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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 two 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.

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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

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (44)

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

  • sk736 says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:49

    The only issue with booking Flybe flights through the Virgin website is that if you book the ‘Just Fly’ fare you can’t pay to select a seat at the time of booking. You have to contact Flybe separately to ask them for their booking reference (which is different to the booking reference Virgin will give you), so that you can then pay for advance set selection through ‘Manage My Booking’.

  • The Original Nick says:
    20 Feb20 February 12:36

    Currently in La Habana.

  • Ed E says:
    20 Feb20 February 13:39

    If you go ahead with this Miles Booster, does the transaction go through as Virgin Atlantic (so CC bonus points) or is this another points.com transaction? Thank you!

  • letBAgonesbe says:
    20 Feb20 February 15:12

    “It’s not possible to book cash tickets for Cuba flights or with miles currently, so these are being completed by Virgin Holidays as cash fares.”

    So just to confirm no miles or cash flight only bookings atm.

  • Alex Sm says:
    20 Feb20 February 20:59

    Any idea, when Flybe unveils, if at all, its new FF programme? They have been going on about it for ages. I asked them on Twitter – to no avail, a lot of fog around it. They seem to cover up something here. Are they really going bust soon and therefore not bothering?

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 21:37

      Oliver and his team are working on it. He was at the HFP party the other week and is still plugging away.

      • Alex Sm says:
        20 Feb20 February 23:14

        I don’t want to sound nasty but they should work harder! And also think how they compensate people for not having a FF for A YEAR

        • SK736 says:
          21 Feb21 February 08:04

          Why should they compensate you? If you’ve continued to fly with them then it proves that they don’t need a frequent flyer programme. Most of Flybe’s routes have little or no competition, so they don’t need to incentivise people to book with them.

      • Alex says:
        21 Feb21 February 15:15

        It seems to be taking quite the while and considering we can now book flights on VS, maybe it would’ve been wiser to enable Flybe’s use of Flying Club as the FFP to use rather than working on a new one.

  • Ricatti says:
    21 Feb21 February 00:06

    MT Virgin Miles Booster. Need expert help.

    What would happen if purchasing a booster but crediting the flight to other frequent flyer program (other than Virgin Atlantic).

  • Peter Flynn says:
    21 Feb21 February 20:33

    The flybe virgin join up is still not equivalent. I fly belfast to manchester about 20 times a yr. Just looked 25th april return 26th. £230 on virgin site £130 on flybe! Same flights.

  • Andy_CF says:
    25 Feb25 February 11:59

    Your article is incorrect, Virgin Atlantic are not adding a third weekly service to Havana on a Sunday, they are changing the operating day of VS147 from a Saturday to a Sunday. They will still only fly twice a week, on the Sunday and Tuesday. Both VS147 and VS148 will be on a 787 now, not an A330. I’ve just lost a day’s holiday in Cuba due to the shifting of VS147 from the Saturday to the Sunday.

    • Rhys says:
      25 Feb25 February 12:02

      No, they will fly three times a week although you are right that the Saturday flight has been moved to Sunday. Now Tuesday, Friday, Sunday.

      • Andy_cf says:
        25 Feb25 February 13:57

        Hi rhys, Where did you get info that they are flying on a friday as well? I’ve been on the phone all morning to Virgin, and all they will offer me against my originally booked saturday flight is to either fly out a day later on the sunday service, or four days earlier on the tuesday service. This is for November 2020, they insisted there were only two flights a week.

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

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