How many Virgin Points do you need to fly to ….? (Virgin Redemption University #2)

How many Virgin Points do you need to fly to a particular city?

This article is Part 2 of our new ‘Virgin Redemption University’ series to run alongside our existing ‘Avios Redemption University’ – which itself will get a much-needed update next month.

If you want to earn more Virgin Points, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here (15,000 bonus points) and our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card is here.

Here are the other 12 articles in the series:

• How does Virgin Red differ from Virgin Flying Club?
• How to redeem Virgin Points on Virgin Atlantic flights
• How to redeem Virgin Points on SkyTeam flights
• How to redeem Virgin Points on ANA and other partners
• How to upgrade your Virgin Atlantic flight with Virgin Points
• How to convert Virgin Points to Hilton or IHG hotel points
• How to use Virgin Points for a Virgin Holidays discount
• How to redeem Virgin Points for hotel rooms via Kaligo
• Is Virgin Atlantic’s ‘Points Plus Money’ feature a good deal?
• What’s the best non-flying use of Virgin Points?
• What is the cheapest way to top up your Virgin Points?
• Get cheaper Virgin redemptions with a credit card voucher

Before we look at how to redeem Virgin Points for flights (Part 3 and Part 4 of this series), we want to get the points pricing information out of the way. Taxes and charges will be covered when we look at how to book.

We will look at how to work out upgrade pricing in a future article, but following a recent change it is now simply ‘the difference between the cabin you booked for cash and the cabin you want’.

How much are reward flights using Virgin Points?

Virgin Atlantic has two pricing charts – one for its own flights and one for flights on SkyTeam and other partner airlines.

How many Virgin Points are Virgin Atlantic reward flights?

This chart lists Virgin Atlantic destinations alphabetically with pricing to / from London.  Prices are return – simply divide by two for one-way.

You can use the search bar at the top to search the table for a specific destination.

Return prices	Standard economy	Standard Premium	Standard Upper Class	Peak economy	Peak Premium	Peak Upper Class
Antigua	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Atlanta	25,000	45,000	95,000	45,000	65,000	115,000
Austin	30,000	55,000	135,000	50,000	75,000	155,000
Barbados	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Bengaluru	20,000	35,000	75,000	40,000	55,000	95,000
Boston	20,000	35,000	95,000	40,000	55,000	115,000
Cape Town	25,000	50,000	115,000	45,000	85,000	135,000
Delhi	20,000	35,000	75,000	40,000	55,000	95,000
Dubai	20,000	35,000	75,000	40,000	55,000	95,000
Grenada	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Jamaica	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Johannesburg	25,000	50,000	115,000	45,000	85,000	135,000
Lagos	25,000	45,000	115,000	45,000	65,000	135,000
Las Vegas	30,000	55,000	135,000	50,000	75,000	155,000
Los Angeles	30,000	55,000	135,000	50,000	75,000	155,000
Maldives (Male)	25,000	50,000	115,000	45,000	85,000	135,000
Miami	25,000	45,000	95,000	45,000	65,000	115,000
Mumbai	20,000	35,000	75,000	40,000	55,000	95,000
New York	20,000	35,000	95,000	40,000	55,000	115,000
Orlando	25,000	45,000	95,000	45,000	65,000	115,000
San Francisco	30,000	55,000	135,000	50,000	75,000	155,000
Sao Paulo *	36,000	72,000	140,000	TBC	TBC	TBC
Seattle	30,000	55,000	135,000	50,000	75,000	155,000
Shanghai	25,000	45,000	115,000	45,000	65,000	135,000
St Lucia	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
St Vincent	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Tampa	25,000	45,000	95,000	45,000	65,000	115,000
Tel Aviv	18,000	32,000	56,000	22,000	40,000	66,000
The Bahamas	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Tobago	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Turks & Caicos	20,000	35,000	115,000	40,000	55,000	135,000
Washington DC	20,000	35,000	95,000	40,000	55,000	115,000

* Reward seats for the new Sao Paulo route, launching in May 2024, are not yet available and only off-peak pricing has been provided

It’s also possible to fly Virgin Atlantic between some Caribbean islands. These inter-island redemptions are only available in economy:

Inter-island flights	Standard economy	Peak economy
Barbados to St Vincent	4,500	5,000
St Vincent to Barbados	4,500	5,000
Barbados to Grenada	4,500	5,000
Grenada to Barbados	4,500	5,000

What are the peak and off-peak dates for flying Virgin Atlantic?

Virgin Atlantic lists peak and off-peak dates on this page of its website.

Confusingly, albeit logically, there are separate peak and off-peak dates for the Caribbean. (It was always odd how Avios charged peak pricing to, say, the Middle East in August but off peak pricing during the main tourist season from October to March!)

For non-Caribbean routes for the rest of 2023:

…. and for the Caribbean for the rest of 2023:

How many Virgin Points are Delta Air Lines flights?

