Get up to 40% bonus buying Virgin Flying Club miles – but is it worth it?

Virgin Atlantic has re-launched its semi-regular bonus for buying miles. Here are the rates:

2,000-9,999 miles = 15% bonus miles
10,000-29,999 miles = 20% bonus miles
30,000-69,999 miles = 30% bonus miles
70,000-150,000 miles = 40% bonus miles

With this promotion, Virgin has increased the annual purchase limit to 150,000 miles from 100,000 miles. You can buy here.

As usual, these deals are best used to either:

top-up your account for a redemption you plan to make soon, or

buy all the miles you need for a redemption where availability is showing

It does NOT make a lot of sense to buy on a speculative basis at these prices.  Even if you buy the largest possible quantity, which is 210,000 miles for £2,265, you are still paying 1.08p per mile.  Whilst you can get far better value than this when redeeming, the ‘profit’ isn’t so great that I’d be willing to tie up my money without having a clear redemption plan.

Before buying, think if you have any American Express Membership Rewards points, Tesco Clubcard points, Heathrow Rewards points or hotel loyalty points which you could transfer instead. Remember that Amex points transfer instantly if your accounts are already linked.  A cheaper way of getting 10,000 Virgin Flying Club miles would be to get the free – in Year 1 – American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card and transfer the 10,000 Amex points sign-up bonus.

And, of course, you currently receive 12,000 Virgin Flying Club miles with the FREE Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card and 30,000 Virgin Flying Club miles when you take out the £160 Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card.  This is a better deal than buying the miles.  Full details of the Virgin Atlantic credit cards, and a few ideas to help you choose which is best for you, are in this article.

The promotion closes at midnight BST on the 30th June.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2023)

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 15,000 Virgin Points):

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 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

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.)