Where does Virgin Atlantic fly?

Where does Virgin Atlantic fly?  I thought I would do a quick run-down today of the current route network as we have seen various changes over the last year or so.

This is a sister article to the one we ran last week on ‘Which is the best Virgin Atlantic credit card for you?‘. With Virgin Atlantic now a SkyTeam member, opening up far more redemption opportunities, it has become a lot more interesting from a frequent flyer miles perspective.

Virgin Atlantic’s reputation often belies its route map, which you may find is surprisingly small. It is easy to forget that Virgin Atlantic is actually a relatively modest airline – certainly much smaller than its main competitor British Airways, even when you strip out all the short haul routes.

True to its name, you’ll find the majority of flights operated by Virgin Atlantic are to the US and Caribbean, although you will find a smattering of routes south and east of the UK.

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.

Where does Virgin Atlantic fly from London?

Here are the current Virgin Atlantic long-haul routes on sale from London (correct as of March 2023):

• Antigua
• Atlanta
• Austin
• Beijing
• Boston
• Bridgetown (Barbados)
• Cape Town
• Delhi
• Grenada
• Johannesburg
• Lagos
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Male (Maldives – launches late 2023)
• Miami
• Montego Bay (Jamaica)
• Mumbai
• Nassau (The Bahamas)
• New York
• Orlando
• Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (launches late 2023)
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Shanghai
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Tampa
• Tel Aviv
• Washington DC

Virgin Atlantic is currently also flying to Islamabad and Lahore, although these are being dropped in a couple of months.

Seoul is expected to launch in 2024.

The route map below was last updated in December 2022:

Where does Virgin Atlantic fly from Manchester and Edinburgh?

From Manchester, Virgin Atlantic flies to:

• New York
• Atlanta
• Orlando
• Barbados (seasonal)

From Edinburgh, Virgin Atlantic flies in Summer only to:

• Orlando

The Summer flights from Belfast have been cancelled.

Missing from that list are numerous axed destinations – Sydney, Dubai, Cancun, Vancouver, Tokyo, Varadero, Havana, Newark, Chicago, Kingston, Hong Kong, Detroit (moved to Delta).  Go back further and you can add Accra, Athens, Maastricht, Mauritius, Nairobi, Port Harcourt and Toronto.

Virgin Atlantic has a close partnership with Delta Air Lines, its 49% shareholder.  This adds, if you fly on Delta Air Lines:

• Detroit
• Minneapolis
• Salt Lake City

….. to your Heathrow Terminal 3 options.

Delta also flies from:

• London Gatwick to New York JFK
• Edinburgh to New York, Boston, Atlanta and Orlando

Of course, now that Virgin Atlantic has joined SkyTeam, it also makes flights with Korean Air, China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and others much more interesting – at the very least, you can earn and burn Virgin Points this way, and your Flying Club status will also be recognised.

If you’re tempted to give Virgin Atlantic a try in Upper Class, this is my review of the Virgin Clubhouse lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 and this is my review of Upper Class on Virgin’s A330neos.

You can also read our guide to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses here.

The Virgin Atlantic website is here if you want to find out more about any of these routes.

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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 15,000 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.)