Virgin Atlantic shake-up: Edinburgh to Barbados dropped, daily Cape Town flights return

Virgin Atlantic has quietly dropped its flights from Edinburgh to Barbados after just a few months of operation.

The route started in December 2021. It was due to run until the end of the Winter season in March 2022 but was pulled early. The airline has now cancelled the route entirely.

If you are booked to travel on Virgin Atlantic from Edinburgh to Barbados this Winter, you will be rerouted via Manchester or offered a refund.

The other Edinburgh route flown by Virgin Atlantic – to Orlando – is continuing. It isn’t clear what this means for Virgin Atlantic’s strategy in Scotland, with flights from Glasgow cancelled in 2021 in favour of the high-profile switch to Edinburgh.

Cape Town returns

In more positive news, Virgin Atlantic will be relaunching daily flights from London Heathrow to Cape Town on 5th November.

It is scheduled to run until the end of March, using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This does not offer the latest generation of Upper Class suite – our last review of Virgin Atlantic Upper Class on a Boeing 787 is here. Rhys is due to fly this seat to Austin in a couple of weeks so an updated review will follow.

The daily year-round service to Johannesburg will continue.

Other Virgin Atlantic schedule changes

Aeroroutes notes a number of other schedule changes which were made last weekend. These are for the Winter season which kicks in from the end of October and are based on what was previously planned for the Winter:

Antigua – increased from 3 to 4 weekly
Bridgetown – increased from 8 to 10 weekly
Los Angeles – reduced from 3 to 2 daily
Montego Bay – increased from 2 to 3 weekly from mid December, with an increase from 2 to 4 weekly on the additional indirect service via Nassau
New York JFK – reduced from 42 to 39 weekly
Orlando – increased from 7 to 10 weekly
Tel Aviv – reduced from 2 to 1 daily
Manchester – Bridgetown – increased from 3 to 5 weekly from mid December

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 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 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

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

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

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.)