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Virgin Atlantic’s new A350 Upper Class Suite is now bookable

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Virgin Atlantic has opened booking for its first A350 flights, featuring the brand new Upper Class Suite.

Virgin Atlantic A350 flight times

As promised, the first aircraft will be heading to New York JFK.  As will the second, third and fourth.  As well as being its most lucrative route, Virgin Atlantic wants to capitalise on the fact that British Airways cannot put its new Club Suite on New York yet as the A350 fleet does not have First Class.

Virgin Atlantic A350 flight times

Services start on 10th September.

From 10th September to 24th September, the A350 will be operating:

VS153 – Heathrow T3 to New York JFK – departing 13.30, arriving arriving 16.25
VS138 – New York JFK to Heathrow T3 – departing 19.00, arriving 07.20 (+1)

From 25th September it moves to:

VS137 – Heathrow T3 to New York JFK – departing 11.50, arriving 14.50
VS138 – New York JFK to Heathrow T3 – departing 19.00, arriving 07.20 (+1)

Times may vary slightly on some days.

Virgin Atlantic The Loft A350

This is a six day service:

Until 26th October, the A350 will not operate on Thursdays

From 27th October to 28th March (the end of the Winter season), the A350 will not operate on Tuesdays

There are Flying Club redemption seats available for many of the A350 services if you want to be among the first to give the new suite a go.

Virgin’s official website for the A350 is here if you want to find out more.

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.

Our main article on the new Upper Class Suite is hereOur report from the launch party, which also looks at the other seat classes, is here.


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 15,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 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 (11)

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

  • Alex says:

    This would be amazing, if i could use my Virgin 241 voucher on anything other than economy….be a while before i have enough points to try this one out unfortunately

  • Whizz68 says:

    I’m surprised there’s only one other comment on this article.

  • marcw says:

    I think the amount of comments are not a reflection of the readership. Most frequent flyers don’t necessary stop by and comment – they just read and move on; there’s nothing really to say.

  • roberto says:

    Can someone at the party tonight speak to a Virgin rep (if there is one) and implore them to rethink the 241 rule. I would fly 2 or 3 trips a year on VS if this was an option, sadly for them BA gets my business ( and substantial credit card spend ) as their 241 allows travel in all classes.

    • Rob says:

      Sinead is coming but we have had this discussion many times!

  • Alex Sm says:

    Users of Virgin Red app may have noticed recently a series of user ‘polls’ with three-way split questions on miles accrual and redemption. Some interesting results there, ICYMI

    Payment for tickets – what would you prefer?

    Pay with points VS Pay with points and cash 71%-29%
    Pay with card VS Pay with points 31-69
    Pay with card VS Pay with points and cash 46-54

    Who would you share your points with?

    Friends VS Yourself 43-57
    Family VS Yourself 66-34
    Friends VS Family 22-78

    What would you rather spend points on?

    Prize draws VS Restaurants 95-5
    Games VS Prize draws 38-62
    Games VS Restaurant 75-25

    • john says:

      So people would rather spend the points on the chance of winning something in a prize draw than getting something tangible (restaurant)? Do Virgin attract a particular demographic of gamblers?

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

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