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Virgin Atlantic returns to Dubai – flights start in late October

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Virgin Atlantic is returning to Dubai!

Whilst a relatively obvious move, given the ability of Virgin Holidays to drive a lot of volume to the route, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss did say to me – in a private 1-1 chat late last year – that it was never going to happen. You can’t trust anyone these days ….

The only frustrating move is that the route is starting half way through October half term (for those who get a two week half term break) which seems a missed opportunity.

Virgin Atlantic returns to Dubai

This is one of two routes announced today. You can read about Virgin’s new Manchester to Las Vegas route in this article.

Virgin Atlantic has added a Dubai page to its website which you can find here.

Here are the details:

  • Flights will launch on 28th October 2023
  • It is described as a ‘seasonal service’ which implies that it will only run between late October and late March
  • Seats, for cash and Virgin Points, will be bookable from 7th June – do NOT try to book today
  • There will be four flights per week, departing Heathrow on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
  • The route will use a Boeing 787-9, which means you are getting the old-style Upper Class seat, unfortunately. The layout is 31 Upper Class, 35 Premium and 192 Economy Delight / Classic / Light. Upper Class image below.
Virgin Atlantic 787 Upper Class cabin 2

What are the flight timings?

Not great, frankly, but Dubai is always difficult because of the flight time and the overnight closure of Heathrow.

It is an overnight flight to Dubai, leaving Heathrow Terminal 3 at 17.35 and landing in Dubai at the unsocial hour of 04.40.

The return is much better, leaving Dubai at 13.00 and arriving into Heathrow at 17.05.

It still means that the aircraft is sitting on the ground in Dubai for eight hours, which is a bad use of a $300m (at list price) asset.

As noted above, seats will go on sale on 7th June. Virgin Atlantic availability normally pops up at around 5am because the airline operates on Delta’s systems which are set to New York time.

You can find out more on this special page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

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Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

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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.

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The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (72)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Paul B says:
    1 Jun1 June 20:53

    Welcome news, and the flight times could have been more painful.

  • Track says:
    2 Jun2 June 00:11

    People complaining about hours… It’s not like you going to take public transport in Dubai, so arrival about 5 am is as good as any. Nap before afternoon business meetings?

    leaving Dubai at 13:00 is actually a waste of the expensively paid day and your hard-earned hotel breakfast benefit.

    • Travel Strong says:
      2 Jun2 June 00:23

      I don’t understand either of these comments! Where are you napping when it is too early to check in to your room? Why would leaving at 1pm result in a waste of a breakfast benefit? Are you also complaining about the 1pm departure in a post criticizing complaints about flight times?!

      • john says:
        2 Jun2 June 11:15

        You pay for the night in the hotel, only to get up and go to the airport. If the departure was at 2am you can save yourself paying for that extra night.

    • Manya says:
      2 Jun2 June 04:11

      I expect most travellers on this flight will be families with children which is why the departure flights timings don’t work.

      Typing at present from the RC on JBR, having arrived via the 21:30 BA flight on Monday which worked perfectly.

      • Andrew J says:
        2 Jun2 June 06:01

        Why would most people on the flight be families with children?

        • Manya says:
          2 Jun2 June 19:18

          Due to it being a popular holiday destination?

          • Rob says:
            2 Jun2 June 20:40

            Virgin’s not going to get much business traffic with Emirates offering ELEVEN per DAY between Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick this winter.

    • gwexe says:
      2 Jun2 June 07:46

      Exactly right. If you use these flights for business

    • TGLoyalty says:
      2 Jun2 June 09:18

      1pm return is absolutely fine. Having done 10-11am my last two trips I’ll actively avoid leaving that early again.

      The outbound flight time is honestly no good it’s neither here nor there. Landing at 5am get to the hotel about 6/7am to be told you can’t check in for a few hours.

    • Panda Mick says:
      2 Jun2 June 10:19

      I disagree.

      The first time I flew to DXB with VS, it was an early arrival, and the Hilton Dubai Creek checked me in, and even allowed me breakfast that was still being served 🙂 So, I essentially got a day room for free + breakfast!

