Virgin Flying Club suspends Necker Island redemptions
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Few people know that you can redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for holidays on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island retreat.
Necker Island was badly damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. After substantial rebuilding, the resort reopened in late 2019 and you could again book it with points.
Necker is usually booked by private groups and only a handful of weeks per year are available for individual travellers. You are restricted to booking on those weeks.
This is one of the best value Virgin redemptions you can get. A week on Necker Island during those weeks where the island is not let on an exclusive basis will cost you $35,000 for a couple. That is £25,200. Flights are not included in this price but it is all inclusive.
Whilst the cost has crept up over the years to 1.5 million Virgin Points for a one week stay for a couple, this does still represent good value if you were prepared to pay the cash price. You are getting 1.66p per mile.
You might think that 1.5 million points is a lot, and of course it is. However, it would ‘only’ require £1 million of spend on the Virgin Reward Plus credit card and I know there are a fair number of HfP readers, mainly business owners, who spend six figures per month on their cards. You must now have Virgin Flying Club Silver or Gold status to book this award.
Unfortunately, anyone who was thinking of booking will need to put their plans on hold. As you can see on this page of the Virgin Flying Club website, bookings are currently suspended.
It seems that Necker Island is, unsurprisingly, struggling under a backlog of cancelled bookings from the last 12 months. Until all of these customers have been rebooked, redemptions are not available.
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 15,000 Virgin Points):
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 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.)
