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Virgin Atlantic sale: Upper Class to Mumbai £1878, Tel Aviv £999 plus 10% off packages

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As you may have noticed from the big ads on the HfP desktop site, Virgin Atlantic has launched another sale.

Full details are on this page, which lets you filter destinations by cabin.

Looking at the Upper Class fares, most of the best deals appear to be out of Manchester, which I’m sure will please many of you.

Upper Class prices out of London include:

Tel Aviv £999

Washington DC £1523

Mumbai £1878

From Manchester, they are:

Boston £1726

New York £1826

Atlanta £2085

Las Vegas £2487

LA £3387

Travel is for selected dates only. Some of these are only for travel in the week before Christmas, with the return on Christmas Eve (arrival Christmas Day) so they are clearly of limited appeal.

Weirdly, the sale page automatically assumes travel for two people.  If you want to book flights for one person only, you must use the ‘refine search’ tool and adjust the number of travellers.

Virgin Atlantic sale

Here is our last review of Virgin Upper Class (there is also Anika’s ‘flying whilst pregnant’ review here) and here is our last review of Virgin’s Clubhouse lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3.  Virgin’s official Upper Class website is here.

The Premium sale is slightly more substantial with a greater number of routes. From London this includes:

Tel Aviv £499

St Lucia £739

New York £756 (it is marginally cheaper from Manchester)

Mumbai £761

Washington DC £840

Seattle £882

LA £902

…. as well as many more from Manchester. These sale fares are available for a month until 22nd September.

Virgin Atlantic is also offering 10% off flight and hotel bookings.  You must add the code ‘AUGSALE10’ during the booking process. The discount applies to the full cost of the holiday excluding APD, fuel surcharges and taxes. This discount applies over the bank holiday weekend, from Friday 23rd until Monday 26th August, and is valid for departures until 31st July 2020.  You can book flight and hotel packages here.

If you want to travel after the 31st July 2020 and still want 10% off, Virgin Holidays is running an identical promotion until 31st December 2020. You must enter the code ‘AUGSALE’ when booking your trip on the Virgin Holidays website here.

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 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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (35)

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

  • Waddle says:
    24 Aug24 August 05:39

    OT: Pre-paid hotel bookings

    I have a reservation at the Conrad Dubai next month which may be affected by the BA strikes. I booked a Honors Sale pre-paid rate on Monday 19 Aug for a stay at the end of September. I haven’t been charged for it yet. What do we think my chances are of cancelling the booking without being charged at all? What is my best course of action in this case?

    • Amit says:
      24 Aug24 August 06:49

      Would probably contact the hotel and ask them, it’s always worked for me. Or cancel the card used to make the booking..

    • Nick_C says:
      24 Aug24 August 08:06

      The CC company that sold you the flight is responsible for consequential loss under S75. You can claim back the hotel cost from them (even if the hotel was paid for using a different card).

      • 3742 says:
        24 Aug24 August 08:21

        Might not have been a credit card…

        Waddle, I would go through the terms and conditions of the booking. I know that Hilton Group hotels say that your pre-paid costs are forfeit/will not be returned if cancelled, but there might be a loophole that allows you to do what Amit said without then being billed/possibly pursued for a contractual debt if you cancel the reservation prior to paymebt being taken.

        What Amit said would definitely work, in terms of preventing payment being taken, but would not necessarily be the end of the matter. If you are going to do it, I would tell the card provider you’ve lost your card/need a replacement, rather than cancelling the card account. (Which may have been what Amit was saying anyway.)

  • The Lord says:
    24 Aug24 August 06:42

    OT – flying to LAX in BA J, have about 6 hours before flying AA F to Honolulu. Understand that domestic F doesn’t get lounge access but will the fact we arrived in J help? Currently have no status

    • Matt says:
      24 Aug24 August 09:20

      Why stay in the airport, the strip is so close to the airport!

    • Nick_C says:
      24 Aug24 August 10:00

      Is it two separate bookings? If its a connecting flight on one ticket it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve used the AC when connecting from international J to domestic first.

      • The Lord says:
        24 Aug24 August 10:32

        2 separate bookings. Does that make a difference?

