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Virgin Atlantic launching flights to Barbados and Florida from Edinburgh

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Virgin Atlantic has just announced that it will be launching its first-ever international flights from Edinburgh Airport this winter.

(You may remember that Virgin briefly operated ‘Little Red’ domestic services between London and Edinburgh, which is why it can’t call the new flights its debut at the Scottish airport.)

Where will Virgin Atlantic fly from Edinburgh?

Virgin will launch direct flights to Barbados and offer the only direct flights between Scotland and the Caribbean. The flights will launch on the 5th December and will operate twice weekly. We don’t know the timings yet but they will depart on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Virgin Atlantic

Flights will be bookable from the 18th August and lead-in prices start at £419 return in economy.

The flights will be operated by the A330 fleet, so you won’t be getting the newest Upper Class Suite currently found on the A350s. These aircraft have 31 seats in Upper Class, 48 Premium and 185 economy and are the smallest aircraft in Virgin’s fleet. (The ex-Air Berlin A330-200s are due to be retired by early 2022).

In the Spring the route will be joined by flights to Orlando, Florida, also from Edinburgh. These are due to begin in April.

Further Caribbean expansion

Edinburgh isn’t the only airport getting a boost. Virgin Atlantic is also launching flights from Manchester to Montego Bay (Jamaica) from 6th November and is returning to St Lucia from Heathrow on 18th December.

As previously announced Virgin will also increase flights to Barbados by 70% across the board, with eleven weekly flights from Heathrow and five from Manchester this winter. It will also launch flights to The Bahamas – tickets for which are now on sale.

What will flights cost in Virgin Points?

The Virgin Points flight redemption chart is here.

All of the Caribbean routes have the same pricing. You will pay, plus taxes and charges:

  • Economy: 40,000 points peak / 20,000 points off-peak
  • Premium: 55,000 points peak / 35,000 points off-peak
  • Upper Class: 135,000 points peak / 115,000 points off-peak

The peak dates for 2021/2 are:

  • 14 July – 5 September 2021
  • 15 – 26 October 2021
  • 11 – 31 December 2021
  • 1 January – 6 March 2022
  • 7 – 26 April 2022
  • 30 May – 5 June 2022
  • 16 June – 4 September 2022

Remember that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards come with a 2-4-1 voucher if you hit an annual spend target. Unlike the British Airways American Express cards, the Virgin credit card voucher can be used for a 2-4-1 or upgrade on cash or points tickets – see here.

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 (36)

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

  • Antony Jackson says:
    11 Aug11 August 09:59

    Will the Glasgow / Orlando flights be stopping then?

    • BJ says:
      11 Aug11 August 10:19

      Doubt it.

      • Stu N says:
        11 Aug11 August 10:25

        Seems very unlikely, the Weegies’ appetite for taking the bairns to see Mickey is insatiable.

        • Andrew says:
          11 Aug11 August 10:37

          Goodness no. A Weegie would take the weans. A Fifer would take the bairns.

          I think Rob has got the Classes of the flights wrong too.

          It won’t be Upper, Premium and Economy. The Virgin flights to Florida from Scotland will simply have two Classes. “Weegie” and “Non-Weegie”.

          • Louise K says:
            11 Aug11 August 11:17

            As a Fifer myself, who then lived in Glasgow for 20 years, I appreciate this. Made we giggle !!

          • Stu N says:
            11 Aug11 August 12:36

            This is why we need an edit function. As a west coaster who has lived in the Kingdom and east side I sometimes get my languages mixed up.

          • numpty says:
            11 Aug11 August 13:41

            Remember and take your baffies.

          • Erico1875 says:
            11 Aug11 August 17:09

            The ones from Glasgow will be Left or Rght fit (foot )

    • chris1922 says:
      11 Aug11 August 10:27

      Hope not, and would expect not. They were very popular. In recent times GLA could have up to three direct flights a day to Orlando (MCO and Sanford), during school holiday periods.

    • 1ATL says:
      11 Aug11 August 13:20

      I think VS are pulling out of GLA full stop and will move MCO over to EDI.

      • Andrew says:
        11 Aug11 August 15:02

        So that’s a:-

        Daily Delta to Boston
        Daily Delta to Newark
        Twice weekly Virgin to Barbados
        Daily (Peak) Virgin to Orlando
        Along with regular KLM & Air France flights to mainland Europe

        Is it maybe time that they opened their own lounge at EDI?

  • Keith says:
    11 Aug11 August 09:59

    Woohoo! Delighted with this news.

  • BJ says:
    11 Aug11 August 10:08

    Ah great, thanks for this 🙂 Now may need to get back to the drawing board for trip to USA next summer. Hopefully by then Virgin is still in business, the route is still operating and the a33p is reached with an a350. Dilemma will be ANA to TYO or Florida direct from Edinburgh. Doubt I cN earn enough points for both.

  • Phil says:
    11 Aug11 August 10:25

    Do Virgin have a similar concept to the BA Household account where you can pool miles towards redemptions?

    • Rob says:
      11 Aug11 August 10:32

      No, unless Gold.

      However the call centre will unofficially pool miles for you as long as all account holders are travelling.

      • Phil says:
        11 Aug11 August 13:46

        thanks

      • Tariq says:
        11 Aug11 August 19:15

        Usually payment can be made from separate accounts as long as the full cost of each sector can be covered by a single account? ie can’t split the cost of a single sector across more than one account.

  • Andrew says:
    11 Aug11 August 10:28

    Let’s see how the pricing looks. The Florida flights from GLA have traditionally been quite toppy compared to Gatwick.

    Hopefully Virgin will have taken note that many Scottish local authorities now have a dispensed with the traditional Easter break and have created a new fixed “Spring Holiday” the first two weeks of April.

    • chris1922 says:
      11 Aug11 August 10:40

      They could be expensive, yes. I could could book WT+ with BA connecting in Gatwick cheaper than economy direct from GLA with VS.

  • Chris says:
    11 Aug11 August 10:31

    What’s the best way to find out current expiry of a Virgin 2-4-1 voucher?

  • Chris says:
    11 Aug11 August 11:01

    What’s the easiest way to check expiry dates of any Virgin 2-4-1 vouchers?

  • Graeme says:
    11 Aug11 August 11:12

    Good news all round for us living in Scotland and gives an option for redemption of virgin miles rather than have to get to Manchester or London on our own steam.

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

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