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Virgin Atlantic (re)launches flights to Sao Paulo and Bengaluru

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Virgin Atlantic has been on a route-launching spree. Just last week, it announced it was returning to Dubai after a four year gap as well as the return of its Manchester – Las Vegas flights. Later this year will see the start of flights to the Maldives and Turks & Caicos.

One route that has been notably absent was Sao Paulo. This was a flight that was originally due to launch in Spring 2020 but was nixed by covid.

It would have been Virgin Atlantic’s first foray into South America, and a departure from its largely North American flights.

Virgin Atlantic launches Sao Paulo flights

It’s no surprise that Sao Paulo is back on the cards, particularly as Virgin Atlantic and LATAM announced a codeshare back in January 2022. If anything, it’s taken surprisingly long to relaunch.

In addition, Virgin Atlantic is also launching flights to Bengaluru in India.

Virgin Atlantic launches flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil

Here are the details:

  • Flights will launch on 13th May 2024, with a daily service all year round
  • Seats, for cash and Virgin Points, will be bookable from August – do NOT try to book today
  • 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.

The flight timings are significantly better than what was planned for 2020:

  • VS193 departs Heathrow at 12:45pm and arrives in Sao Paulo at 8:20pm
  • VS194 departs Sao Paulo at 10:10pm and lands in London at 1:25pm the following day

This gives Virgin Atlantic a quick turnaround time of around two hours in Sao Paulo, which is pretty efficient for a long haul flight like this.

If you’re a Strictly Come Dancing fan, Virgin Atlantic has made a spoof samba safety video featuring AJ Pritchard and Anton Du Beke which you can find here (YouTube).

Virgin Atlantic announces flights to Bangalore

Virgin Atlantic is also launching Bengaluru

Virgin Atlantic is also launching flights to Bengaluru (Bangalore). As India’s IT capital, this is a natural addition to Virgin Atlantic’s existing routes to Delhi and Mumbai. Since 2019, Virgin’s Indian network has grown by 250%, with Bengaluru becoming the fourth daily service.

Here are the details:

  • Flights will launch on 31st March 2024, with a daily service all year round
  • Seats, for cash and Virgin Points, will be bookable from 14th June – do NOT try to book today
  • The route will use a Boeing 787-9, which again means you are getting the old-style Upper Class seat, unfortunately.

Virgin Atlantic has a codeshare with IndiGo which you can use to connect onto 34 domestic destinations on the same ticket, whilst earning additional Virgin Points and tier points.

Here are the flight timings:

  • VS316 departs Heathrow at 11:45am and arrives in Bengaluru at 2:15am the following day
  • VS317 departs Bengaluru at 4:05am and arrives in London at 10:15am the same day.

It’s an early start for anyone coming back, but again it does maximise the use of the aircraft with just a two hour turnaround.

Conclusion

The last few months have seen some aggressive expansion by Virgin Atlantic, with six exciting new routes due to launch in the next 12 months.

The airline is doubling down on key leisure markets such as the Maldives and Turks & Caicos whilst also going after BA’s lunch on business-driven routes to Brazil and India.

This is an interesting strategy change from pre-covid when Virgin Atlantic was in a period of contraction. However, joining SkyTeam and the launch of the transatlantic joint venture with Delta, Air France and KLM means the maths is changing. Virgin now has access to deeper feeder networks and new connectivity options.

I imagine these routes are enabled by the arrival of new aircraft – the A330neo – which is increasing Virgin Atlantic’s overall capacity. Unfortunately neither of these flights will be operated by the neo, which has my favourite Upper Class suite.

On both of these new routes, Virgin Atlantic will be up against British Airways. To Sao Paulo it will also compete with LATAM, although the codeshare will presumably take the edge off that one and could eventually turn into a revenue sharing joint venture.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

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):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (45)

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

  • CC says:
    6 Jun6 June 05:41

    The “timings are significantly better” only if assuming the final destination is São Paulo (city). Landing in GRU at 8.20pm will make (same day) connections to other cities in Brazil *very* tight (if possible at all).
    Return on the other hand is fine.
    (btw: that youtube video is dreadful!)

    • AJA says:
      6 Jun6 June 08:16

      That safety video will get very boring very, very, quickly. I assume they are not actually going to use it on board flights to and from Sao Paolo? If they do I would guess that most passengers will have looks like that on the face of the Jeremy Corbyn lookalike. Especially odd when you realise that Samba is actually associated with Carnival which takes place in Rio not SP. That’s like serving haggis on board the flight back to London thinking let’s celebrate Burns night and all things Scottish.

      • Gentle Giant says:
        6 Jun6 June 11:31

        Carnival does take place in SP. Whilst it’s not as historical as Rio, it’s pretty big. Samba is used at carnival, it is traditional here, and although Bossa Nova was a Rio samba scene, samba is listened to all over Brasil. I listen to it, and I am British who lives in Brasil.

    • Gentle Giant says:
      6 Jun6 June 11:47

      Brasil has poor infrastructure by rail and road, so people fly everywhere. There will be lots of internal flights available, even after 9pm. Internal departures are from the adjoining terminal, about a 10 min walk.

      • Rhys says:
        6 Jun6 June 11:58

        It’s also a massive country! It’s bigger than Australia and the contiguous USA.

      • Mike says:
        6 Jun6 June 18:36

        10 minutes walk away from the international terminal but approximately 2 hours from arriving to getting there… Disembark, immigration, luggage pick-up, customs, baggage recheck, walk towards T2, security, gate….

