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Virgin Atlantic boosts services from Manchester to Barbados

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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.

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 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.)

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.

  • Goldmember says:
    12 Sep12 September 04:20

    Regarding Fairmont Royal Pavilion offer – Amex have the 50% deal too via their Vacation Collection programme (available to Platinum or higher). You get the room upgrade, early check-in, 4pm late check-out (all upon availability) and $100 F&B credit on top of anything the hotel deal offers. If you book anything above the lead in category you also get round-trip private airport transfers and arrival fast track thrown in too. Absolutely love this hotel. It’s not the most kid friendly resort but that’s part of the charm to me plus the beach is absolutely stunning. Where a lot of other parts of the island have suffered from erosion in recent years including Sandy Lane, the beach at Fairmont has grown in size with powder white sand. You can walk out of the resort and be in high end shopping, bars and restaurants within 5 minutes. Amex VC also price match the big online agencies too and offer all of the additional benefits too. The cancellation policy is extremely flexible unlike some of the online sites that guide you to a credit voucher. It’s another good reason to sign up for Amex Platinum – FHR is what it is and is very good in terms of benefits on best available rates at high end properties. VC gives you a wider range of other properties as well as benefits. They could do more to advertise this I think. You also pay in your card currency so no FEx charges to pay on transaction.

    • Harry T says:
      12 Sep12 September 10:16

      Thanks, honestly didn’t know the Vacation Collection existed!

      • Goldmember says:
        12 Sep12 September 13:07

        It’s surprising they don’t make more of it. The hotels are a mix of properties. Some are FHR too but there’s enough for it to be original and alternative. Lots of Indian Ocean, Middle East and Mediterranean properties.

        • Harry T says:
          12 Sep12 September 13:47

          Thanks, I’m a big fan of FHR due to the guaranteed 4pm checkout. Will look into Vacation Collection too.

  • Lucy Goddard says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:05

    Uber code didnt work for me. It shows on my account but didnt trigger for the trips I made on Thursday and Friday..

  • Phillip says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:37

    Re Pret – that’s exactly where it is Rob. When I was there on Thursday, there was a large group Heathrow of staff being given a tour.

    • Andrew says:
      12 Sep12 September 06:51

      And don’t forget the new Pret drinks subscription – you can sign up for a free month of 5 free barista prepared drinks (coffee, tea, frappes) £20 a month thereafter (you have to wait 30 minutes between ordering drinks, so you can’t take a friend)

    • Anthony says:
      12 Sep12 September 08:03

      It’s actually in the old EAT site, The vacant John Lewis is next door

      • old codger says:
        12 Sep12 September 08:59

        Shame that its the old EAT site. EAT were a much better sandwich chain that Pret, whose sandwiches all taste of mush, the soups are over salted and the coffee as bitter as BoJo the Clown is to common sense. Anyone subscribing to their drinks service probably has no sense of taste!

  • Andrew says:
    12 Sep12 September 06:52

    That’s a shame the Uber code isn’t working – guess I’ll use the £50 Wheely offer instead.

  • Tom says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:43

    Can’t see the fairmont offer on travelzoo, have I missed the bus?

  • Andy says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:47

    Same for me re Uber. Contacted them three times and kept getting a nonsensical response saying things like “the code has expired so you can’t add it to your account”, even though I kept telling them it was already in my account. If I could be bothered I’d report them to Trading Standards.

  • Cheshire Pete says:
    12 Sep12 September 07:50

    Used mine last night on a £7.50 trip and was expecting a £2.50 charge to my CC, but was charged the full amount. Hardly breaks the bank, but it’s disappointing.

    • Cheshire Pete says:
      12 Sep12 September 08:04

      Filled out the specific feedback form for Promo codes not working, see what they say……….

      • memesweeper says:
        12 Sep12 September 09:06

        I’d screenshot the response and MCOL them if they don’t pay up immediately. Add a few pence in damages for wasted time and lost interest.

        • meta says:
          12 Sep12 September 09:57

          You’ll have to pay £25 fee for under £300 which you won’t get back. You can’t claim legal expenses through MCOL.

        • John says:
          12 Sep12 September 14:40

          why not try a chargeback before going straight to legal action

          • meta says:
            12 Sep12 September 18:59

            I understand that it’s out of principle that you may want to go down the MCOL route, but Uber will very likely settle before you even reach the hearing. In that case, you will very likely lose at least some of the fee. Also for such small amounts I doubt the court would see this other than wasting court’s time and might dismiss it. Even if you win, Uber may choose not to pay up, so you’ll need to enforce it. Do you really want to go through all that trouble for the sake of £5?

            However, I would put pressure on them via other means social media, press, report to authorities, etc.

  • xcalx says:
    12 Sep12 September 08:54

    Uber £14.90 last night, no discount.

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