Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Virgin Atlantic boosts services from Manchester to Barbados

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Following our piece the other day about Virgin Atlantic putting a new A350 – with the new Upper Class Suite – on the Heathrow to Barbados route from December, there is more news.

Manchester to Bridgetown will increase to four weekly flights from 23rd December, and to five weekly flights from 5th January.

Remember that you do not need to quarantine on your return from Barbados, and at present there are no restrictions on entry as long as you arrive with a negative covid test.

Virgin Atlantic adds more Manchester to Barbados flights

If you do not want to pay for a test in the UK, you can take a free test on arrival as long as you stay at participating hotels and do not mix with others for 24 hours.

The Barbados hotel deal I mentioned on Thursday still seems to be available. Travelzoo has a very strong offer for the Fairmont Royal Pavilion – see here, and there is a picture above. You save over 50% and suites are included. I stayed here about 15 years ago and it is on a lovely stretch of beach. The voucher is fully refundable if you end up not going. Click here to learn more.

PS. Virgin Atlantic is also boosting services from Heathrow to Montego Bay in Jamaica. From 23rd December, flights will increase from three to five per week. The route uses a Boeing 787-9, so you will get a new aircraft but with the old style Upper Class seat.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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 (72)

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

  • Keith says:
    13 Sep13 September 08:27

    Weirdly looking at my Uber app, it now says “£5 up to £0”. Wonder if this is them trying to withdraw the offer?

    • Yaron says:
      13 Sep13 September 12:13

      When I raised the issue of the promotion with Uber support, I also argued the promotion should not remain on app if no longer valid. This morning I was asked to rate the response , I replied unsatisfactory and asked for promo to be removed from my app. Uber support replies that “due to technical glitch the promotion is still showing for some users…”. I say “enough said” and closed the ticket with “not happy with outcome”

  • Matt says:
    13 Sep13 September 10:53

    Same here regards Uber.

    Offer shows up in the app everywhere yet no £5 is deducted. CS say that “the offer has ran out”. Ridiculous.

    £5 is such an annoying amount as they know most of us will chalk it up as a lost cause.

    Really underhand though.

  • Lady London says:
    13 Sep13 September 12:10

    If number of uses was capped this is not valid unless they put it in ts and cs upfront

    • Yaron says:
      13 Sep13 September 12:30

      Hi Lady London, see my comment to Keith’s . Uber says max usage cap was on T&C (though I couldn’t open T&C on app!) and when I asked why the promo was still showing (I entered promo on Monday , booked ride on Thursday) they’re saying a technical glitch is preventing them from removing it from users’ app (can’t attach screenshots here). I posted reply on twitter

  • Nic says:
    13 Sep13 September 13:59

    Offer code UKSEP10 appeared on my Uber app a couple of days ago. It gives up to £7 off the next ten rides for personal accounts only, not business. See if that helps.

    • @mkcol says:
      15 Sep15 September 06:37

      That code has now expired. At least the app tells you it for this one when you try to apply it.

  • Lady London says:
    13 Sep13 September 20:58

    I signed up and no T’s and C’s were shown. If you can sign up without even being made aware of any ts and cs applying then they’re not valid and cant be brought in to apply later.

    Uber might assume people will write off £5 but given the number of £5 promises that will be broken by Uber that’s indeed the reason not to spend any more time on it and just.filw an MCOL claim for your 2 journeys. Uber will end up paying each person they.deny £5 to, £35 for this and it will get boring for them quickly.

    Maybe next time Uber will actually put some terms and conditions on a promotion instead of trying to add them later.

  • JohnT says:
    16 Sep16 September 09:07

    Just had an Uber trip successfully applying the £5 discount.

  • Adam says:
    18 Sep18 September 16:35

    I’ve likewise just had a refund of £5 from Uber, unprompted. Here’s the message: “ Whoops, our promotional code didn’t apply the first time! Here is your updated trip receipt, your refund is being processed. Thanks for riding with Uber!”

    • Ron says:
      18 Sep18 September 16:51

      Same here, it literally just came through. I’d be interested if only people that complained got it though.

      • Adam says:
        18 Sep18 September 17:02

        I didn’t complain in the end and it seems to have gone through – I went through the automated process and gave up before speaking to a real person. A result nonetheless

        • Coogan says:
          18 Sep18 September 17:37

          I’ve also just had my two trips Uber trips refunded with an email “Whoops, our promotional code didn’t apply the first time!”. FYI I didn’t contact Uber whatsoever.

  • @mkcol says:
    18 Sep18 September 16:55

    Likewise, have just posted about it on the chat thread too.
    I had made a complaint.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!