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NEW: Redeem Virgin Points for retail gift cards

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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.

Redeem Virgin Red points for gift cards

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

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (February 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. 

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (17)

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

  • PeterK says:
    28 Jun28 June 06:46

    I got the AF Amex deal on my secondary BA card but my wife as the main card holder didn’t! We both got it on our Amex membership rewards cards too.

    • PeterK says:
      28 Jun28 June 07:04

      Interestingly whilst the small print states the offer is to 25 July my AF offer is showing as expiring today. Correction on my earlier post, we have the AF offer also on our Amex platinum cash back card not on our membership rewards card. These are also showing as expiring today!!??

      • Vit says:
        28 Jun28 June 08:30

        Expiring today for me as well. Suspect it to do with this particular offer (AF) on BA card?

  • Gordon says:
    28 Jun28 June 07:06

    Thanks for the heads up re the AF Amex deal yesterday @Pablo, Even thought the post ruffled a few feathers! I had it on my BAPP.

  • Alex Sm says:
    28 Jun28 June 07:36

    You can top up your CashPoints balance through surveys run by Dynata platform. It’s a very good deal. A 10-minute survey gives you 8-10 points, same as a short-haul flight would accrue. 1 point = 1 NOK, €0.10. So, by doing casually 2-3 surveys a week you can earn a substantial discount for your next flight. Would be a shame to see it gone

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:
    28 Jun28 June 08:12

    Ahh so that’s why DUBai is so cold in winter but do a lovely pint of Guinness 😁

  • Pablo says:
    28 Jun28 June 08:24

    The expiry date of this offer on my BA Amex has been changed to today’s.

  • Joe says:
    28 Jun28 June 09:08

    Not got the Air France deal but have a spend £1,200, get £200 back from Qantas.

  • pigeon says:
    28 Jun28 June 10:34

    Yeah mine also expiring today!

    Also the T&Cs seem to imply partner bookings are okay?

    “Flights may be operated by airline partners in which case Air France products and services may not be available at the airport or on-board.”

    • Rob says:
      28 Jun28 June 10:42

      The way I read the other rules is that it should be AF-marketed (eg AF flight number) but it doesn’t matter who operates it.

  • Tom says:
    28 Jun28 June 13:05

    I have a large pile of Virgin miles but see no value in £1000 taxes for UC redemptions on a frankly average product. I’m also an avid runner who spends quite a bit on Nike running shoes so I’m questioning whether I’m mad to take a Nike voucher in the 4 digits lol

    • Jake says:
      28 Jun28 June 14:48

      In terms of pure value, isn’t flight redemptions Virgin or klm etc worth it in business?

      By spending in Nike you are getting let’s say £1000 for your points on products you would otherwise spend £1000 on. Max saving is £1000

      Surely you can find flight redemptions where the points even accounting for the taxes buys you access to a product that you would pay more than £1000 for?

    • Track says:
      28 Jun28 June 15:46

      These days and post Covid (which is still around by the way), we just travel less. Makes sense to spend on gift cards even at 0.5p.

      But I was punished here the other day, suggesting that 1k ‘taxes and fees’ alone makes profit for Virgin.

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

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