SKYTEAM LAUNCH: How to spend Virgin Points on SkyTeam flights – costs and process

Today, 2nd March, is the day that Virgin Atlantic joins the SkyTeam airline alliance.

This means, in theory, that today is also the day that you can spend your Virgin Points on flights on any airline in the SkyTeam alliance.

Is it that simple? No, of course not 🙂

This article should give you a good introduction to what you need to know to make a redemption booking with Virgin Points on a SkyTeam partner.

If you want to earn more Virgin Points, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here (15,000 bonus points) and our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card is here.

Which SkyTeam airlines can now be booked BY TELEPHONE with Virgin Points?

• Aerolíneas Argentinas
• Aeromexico
• Air Europa
• China Airlines
• Czech Airlines
• Garuda Indonesia
• Kenya Airways
• Korean Air
• Middle East Airlines
• SAUDIA
• TAROM
• Vietnam Airlines
• Xiamen Air

Delta Air Lines, Air France and KLM could already be booked with Virgin Points before today as part of the transatlantic joint venture agreement.

Which SkyTeam airlines can now be booked ONLINE with Virgin Points?

It’s not a very impressive list unfortunately:

• China Airlines
• Korean Air
• Middle East Airlines
• Xiamen Air

Delta Air Lines, Air France and KLM could already be booked online with Virgin Points before today as part of the transatlantic joint venture agreement.

Which SkyTeam airlines CANNOT be booked with Virgin Points?

• China Eastern – earn and spend coming later in 2023
• ITA Airways – redemptions coming later in 2023, earning already available

What elite benefits do you get on SkyTeam airlines?

This article looks at the SkyTeam benefits you get if you are Virgin Flying Club Gold.

This article looks at the SkyTeam benefits you get if you are Virgin Flying Club Silver.

How many Virgin Points will I need for a SkyTeam redemption?

Here are the basic rules as we understand them:

• the pricing below is by sector – if you need to connect, each flight will be priced separately based on the distance of each leg. Pricing is NOT based on the total distance flown.

• the pricing charts below are one-way – for a return flight, you do NOT add up the total distance and price from that. Each flight must be priced individually based on its own distance.

• First Class redemptions are not possible on those airlines which offer it

• you can mix different partners on the same booking online but the call centre agents are encouraged to book each carrier separately to make changes easier to process. I am assuming that you can still interline baggage even though your connecting flight wil be on a separate ticket – SkyTeam is more flexible than oneworld.

• the website is not able to show all possible permutations of connecting flights but, if you can see a flight combination via the reward booking website of any SkyTeam carrier, the Virgin Atlantic call centre should be able to book it

The Virgin Atlantic SkyTeam partner reward pricing chart:

This chart shows the number of Virgin Points required for a one way flight. Pricing is per sector if you have connecting flights.

The small print:

• Aerlineas Argentinas – all flights within Argentina or South America are priced at Premium levels
• Aeromexico, AIr Europa, Czech Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, SAUDIA, TAROM, Xiamen Air – Premium is not available

We hope you find this useful. We literally have no more information at this stage beyond what is shown here. Feel free to ask comments in the questions for the benefit of any Virgin Atlantic staff who may read them, but we won’t be answering them!

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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):

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 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 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.)