        • Nick_C says:
          24 Aug24 August 12:37

          I’m guessing you will be OK.

          “Connecting between oneworld marketed and operated flights:
          First and Business Class customers connecting on the same day of travel, or before 6am the following day, can access the lounge when travelling between an international long haul (a oneworld international long haul flight is defined as an international flight marketed and operated by any oneworld carrier with a scheduled flight time longer than 5 hours) and an international short haul or domestic flight (and vice-versa).”

          https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounges?location=LAX

        • Lyn says:
          24 Aug24 August 14:20

          I think this would work at the BA/Qantas/OneWorld lounge in the International terminal so I agree with Nick_C above. Worth printing a copy of the rules to take with you. This lounge is much better than the AA lounge anyway for a layover (should work here too though)

          Turn immediately right – without exiting the building – after immigration / customs / rechecking bags to go back through security. Follow signs to the International terminal. Stay at the upper level (above the gates) for the lounge.

          Note they won’t of course show AA departures in that lounge. Allow for a 10 minute walk airside to the AA terminal.

          • Lyn says:
            24 Aug24 August 14:28

            You will need to show your incoming J boarding passes of course. We’ve done this at the Qantas First lounge (next door) connecting from Qantas when my husband was in Qantas First and we were connecting that morning to AA economy so I know the principle works.

    • Spaghetti Town says:
      24 Aug24 August 11:51

      In n out burger is near the runway @ LAX , best fast food i’ve had and ok to kill a few hours if you like watching planes

  • Ben says:
    24 Aug24 August 08:41

    OT- anyone got a higher annual limit on curve than £100k? I’m rapidly approaching the mark and I’m keen to keep going, especially not that COT is almost dead.

  • Matt says:
    24 Aug24 August 09:06

    O/T 20k upgrade bonus green to plat landed last night. Saw other people have had success too.

  • ee says:
    24 Aug24 August 11:31

    OT but no bits. I have a one time 10% off at Morrison’s on my HSBC card. I think I read you can buy gift cards at the self scan but what I want to know is will it sell multiple in one transaction? Thanks!

    • thehornets says:
      24 Aug24 August 13:06

      You can buy as many cards as you want, but will likely need the help of a manager to approve the ‘unusual’ transaction. I have done 40 or 50+ (£25) cards in one go. Took a bit of time.so wouldn’t go at peak shopping hours.

      Also,I would not use the self check – the gift cards weigh almost nothing so the till gets confused when you buy something but it can’t sense the increased weight in your shopping bag. You then need the help of an assistant.

      HTH

      • ee says:
        24 Aug24 August 13:21

        Appreciated, thanks!

      • Mark2 says:
        24 Aug24 August 15:53

        Note that the HSBC offer is for only one purchase not multiple as Amex Platinum.

        • ee says:
          25 Aug25 August 08:31

          Yes, noted thanks. They had £100 amazon cards so didn’t need too many. Queues at the manned til were horrible so I risked self scan and although the scales were an issue the staff member just stood with me as I processed the cards.

    • ankomonkey says:
      24 Aug24 August 19:59

      I know the Amex Morrisons offers work when buying gift cards despite the Ts&Cs saying otherwise. Do we know if the HSBC offer will work for gift cards – also against their Ts&Cs. Got the HSBC offer for the first time yesterday 🙂

      • ee says:
        25 Aug25 August 08:35

        No instant confirmation email for the HSBC offer buying gift cards, but I think that’s normal. Think it’s been said before that the card issuer has no transparency on the underlying purchase other than the amount.

    • Shoestring says:
      24 Aug24 August 20:11

      get the Morrisons vouchers (their own vouchers) at the kiosk for 10% off petrol/ diesel

    • Rooster says:
      25 Aug25 August 00:10

      You can buy £1k no problem, some stores worry invade your a victim of a phone scam but apart from that they don’t usually care

  • Ian says:
    24 Aug24 August 11:42

    Anyone got a Freetrade referral link?

  • Ron says:
    24 Aug24 August 15:26

    Can anyone recall when the Virgin autumn flying club points sale was launched last year?

    i;m assuming they’ll repeat the points sale like they did in april.

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