Goodbye Virgin Flying Club miles …. hello Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red have launched the first stage of the new Virgin Group-wide loyalty scheme today.

From today, Virgin Flying Club miles are known as Virgin Points.

Virgin Points becomes the currency of Virgin Flying Club. The Virgin Flying Club brand is not going anywhere.

This is, for now, purely a cosmetic change. 1 Virgin Point is exactly the same as 1 Virgin Flying Club mile used to be. You earn the same and spend the same.

As part of the switch, Virgin Points is moving to ‘no expiry’. It was always very unlikely that your Virgin Flying Club miles would expire, given that it required no earn or burn activity for three years, but ‘no expiry’ is now formalised.

What happens in the future?

This is stage one of an ambitious plan to create a Virgin Group-wide loyalty scheme. Coming soon, you will be able to earn and spend Virgin Points across a range of Virgin-branded companies.

In the UK, this potentially means Virgin Media and Virgin Active if they have chosen to get involved, as well as smaller ventures such as Virgin Wines.

We may also interesting opportunities from Virgin Voyages and Virgin Hotels.

Virgin Red supplied us with some surprisingly un-cheesy quotes:

Kelly Best, Chief Marketing Officer for Virgin Red, says:

“Virgin Points – the new reward currency for Virgin companies – has launched today.  This is in preparation for the launch of Virgin Red, a new Virgin-wide rewards club which will be revealed soon. Unlike other loyalty programmes where points vanish, our points have no use-by-date – so no matter what life throws at our members, Virgin Points can be used whenever they want.  

“Because Virgin Points will eventually be the currency used across all of the different Virgin companies, Flying Club miles have been rebranded to Virgin Points today. This rebrand doesn’t change how existing Flying Club members can collect or spend points around the globe – except that members can relax safe in the knowledge that Virgin Points will never expire.”

Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at Virgin Atlantic, said:

“We’re committed to supporting our most loyal members and creating opportunities for them to enjoy their hard-earned rewards. Flying Club miles have now changed to Virgin Points, which unlike currencies in other loyalty programmes, will never expire. This means members can build up their Virgin Points balance, for as long as they want, and redeem at their leisure, now or in the future.

“Virgin Points have exactly the same value as miles and members can continue to earn and redeem these across Virgin Atlantic, Delta and other partners as they do today, as well as collect tier points. The change in currency provides greater peace of mind for our members and paves the way for an expanded range of ways to earn and spend Virgin Points. To mark this milestone and reward our members as they plot their future travel plans, we’re offering double Virgin Points on every Virgin Atlantic flight booked directly with us by 1st October 2020.”

Double points?

Yes. You can earn double Virgin Points on all Virgin Atlantic flights, in all classes, booked between today and 1st October.

Flights must be booked directly on the Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays websites, or via the call centre, to qualify.

Flights must be Virgin Atlantic operated, not codeshares. There is no deadline for when the flight must be taken. There is no tier point bonus.

You can see full details of the double points offer on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Conclusion

It’s good to finally see some movement with Virgin Red after delays. Today’s move doesn’t have any real impact for most members, however.

The real changes will come when we start to see new earning and spending partners coming on board in the future. We will share these developments as we get them.

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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):

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.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

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.)