Get 2,500 Virgin Points by activating Tesco Clubcard auto-conversion

Tesco and Avios may have gone their separate ways but Virgin Atlantic remains a Tesco Clubcard partner.

Virgin Atlantic has launched another bonus if you agree to convert your future Clubcard points. You will receive 2,500 bonus Virgin Points if you switch your Tesco Clubcard account to auto-convert points to Virgin Flying Club.

2,500 points is as big a bonus as you will ever see by Virgin Flying Club for switching on auto-convert.

Converting Clubcard points to Virgin Points is getting more attractive

From next month, Tesco is reducing the transfer rate on all of its other Clubcard partners from 3x face value to 2x.

A £5 Tesco Clubcard voucher will now get you a £15 Hotels.com voucher, for example. From mid June you will only receive £10.

The cut in the Virgin Points transfer rate is lower. It drops from 2.5 Virgin Points per 1p of Clubcard points to 2 Virgin Points.

Virgin Points will soon be comparably better value. For example:

• TODAY: 1,000 Clubcard points = £30 of partner vouchers or 2,500 Virgin Points

• FROM JUNE: 1,000 Clubcard points = £20 of partner vouchers or 2,000 Virgin Points

How do I earn the auto-convert bonus?

To turn on auto-convert, you need to visit the Clubcard website here.

Sign in to your account and click on ‘Clubcard Account’.  Select ‘Account Management’ and then ‘Voucher Schemes’.  From this page you can select the “Virgin Points” box to enable auto-exchange.

Note that:

• you must activate auto-convert by 30th June

• you must keep auto-convert turned on until at least the next Tesco voucher date of 20th July

• you must have at least £1.50 of Clubcard vouchers available for conversion on 20th July

• you must not have received a bonus for turning on auto-convert to Virgin Flying Club in the past

• your 2,500 Virgin Points will be awarded by 31st August

I am usually a little sceptical about auto-converting your Clubcard points. You would miss out if a conversion bonus came along, or indeed a better Tesco Clubcard offer launched with another partner.

In general, it is better to keep your Clubcard vouchers in a drawer until you need them, or until a conversion bonus appears.

However …. the days of lucrative offers on Tesco Clubcard seem to be over.  2,500 Virgin Points is also a VERY good incentive – you’d usually need to spend £1,250 in Tesco to earn £12.50 of Clubcard vouchers to receive 2,500 Virgin Points.

On this basis, assuming you’d only generate a few pounds of vouchers per quarter, you are likely to be better off by activating auto-convert for a while and seeing how it goes.

You can see details of this new Tesco / Virgin Points bonus on the Virgin Flying Club / Tesco Clubcard page here.

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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.)