NEW: Redeem Virgin Points for retail gift cards

We have always said that, if you redeem Virgin Points via the Virgin Red app, you will get roughly 0.5p per Virgin Point.

The only ways to get outsize value are one-off deals with Virgin Wines, Virgin Voyages and VIP concert tickets for the Virgin Red Room at the AO Arena in Manchester.

Virgin Red is now allowing you to redeem Virgin Points for digital gift cards for exactly 0.5p per point. At the moment, your only options are:

• Costa gift card – 1,000 Virgin Points for £5
• Pizza Express gift card – 4,000 Virgin Points for £20
• Nike gift card – 6,000 Virgin Points for £30

The gift cards will not expire. More merchants are due to be added soon.

If you don’t have a Virgin Red account, download the app and follow the instructions in it to link your Virgin Flying Club account. Your Flying Club points balance will then be available for use within the app.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (January 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

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.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus 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.)