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Can you earn and burn Virgin Flying Club miles on Air France and KLM from 15th January?

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As regular Head for Points readers will know, we are now very close to the launch date of the full partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Air France KLM.

Both the EU and US authorities have approved the creation of a new joint venture for transatlantic flights.  This will allow Virgin, Delta, Air France and KLM to effectively operate as one company on these routes, allowing them to jointly set prices and schedules.  Frequent flyer benefits will also be aligned.

The official launch date of the partnership has not been released although I have hinted recently that it would be ‘very soon’.

The Flying Blue website seems to have let the cat out of the bag, however.

Take a look here.

In case the page is taken down, because it is up early, here is a screenshot (click to enlarge):

Flying Blue earning on Virgin Atlantic

…. and part two:

Flying Blue earning on Virgin Atlantic

Ignore all the ‘earn and burn’ data on that page, because it relates to Flying Blue and not Virgin Flying Club. 

(It IS relevant to you if you have a Flying Blue account, however, as you can now see the rates at which you will earn if you credit Virgin Atlantic flights to Flying Blue.)

What IS relevant is that the screenshot implies that 15th January is the launch date.

We probably won’t find out officially until next week.  However, it seems that we are – finally – about to be able to spend our Virgin Atlantic miles on Air France and KLM flights.

Of course, until we know how much they will cost and what the taxes will be, it won’t be clear if this is a big win or not.  More to follow ….

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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. 

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (60)

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

  • Simon says:
    9 Jan9 January 06:53

    Is there an easy way to work out if I can use virgin miles on delta/klm/af on internal flights in South America?
    I’m guessing not but a have a stash of virgin miles and a number of internal South American flights to do this year. Unfortunately after the latam departure from one world so no Avios options.

    Tia

    • Rob says:
      9 Jan9 January 07:05

      You have been able to use Virgin miles on Delta for 5 years or so!

      • Simon says:
        9 Jan9 January 07:40

        Got that Rob and have done so! Was more asking around internal SA flights. Is it a case of checking the delta flight map?

      • Erica says:
        9 Jan9 January 07:40

        The AF/KL codeshares on flights in South America will only be sold in conjunction with a longhaul ticket from Europe.

        • Simon says:
          9 Jan9 January 08:10

          Thanks Erica. Hasn’t found much and wasn’t expecting much tbh but would have been perfect if it were feasible.

          S

          • Erica says:
            11 Jan11 January 01:19

            KLM has a fifth freedom flights between Buenos Aires and Santiago if that’s any use to you.

    • Andrew M says:
      9 Jan9 January 11:53

      Delta has no Fifth Freedom internal flights in South America. Maybe LATAM will come onboard with Delta / Virgin as a redemption partner at some point in the future but it’s unlikely to be soon as they are still in OW until the the 1st of October.

  • Chris D says:
    9 Jan9 January 08:33

    Is there any word on whether reciprocal lounge access or other benefits will be offered? The FB page doesn’t say…

    Thanks!

  • Stephen C says:
    9 Jan9 January 09:20

    I have 20,000 Delta miles (visits to in-laws once every 3 years), 13,000 Flying Blue (work trips to Amsterdam but never enough to achieve status) and 20,000 Virgin miles (credit card status). Really no clue which to really use going forward, I guess Virgin as Flybe will give me much more options (from Belfast)

  • Anon says:
    9 Jan9 January 09:48

    Will you be able to use Flying Blue miles to book Delta flights with low tax from US-Europe? (Or are you able to now as they’re both Skyteam?)

    • Rob says:
      9 Jan9 January 10:12

      You can already do that – albeit FB sets the taxes. It doesn’t matter what Delta charges its own members.

  • Simon says:
    9 Jan9 January 09:54

    And do we know when we can book Flybe flights using virgin miles?

    • Rob says:
      9 Jan9 January 10:12

      No. Not next week, that’s for sure.

      • Simon says:
        9 Jan9 January 10:27

        Thanks Rob

      • TripRep says:
        9 Jan9 January 13:49

        Glad I’m not the only one, I’m hoping it’s in place for me to tag on domestic connections to my Dec VS trip by the time Flybe released their Nov 2020/21 winter schedule which is usually in May…

  • Lady London says:
    9 Jan9 January 10:42

    Iberia does cash or miles promos to south america fairly regularly. Not proactively emailed a lot of the time though. In this respect IB is quite similar to LH – LH has some excellent miles promotions that you have to go looking for if you are based uk.

    • Shoestring says:
      9 Jan9 January 11:46

      I get emailed the IB Avios promotions, yes – minus 50% on LH comes up about twice a year I think

  • Yawn says:
    9 Jan9 January 17:35

    Just made an interesting discovery. I was able to book FlyBE’s flight from Cardiff to Paris on the KLM website. This never used to be possible. The FlyBE route used to only show up in combination with Air France flights (Cardiff to Rome via Paris, for instance).

    Bizarrely, the flight costs 30 pounds less on the KLM website than on FlyBE’s own, and because of my Gold status, I will get lounge access and a check-in bag for free. Plus XP and miles.

  • Maciek says:
    10 Jan10 January 08:38

    ohhh, it’s the codeshare earning chart, so may not be relevant. Also doesn’t list F on AF.

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

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