers? I.e. use the second offer in a hotel that would get me one of my 3 brands?

    Thanks

    • Rob says:

      No. P&C stays are redemptions and so don’t count for your targets UNLESS you have a specific redemption driven one. It therefore won’t count towards the 3 brands, I am pretty sure.

      • ChrisC says:

        Thanks. I won’t risk it and just pay the cash rates which TBH aren’t too bad

      • Brian W says:

        I can confirm this is correct, I’ve met my P&C stay target but the same stay didn’t count towards my ‘Discover 2 Brands’ one.

    • Kevin says:

      I can also confirmed Rob is correct while P&C won’t count towards your accerate targets as I learnt it in my last experience.

  • TripRep says:

    Bits OT: Hilton status finally updated.

    I’ve retained Gold but not sure if this was due to me having £10k through HH Visa Plat…

    Anyone retained Gold just by having the card and not making £10k spend target?

    https://loyaltylobby.com/2019/01/24/hilton-honors-2019-tier-tracker-ready/

    • Funtime says:

      Just check your Barclays points activity in the app. Clearly shows how many points you’ve racked up.

      • TripRep says:

        Sorry poorly worded.

        I know that I spent more than £10k.

        What I asked was…

        “Anyone retained Gold just by having the card and not making £10k spend target?”

      • Russ says:

        Funtime: I’m not sure how reliable an indicator it is that you’ve put k10 spend through. You can get double points for some spends.

        TripRep. I’ve always hit the Gold spend so can’t help. My understanding is you need k10 to trigger Gold elite status, not to keep it. Will you keep Gold status this year without triggering it? Barclaycard would know so may have to email unless someone here comes forth.

  • Felix says:

    Booked a Virgin flight to JFK last year, the £30 deal doesn’t seem to apply to those that are already booked!

  • Robin N says:

    O/T – any news on the Marriott Bonvory update to credit cards in UK as Marriott launched in America couple of days ago?

    • Alan says:

      Nope – just because it’s launched in the US doesn’t mean anything for here though I’m afraid. Just look at all the Hilton & Hyatt card options they have!t

    • Rob says:

      Yes, the news is that there is no news, they are not even rebranding the UK cards. Marriott website confirms.

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

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