Virgin Atlantic confirms launch of Austin flights

On Saturday we wrote that rumours were swirling of a new Virgin Atlantic route to Austin, Texas.

It turns out the rumours were true and flights are now being loaded into the booking system. Services are currently visible when you search via Google Flights but are NOT – as of Monday evening -appearing when you search via the Virgin Atlantic website.

The flights are as follows, with the route launching on 25th May:

• VS231 departs Heathrow at 11:35 and arrives in Austin at 16:05
• VS232 departs Austin at 18:05 and arrives in London at 9:00 the following day

The total flight time is 10:30 hours on the outbound and 8:55 on the return, which should give you enough time for a decent amount of sleep on the way back.

Flights will operate four times weekly, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. They will use a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which still has the older Upper Class seat rather than the new suite on the A350s.

Virgin Atlantic is going head to head with British Airways on the route, which operates a daily flight with its A350 (and Club Suite) over the Summer.

Flights officially go on sale on the 12th. We are told the headline promotional fares will be £409 in Economy and £1,711 in Upper Class.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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):

SPECIAL OFFER: The sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard is doubled to 30,000 Virgin Points if you apply by 2nd October. You receive 15,000 Virgin Points with your first purchase and a further 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within 90 days. Apply here.

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 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 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.)