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Virgin Atlantic confirms Sao Paulo flight dates and timings

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Whilst tickets are not currently on sale, Virgin Atlantic has confirmed the dates and times for the new Sao Paulo service.

Flights will launch on 29th March 2020, using a Boeing 787-9.  This means that you will not be getting the new version of the Upper Class Suite, currently rolling out exclusively on the A350 fleet.

The service will operate daily.

The outbound, VS197, will leave Heathrow Terminal 3 at 22.30 and arrive in Sao Paulo at 06.25 the following day.

The return flight, VS198, will leave Sao Paulo at 16.25 and arrive in Heathrow at 07.50 the following day.

It is obvious that these are not ideal timings for Virgin Atlantic.  It will have a $200m aircraft sitting on the tarmac in Brazil for 10 hours per day, not generating income.

As we covered last week, Virgin Atlantic has agreed a codeshare deal with GOL to allow you to purchase through-tickets for domestic destinations in Brazil.

Tickets are expected to be on sale, both for cash and Virgin Flying Club miles, in the next few days.

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 (55)

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

  • Andrew says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:29

    Quote:- “there are various ways of earning Virgin Flying Club miles from UK credit cards.”

    Including using your BA Amex Card in Waitrose! 4 miles per £1 spent at the moment.

    Rather naughtily, I’ve added my parent’s Credit Card details to my Flying Club Account, so every time they shop in Waitrose or have a coffee in Costa, I earn 4 points or 8 points respectively. It’s points for nothing.

  • Andrew says:
    10 Sep10 September 09:31

    Depends on who you are employed by, but there are 15% back targetted offers out there at the moment on Virgin Flights. It doesn’t work with the flight + hotel deals though.

  • Mikeact says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:03

    Bits. Can anybody point me to the IBERIA 2020 Peak/Off Peak calendar to download ? Thanks.

  • Andre says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:58

    The times are standard for Europe to
    Sao Paulo flights. Most of them seat in Sao Paulo all day to be able to fly overnight back to Europe. The timings are almost identical to the BA flight

    • David says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:34

      Adding a tag/shuttle to GIG might be commercially viable – since 10 hours on the ground in GRU isn’t long enough to fly back with the same crew anyway.

  • Catalan says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:08

    The inaugural flight of Virgin Atlantic’s A350-1000 is scheduled for 13:30 today
    I’m surprised there’s no coverage from HfP, or have I missed a post?

    • Rob says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:52

      The ‘real’ inaugural party plane is on the 18th, next week. Rhys is going and it will get substantial coverage. The flights this week were not guaranteed to happen due to testing.

  • BlueHorizonuk says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:32

    Do the tickets give free access to the Spirit of Christmas fair?

    • BlueHorizonuk says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:47

      answer to my own question is yes you do

    • Rob says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:48

      It doesn’t say. Some years it has, including last year. Some years it has not, including one year I went. It usually makes it clear on the website when it does.

  • Munch says:
    10 Sep10 September 12:43

    OT but Virgin. Any news on the next promo offer for Virgin Atlantic Credit card. Looking for extra bonus points on a new card. I hope its not a repeat of the Fx @ 0% offer.

    • Rob says:
      10 Sep10 September 13:40

      Nothing in the pipeline. Doubt it will be 0%, that was a Summer holiday thing.

    • Grant says:
      10 Sep10 September 13:54

      On a related point – re the last 30k sign up promo for the paid card. What was the spend threshold and the time limit to receive the 30K points? We have had one 15K bonus through after the first month, but the other 15K hasn’t appeared – just had 4th months statement and put c. £15k through the card over that period. The reward voucher has been triggered and is in the account.

      • Shoestring says:
        10 Sep10 September 13:57

        15,000 miles when you apply on or before 30th June and you spend £3,000 on the card within 90 days of opening the account

  • Fenny says:
    10 Sep10 September 18:30

    Why do travel companies have such a dislike of solo travellers? I may have to set up a website to match up individuals to travel together to get the best of these deals. Nothing to stop people flying together and then going off in separate directions at the other end.

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

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