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How you can earn Virgin Flying Club miles shopping at Waitrose

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Our other article today includes ways of topping up your Virgin Flying Club account.  One of these ways is earning miles at Waitrose.

I realised that we haven’t actually mentioned this partnership for almost two years, and it is possible that a lot of Head for Points readers don’t know about.

Via a deal with Virgin Atlantic, you will earn miles in Virgin Flying Club for every £1 you spend in-store at Waitrose.

The earning rate varies by account, and seems to change based on how much you spend at Waitrose and how your spending pattern fluctuates.

For purchases under £20, you earn a flat 1 Flying Club mile per £1

For £20+, you need to log in to your Virgin Flying Club account and check.  I am currently earning 3 Flying Club miles per £1 until 26th April.

This is, for £20+ purchases, more miles than I would earn at Tesco via Clubcard (1 Clubcard point per £1 which converts to 2.4 Avios or 2.5 Virgin Flying Club miles).

This would also allow John Lewis shoppers to buy Waitrose / John Lewis gift cards in Waitrose and collect the extra miles.

This offer is part of the Virgin Atlantic in-store shopping scheme.  To sign up, you need to visit this page of the Virgin website and register your credit cards.   Make sure you register your partners cards as well if they are also likely to visit Waitrose.

If you don’t already have a Virgin Flying Club account, you may want to sign up purely to take advantage of this deal.  At the very worse, you can redeem 12,500 miles for a £50 voucher valid at many Virgin Group companies or for Theatre Tokens.

It is also worth remembering that you can transfer Virgin Flying Club miles into Hilton Honors points (at 2:3) and IHG Rewards Club points (at 1:1) with a minimum transfer of 10,000 miles.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up 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. 

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (148)

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

  • AB says:
    8 Apr8 April 22:42

    O/T- Is there a way to pay now on Hilton, trying to take advantage of the Amex Credit for a September stay but the cheapest (Honors Semj-Flex) or any other options appear to be book now, pay later.

    • Lady London says:
      9 Apr9 April 00:11

      book then phone the hotel and ask them to take the money upfront

      • Alan says:
        9 Apr9 April 08:04

        Interesting, didn’t know they do that for semiflex, I’d only tried it for prepay before (where they all vary how far in advance they charge the card).

    • Qwerty Bertie says:
      9 Apr9 April 00:22

      Use the advance discount rate, if you want the cheapest rate and are fully committed to the stay. However, Lady London’s suggestion is an interesting idea, as in theory you’d retain flexibility. I wonder though, how easy it would be to get a refund say ten months down the line, if exercising the right to cancel.

      • PaulC says:
        9 Apr9 April 07:30

        Does advance discount paid online work as it clearly states in the T&C’s “Offer excludes online payments and is only valid on checkout spend”
        I need a hotel in Edinburgh in August for the Edinburgh Tattoo and obviously everywhere is expensive including the Holiday Inn’s and Travelodge’s so Id rather pay a little more and stay in a Hilton especially if I can get £75 back which could make it cheaper than the hotels previously mentioned.

        • Alan says:
          9 Apr9 April 08:04

          Yes it does, as long as card charged.

        • Rob says:
          9 Apr9 April 09:24

          Works, done it myself. How is Amex meant to know?!

        • PaulC says:
          9 Apr9 April 09:37

          Cheers guys, best get it booked, nice little treat instead of a Travelodge for a similar price.

  • Qwerty Bertie says:
    9 Apr9 April 00:39

    Regarding the Virgin points at Waitrose, do they sell Tesco giftcards? I know that may sound strange, but then Tesco sells John Lewis and Marks & Spencer…

    If they do, then the full tally of the game per pound spent, culminating in using the Tesco giftcards normally, would be:

    X points, where X equals normal reward for spending on whatever card used to purchase giftcards
    + 3 Virgin points
    + 1 Clubcard point

    If just after Virgin points, that could be a total of 7 Virgin points per pound for Tesco shopping/purchases in store, plus a load of spend towards a voucher on the Virgin+ card.

    Tesco giftcards last five years…so why not go and get £15k to £25k worth tomorrow? 🙂

    • TGLoyalty says:
      9 Apr9 April 01:11

      Take me a lifetime to spend that much in Tesco if I’m excluding fuel

      • Qwerty Bertie says:
        9 Apr9 April 01:31

        You could include fuel, but of course that would bring down the Clubcard earning rate. 50% isn’t it for fuel?

        Could purchase electronics and assorted nik naks in store, not just groceries and booze.

        I wonder if it’s possible to use them to purchase/convert to other company gift cards, picking up the Clubcard points on the purchase.

  • kk says:
    9 Apr9 April 00:43

    So when I register my Virgin MC for Waitrose, do I get points from both the shop and the card spend?

  • Chris Cannon says:
    9 Apr9 April 08:13

    Great news on Lidl deal. Will stack with Sunday times voucher for £10 off £40 spend

  • Nigel says:
    9 Apr9 April 12:49

    OT: does anybody have experience of the Hilton Points Pooling feature? Do you happen to know how long the transfer usually takes? Thanks.

    • Peter 64K says:
      9 Apr9 April 14:06

      About 5 days I think. Done it several times, very simple. Each account needs to be open over 90 days (or was it 30 days?).

    • Mark2 says:
      9 Apr9 April 15:26

      I have just transferred some to my sister and it was two days but YMMV.

  • Thomas O'Brien says:
    9 Apr9 April 14:41

    I have registered my cards but the only offers I can see are, spend £80 and get £20 back. I cant see anything about 1 mile per £1??

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