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News: £30 of free Uber credit for NHS staff, Virgin pulls Manchester to Delhi and Mumbai

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News in brief:

Free Uber rides and Uber Eats meals for NHS staff

Uber is offer 200,000 free £10 rides to NHS and HSC staff over the Christmas period, from 23rd to 27th December.

You can see full details on this page of the Uber website. You need to change the email address on your Uber account to an NHS or HSC one by 20th December, so that on 22nd December you can be emailed a promotional code worth £10 off two rides over the following five days.

There are also 80,000 £10 free meals codes available through Uber Eats. Follow the same process in the Uber Eats app and you will be sent a £10 voucher.

You can sign up for both offers, meaning a total of £30 credit.

Virgin Atlantic cancels two Manchester services

Virgin Atlantic cancels two Manchester services

Virgin Atlantic has cancelled its upcoming services from Manchester to Delhi and Mumbai. The two routes, after various bits of jiggling, were finally due to launch in January but Virgin has now pulled the plug.

On the positive side, the new Manchester to Islamabad route launched successfully last week.

There were rumours that the service was struggling to get clearance from the Pakistan Government but this seems to have been unfounded.

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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 (17)

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

  • Baji Nahid says:
    13 Dec13 December 05:10

    Oh no, why would they drop DEL and BOM? Thought they would be able to capture the market to America through MAN? Though i wonder, has VS started their flights to America from MAN yet? (aware about the US border closure though) though MAN needs an indian link and VS could have bridged that gap.

    • Rhys says:
      13 Dec13 December 09:44

      Clearly far less demand to India. I’ve been told the Pakistan routes are doing very well, though.

    • Bob says:
      14 Dec14 December 16:17

      2 months ago did LHR to DEL on Virgin and only 70 people in economy. Good service and flight as bearable as could be.

  • Jonathan says:
    13 Dec13 December 07:00

    VA must’ve thought that there was more demand for these routes than what there actually was. Although given the way things have been for most of 2020, it’s a tough estimate to make on how many of their seats will be filled

    • Nick says:
      13 Dec13 December 10:39

      I doubt Virgin Australia gives a fig how these routes are doing. Virgin Atlantic (VS) has much more to care about.

      • RussellH says:
        13 Dec13 December 10:59

        Perhaps we should annotate – VA(abbr) / VS(iata) for you?
        It is always quite clear from the context which airline is being talked about.
        🙂
        Much more annoying (I find), is people who use LH for longhaul when (obviously) it really means Lufthansa.
        But, being intelligent, I can usually work out the meaning.
        We all have far more important things to wory about.

  • ben says:
    13 Dec13 December 07:56

    israel to start flights to morocco soon, so good stopover

  • twoclicks says:
    13 Dec13 December 10:02

    Regarding Royal Air Maroc, tbh, I am a bit worried. Social media posts are just a litany of complaints about them losing luggage with less than impressive responses. Is this just a bad impression? Or any truth in it?

  • Alastair says:
    15 Dec15 December 09:55

    To update some of the Royal Air Maroc info in this article…

    It looks like these new Agadir and Marrakech routes are being sold as Gatwick, not Heathrow. This makes a little more sense, as I would imagine they are leisure-heavy. It isn’t clear to me if there is a BA codeshare, or if BA will ever resume LGW-RAK in addition. RAM operates from North at Gatwick, which is useful as it’s the terminal that’s currently open; again, unclear if that was the reason for the decision or just a happy coincidence. Oddly, BA does list LGW-AGA in its Tier Point calculator earning (80 each way) Tier Points but zero Avios which is presumably a mistake.

    The published RAM fares are still wildly uncompetitive, although I notice the welcome addition of a new fare description “Business Essential” for discounted I class. However, at £450 roundtrip they are still not remotely in Tier Point run territory. And at £160 in W class you’d be better off booking easyJet with all the trimmings. Still, a step in the right direction.

    I imagine RAM is keeping some LHR slots warm for BA with is CMN-LHR and will return to LGW at some point in the future for all its routes, but who knows.

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

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