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Virgin news: extra Havana flight added, Flybe now fully bookable on the Virgin Atlantic site

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There are three pieces of Virgin Atlantic news today:

Virgin Atlantic adds a third weekly Havana service

Havana appears to be playing an increasingly important part in the Virgin Atlantic route network.

The service was moved from Gatwick to Heathrow in 2019.  The airline has now decided to increase the frequency of Havana from two to three flights per week.

The extra flight will be added from the start of the Winter timetable on 25th October.  It will operate on a Sunday, using a Boeing 787-9.

The existing Saturday service will now operate on a Friday, with flights now on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

You book on virginatlantic.com here.

Flybe appears to be fully bookable on the Virgin Atlantic site

A few weeks ago we reported that certain Flybe routes were available to book on the Virgin Atlantic website. This was limited to flights to and from Heathrow or Manchester.

It now looks like the entire Flybe route network has been loaded into the system.  A reader got in contact to say his commute from Southampton was now showing.  A few quick searches from a variety of Flybe destinations suggest that the Virgin website now mirrors what is available on flybe.com.

Crucially, the price variations between the Flybe and Virgin Atlantic websites appear to have disappeared.  Whilst Flybe flights were slightly cheaper in some cases via the Virgin website last month, pricing now appears to be identical regardless of where you book.

Your Flybe flight will have a VS flight number if you book via Virgin.  This may make a difference when it comes to earning Flying Club miles or tier points, but we have no idea because the ‘earn and burn’ rates on Flybe are yet to be published.

If anyone books a Flybe flight via Virgin Atlantic with a VS flight number and receives tier points and miles, please let us know.

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 (47)

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

  • John says:
    20 Feb20 February 03:47

    Never liked flying with them, despite the useful destination network. Might book a day return but would be reluctant to have Flybe flights as a component of a trip with multiple hotel stays etc, at least until future resolved.

    Would definitely welcome other airlines stepping up:

    https://m.independent.ie/business/world/airlines-eye-flybe-routes-as-carriers-owners-continue-efforts-to-secure-uk-rescue-package-38972787.html

  • R says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:26

    May I suggest

    (6,916 x 3) x 1.4 = 29,047(.2)

    You have replaced the 300% already so why not the 40%

    • Shoestring says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:22

      your 40% is sitting there in the 1.4, you didn’t make it neater or shorter or more understandable

  • The Original David says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:42

    Has Flybe got new IT, or will they be just as bad at crediting to VFC as they were to avios?

    • Stu N says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:05

      Yes they have overhauled their website and booking engine. In the last few months of Avios earning my posting rate was 100%.

  • TripRep says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:20

    “Flybe appears to be fully bookable on the Virgin Atlantic site”

    Fully bookable to me includes end to end redemptions, I can guess the answer, I haven’t even bothered to look….

    • ADS says:
      20 Feb20 February 11:11

      i did bother to look … and you were right not to bother !

      at least it didn’t work on the two routes that i’m interested in.

      seems a bit odd that redemptions on KLM/AF arrived before redemptions on FlyBE – but i guess that they’ve been working up to the KLM/AF thing for a long time.

  • Munch says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:27

    Semi OT. Anyone credited a Klm flight to virgin and checked against the new earnings chart. Example multi leg trips across Europe. Considering a tier point run. Would Abz to Cdg calculate as over 600 miles? How do you check on the Klm/Af site.

  • Paul W says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:41

    I recently registered by AMEX card with Virgin to earn virgin miles when shopping at Morrisons. Has anyone had experience on how long it takes for the points to hit my flying club balance??

    • xcalx says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:16

      Mine from Morissons took 9 days (first time transfer)

    • sk736 says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:51

      Mine took a few days….I was surprised how quickly they appeared!

    • Paul74 says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:23

      Off the top of my head, I went to Morrisons on Monday last week and the miles were in my account by the weekend. As I recall, a transaction of c£5.50 generated 100 Virgin Miles. Shame it’s a little out of my way and I don’t go there as a routine!

  • Jake M says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:51

    The flight to HAV isn’t bookable…. in fact none are!!! I just get a message saying

    “Hello there.
    We fly between London and Havana twice a week.
    To book:
    Give us a call on 0344 520 0012
    Arrange a call back here
    Combine and save with a Flight + Hotel package”

    I can’t book any flights to Cuba – let alone the new one

    • Nick says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:11

      Really, what was the reason they gave when you called?

      • Jake M says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:19

        I didn’t call, I was just looking for prices and mile availability.

        Seatspy was also broken 🙁

      • Jonathan says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:32

        I think I heard somewhere that it’s due to sanctions that’s enforced by US authorities, for some unknown reason.

        I just did a quick dummy search on Delta for Miami to Havana, and there’s no problems at all (apparently) with booking a flight on their website.

        • memesweeper says:
          20 Feb20 February 08:57

          correct — it’s sanctions… and the Delta flight isn’t bookable without the right permissions from the U.S. authorities (basically an exit visa).

          • Jonathan says:
            20 Feb20 February 10:42

            When I was there in December 2016, I got chatting to some American tourists briefly.
            I mentioned to them about travelling between the two countries, and they said that it was a simple enough process of getting into aircraft, apparently not many checks were done as to the purpose of their travel (at the boarding gate / checking in desks) given that travellers on US passports can’t go to the country as tourists. American Airlines has some of the best information about travelling to Cuba via or from the US

    • Jemma says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:05

      Ah, they haven’t fixed that then.

      When I did this flight a couple of years back it needed booking via Virgin Holidays. Which was a right pain as the booking is TA controlled rather than with the airline so any changes need to go back through Virgin Holidays.
      And I had to change the return flight.

    • AndyGWP says:
      20 Feb20 February 12:26

      You can book flights and hotel on the Virgin Atlantic and the Virgin Holidays website.

      You can also check prices for flight only on Google Flights website (though it still wants you to call once you’ve selected your flights. You can’t click through to book)

      It just seems to be flight only on the Virgin website that doesn’t work for Cuba – likewise, redemptions can’t be done either (by website or phone)

  • Alan says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:42

    I can’t see Guernsey on the Virgin booking app or website – however you CAN book VS flights for GCI via Google Flights

    • Secret Squirrel says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:28

      VS site doesn’t recognise Jersey as a destination (Fly be route).

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