      • John says:
        2 Jun2 June 10:54

        Sadly it’s left Hilton. But I have received 36 hours in a room, two breakfasts and two dinners (lounge as diamond) when paying for one night several times including Conrads.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        2 Jun2 June 15:50

        You can disagree on a single personal data point or maybe I can add the 4/5 times I have too but the other 10/15 where they haven’t.

        Fact is arriving that early is far more likely to result in a come back later when the normal checkin time is 3pm

  • JohnTh says:
    2 Jun2 June 07:14

    Comes up with an error page – not eligible..Never mind.

  • Nathan says:
    2 Jun2 June 07:30

    Dubai a town built by slaves populated by people with atrocious taste and run by a gangster who likes to kidnap and imprison his own kids.

    • BC8 says:
      2 Jun2 June 07:32

      So not a fan?

    • KP says:
      2 Jun2 June 07:39

      I presume you are typing this from the UK, a country built by colonising and looting 50 other countries.

      Come on, you have no right to judge other people. Or maybe you skipped history classes in school

      • Kazim says:
        2 Jun2 June 17:40

        I don’t think they teach about empire in schools in this country. It appears conveniently missed out as they jump from the Tudors and Stuarts to WW1

    • TGLoyalty says:
      2 Jun2 June 09:18

      Ah sounds just like the U.K.

  • patrick C says:
    2 Jun2 June 07:43

    I really don’t get the Dubai hype.
    No actual business is done there. Companies employ people to have “a presence”.
    Half if the year it is so inhospitable you can’t even go outside.
    It is a dirty car dependent hellhole with no culture and only environmentally destructive fake activities…
    If it were at least cheap…

    • Rich says:
      2 Jun2 June 08:12

      Excellent winter sun destination, fly and flop on the beach outside a world class hotel, great restaurants, great shopping, world class sport some of which is free to go and watch etc.

      It has what most people want from a holiday, but admittedly not all. It’s a free world, other offerings are of course available.

  • Ffwd says:
    2 Jun2 June 08:27

    I have Air France back from DXB via CDG to LHR. Points+£285 60 for 2 pax.
    Anyone else know what direct Fees will
    be?

  • AspirationalFlyer says:
    2 Jun2 June 09:15

    This is good news.
    I actually flew to Tel Aviv with VS a month or so ago and lamented the loss of the DXB route. The cabin crew said they didn’t know why it had been cancelled. The flights seemed busy and it was a preferred route for crew (relatively close, flight not very long etc.). Outward flight is rather brutal.

    Do we know what lounge VS are using in DXB? If they are using the Marhaba Lounge in T1 I really hope they are using the reserved section at the back (which they did previously). The pre-departure champagne tasting event they did with Clos19 once was excellent – bring that back too!

    • Catalan says:
      2 Jun2 June 14:38

      The crew may have felt the flights were full but it’s all down to yields which I’m sure they wouldn’t be aware of. Because of the timings the previous daily flight didn’t allow for transfers beyond LHR onto other VS flights and therefore didn’t return much of a profit, if any, to Virgin’s coffers.

    • Born2sKydive says:
      3 Jun3 June 20:32

      LOL I remember when I flew back UC on VS from DXB for my 40th. At the entrance to the gack bit had no idea at 1st it was a separate tasting partnership. After chatting for 15 mins and 2 champ glasses later the penny dropped. Was fun chatting about my favourite tipple rho 😎

  • Jonny Price says:
    2 Jun2 June 11:54

    Is this route being added at the expense of a reduction in frequency on another route?

    • Rhys says:
      2 Jun2 June 12:17

      I believe it’s based on new aircraft deliveries freeing up capacity.

      • Bagoly says:
        2 Jun2 June 15:16

        I would have thought that Manchester-Dubai would be an obvious Virgin route.

    • Rhys says:
      2 Jun2 June 15:56

      Don’t believe so. There were some changes a while back with flights to Pakistan going etc.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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