Virgin Atlantic drops its second daily Johannesburg flight
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
When Virgin Atlantic announced its 2nd daily service to Delhi recently, it didn’t mention where the aircraft was coming from.
Now we know. Virgin Atlantic is dropping its 2nd daily Johannesburg service from 29th March 2020.
The upside, which we already knew, is that the remaining flight is being switched from a Boeing 787-9 to an Airbus A350.
This means that the route will have the new Upper Class Suite which we reviewed here, and which is a major improvement on the current seat. You’ll also have access to the new ‘The Loft’ social area onboard.
The 2nd Johannesburg flight will only have been operating for six months. In fact, it is only four weeks since it launched (28th October), filling the gap left by South African Airways move to drop one of its two daily Jo’burg to Heathrow services.
The problem is that the flight is a massively inefficient use of a very expensive aircraft. It leaves Heathrow at 18.55 and lands in South Africa at 07.55. It then sits on the ground earning nothing for the next 14 hours as the return flight to Heathrow does not leave until 22.20. It arrives back in Heathrow at 07.40.
Virgin Atlantic clearly feels that it can make better use of the plane. After all, in the 37 hours between leaving Heathrow and arriving back it could have completed two return flights to the US East Coast.
It is possible that we see the flight back for the Winter 2020 season, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
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 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.
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.)