        • CC says:
          6 Jun6 June 19:04

          Exactly. I’d be very hesitant to book a connection flight with less than 2 1/2 hours to spare (to account for even minor delays, queues in immigration/customs/check-in/security/etc); ie looking at close 11pm. Not many options from that time.
          Btw: I am Brazilian, and know how large the country is, and how transport and airports work there.

          • Mike says:
            6 Jun6 June 23:04

            Exactly, I had 2 1/2 hrs on my last trip thru’ GRU and I got to the gate for the domestic flight 15 minutes before the flight started boarding. I reckon I could have taken maybe 30 minutes longer and just made it, possibly, but it would have been close. My previous flight to GRU took 30 minutes longer for the luggage to get to the belt. Luckily, I was going to Sao Paul only that time. I’d have a 2.5hr stopover and no shorter only if it was on a single ticket and there were more flights later on. If I was on separate tickets I’d want a minimum of 4 hours.

  • BJ says:
    6 Jun6 June 06:02

    I am looking for something to do with my forthcoming credit card voucher so the relaunch of Sao Paulo is welcome. An open jaw with Cape Town could work well if I’m correct in assuming that’s a legal open jaw. The Korean-Asiana thing is reportedly going to fail latest I read. If it does will VS drop ICN before it gets off the ground or are they already legally obligated to run it for 3 years even if the merger fails?

    • Rhys says:
      6 Jun6 June 09:10

      It’s a mitigation to the merger – if the merger doesn’t happen then I can’t imagine they are forced to do it!

      • BJ says:
        6 Jun6 June 09:15

        Thanks, I think I’ll just focus on using GRU and/or CPT then.

    • Bill_B says:
      6 Jun6 June 09:37

      I thought the vouchers only worked on Virgin metal?

      • BJ says:
        6 Jun6 June 09:49

        It does. Virgin will be operating a flight to ICN if the Kirean/Asiana merger goes ahead. Virgin also fly to CPT and will fly to GRU.

    • Charles Martel says:
      6 Jun6 June 22:04

      Its hard to see the EU objecting after waving through the Lufthansa-ITA deal, that said my current location means I probably need to look harder at Star Alliance and Asiana Club has always looked very reasonable as a status earning programme. I’ll keep my fingers crossed the US DoJ does me a favour.

  • Travel Strong says:
    6 Jun6 June 07:27

    Selfishly hoping this also means that the older 787 aircraft are moving off the LHR-LAS route! Will watch with interest.

  • JBrod says:
    6 Jun6 June 07:33

    Yet there is still just one route flown from Edinburgh…

    • Malcolm says:
      6 Jun6 June 08:53

      Yes. This is extremely annoying. Wish the Scottish Government would do more to incentivise airlines to fly direct from Edinburgh. Unfortunately due to their partnership with the Greens they seem more interesting in taking us back to the dark ages.

      • Andrew. says:
        6 Jun6 June 13:26

        At the same time, big Lorna does a monthly trip to Canada to see their family don’t they?

        “It’s not about the individual” as they say.

    • BJ says:
      6 Jun6 June 08:55

      I doubt that will change with Delta flying to Boston and NYC. I think Atlanta is restarting too if it hasn’t already done so.

  • Jordan D says:
    6 Jun6 June 07:39

    Bangalore clearly being targetted for connections via LHR to US destinations, with those timings.

  • Michael C says:
    6 Jun6 June 07:41

    Loving the daytime GRU just as BA drops the daytime GIG!

  • yorkieflyer says:
    6 Jun6 June 09:04

    I do wonder when VS will start ripping out those awful upper class coffins on the 787’s? I prefer Premium on those birds.

    • Rhys says:
      6 Jun6 June 09:11

      They need to make a decision in the next few years. Depends on whether they extend the leases on the 787s or replace with something else.

    • dougzz99 says:
      6 Jun6 June 09:19

      I realise some may think they’re equally poor, and seat design moves on, but always slightly amused by this newer view of the old Virgin seat. It was praised endlessly versus the BA CW seat, yet now becomes a coffin.
      Personally I never liked that seat, and found my feet knocked by passing peeps, agree that Premium was better bang for your buck.

      • BJ says:
        6 Jun6 June 09:55

        Personally I just feel happy to be on any business seat on aby airline when considering what’s further back. I’ve never be inclined to bother over-analysing differences between seats and carriers.

        • camille55 says:
          6 Jun6 June 13:37

          Couldn’t agree more

        • GM says:
          6 Jun6 June 13:58

          Part of me is disappointed to get the old seats, then I remember that this is an extreme luxury to me anyway and that I’m so so glad to be there and not in economy. Those seats are showing their age and it can be annoying having to request to get the bed made up…but I also find the bed mode very comfortable and it feels very private on the A side. As long as the service is good too, I’m still happy to be up the pointy end!

    • yorkieflyer says:
      6 Jun6 June 20:12

      The lack of space inducing claustrophobia, the very hard bed only accessed by turning the thing over so no comfortable dropping off after a glass or two really puts me off, need to remember the negatives of the last escapade to CPT to avoid Mrs Yorkieflyer making me book it again to enjoy the admittedly good lounge at LHR

      • yorkieflyer says:
        6 Jun6 June 20:14

        Oh and the onboard food was rubbish, didn’t have my pre booked option and being at the front on the left, was the last to be served so only vegan rubbish left

        • yorkieflyer says:
          6 Jun6 June 20:16

          Oh and to continue the rant while I remember, the only meat choices were chicken, I think they are pandering to the net zero folk big time

  • sam5035 says:
    6 Jun6 June 10:33

    can’t get a another credit card atm..

    What are the chances VS will launch a promo for boosting points, discounted points for reward flight or just buying points?

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

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