Reward flights on Delta start at just 7,500 Virgin Points, which would get you a one-way economy flight between New York and Boston.

The Delta reward chart is complex, because there are three separate charts for:

• UK to US flights (destination based chart)
• Europe to US flights (flat rate of 50,000 Virgin Points one-way in business class and 30,000 points one-way in economy)
• All other Delta flights (distance based chart)

To add to the complexity, UK to US flights (or vice versa) are subject to peak and off-peak dates whilst other redemptions on Delta Air Lines are not.

Taxes are generally nominal (often just $6) EXCEPT for flights to/from the UK. These are subject to the similar surchages to the ones that Virgin Atlantic adds to its own flights.

You can see the charts and peak / off-peak dates on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

How many Virgin Points are Air France and KLM flights?

Air France and KLM have a different reward chart because they are part of a transatlantic joint venture with Virgin Atlantic.

The short haul pricing chart applies to all flights under 1,750 miles each way.  This pricing INCLUDES connections where the total distance remains under 1,750 miles, so Manchester – Amsterdam – Stockholm would be OK.

All of these numbers exclude taxes and charges and are for one way flights.

Up to 600 miles (eg Heathrow to Paris CDG):

• Economy (peak date) – 4,500 points
• Economy (off peak date) – 4,000 points
• Business (peak date) – 9,000 points
• Business (off peak date) – 8,000 points

601 to 1,249 miles (eg Amsterdam to Rome):

• Economy (peak date) – 8,500 points
• Economy (off peak date) – 7,500 points
• Business (peak date) – 26,000 points
• Business (off peak date) – 25,000 points

1,250 to 1,749 miles (eg Paris to Athens):

• Economy (peak date) – 11,000 points
• Economy (off peak date) – 9,000 points
• Business (peak date) – 32,000 points
• Business (off peak date) – 30,000 points

For long haul redemptions (above 1,750 miles) on Air France and KLM you need to use the following charts. First, look up your destination:

Zone 1 (Western and Central Europe)

• UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Balearic Islands, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway and Sweden

Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa)

• Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Canary Islands, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Libya, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Madeira, Moldavia, Morocco, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, West Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Tunisia, Ukraine, Montenegro, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan

• West Russia includes the following Federal Districts – Central Federal District, North-western Federal District, Volga Federal District, Southern Federal District and North Caucasian Federal District

Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia)

• Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Central Russia, Egypt, UAE, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Djibouti

• Central Russia includes the following Federal Districts – Urais Federal District and Siberian Federal District

Zone 4 (Central Africa)

• Benin, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Republic of South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Chad, Zambia and Sierra Leone

Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Indian Subcontinent)

• Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Reunion Island, Seychelles, Mayotte, Comoros, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Zone 6 (East Coast North American & Caribbean)

• East Coast USA, East Canada, Antigua, Barbados, Bahamas, Cuba, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Caiman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Martinique, Haiti, Porto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Marteen

• Includes the following US states – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida

• Includes the following Canadian provinces – Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island

Zone 7 (West & Central North America and Central America)

• Central & West USA, Hawaii, Central & West Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua

• Includes the following US states – Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Hawaii and Alaska

• Includes the following Canadian provinces – Nunavut, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northwest Territories, British Colombia and Yukon

Zone 8 (South America)

• Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay

Zone 9 (Far Eastern Asia and Eastern Russia)

• China, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, East Russia (& Siberia), Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Macau, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam (Eastern Russia to include the following Federal Districts – Far Eastern Federal District)

Zone 10 (Oceania)

• Australia, Fiji, Guam, Marianas Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Zealand, Palau Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and French Polynesia

Once you’ve looked up your dates, check the list above to see if your redemption is a peak and off-peak date.

Economy pricing for Air France and KLM:

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.  Click to enlarge:

Premium Economy pricing for Air France and KLM: 

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.

Business pricing for Air France and KLM:

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.

First Class:

KLM does not have First Class.  Air France does not allow partner airline customers to redeem points for First Class.

How many Virgin Points are SkyTeam flights?

This chart shows the number of Virgin Points required for a one way flight on any SkyTeam airline apart for Air France, KLM and Delta. We’ll look at exactly which airlines are included in a later article.

Pricing is per sector if you have connecting flights. You can’t add two flights together and pay the combined total.

How many Virgin Points are other partner flights?

For flights on other niche Virgin Atlantic partners, refer to this section of the Virgin Atlantic website.

Not all Virgin Atlantic partners allow you to redeem miles – some are ‘earn only’. The participating airlines for spending Virgin Points are:

• Air New Zealand
• ANA
• Hawaiian Airlines
• LATAM
• Singapore Airlines (restricted mainly to regional flights)
• South African Airways
• Virgin Australia

Coming up ….

The next two articles in this series will look at how to redeem Virgin Points for Virgin Atlantic flights and for partner flights.

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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.)