Virgin Atlantic to charge for seat selection in Economy Classic and Economy Delight

Virgin Atlantic is dropping free seat selection in its Economy Classic and Economy Delight cabins.

Silver members of Virgin Flying Club have been told that, for new bookings from 19th September, they will only get free seat selection seven days before departure.

De facto, this means that people who are only base level members of Flying Club, or not members at all, will have to pay for seat selection at all times.

At present, anyone who books Economy Classic or Economy Delight can select a seat for free at the time of booking. A chunk of seats are not free for Economy Classic ticket holders – exit rows, rows towards the front etc – but there are other seats available for free if you want them.

In Economy Light, there are currently no seats available for free unless you are Silver or Gold. What changes here is that a Silver member can only select a seat for free from seven days before departure.

In summary, this is what appears to be happening from 19th September:

Economy Light

• No status – you currently pay for advance seat selection, and you will continue to pay

• Silver – currently free, going forward you have to pay if you want to select a seat further out than seven days before departure

• Gold – currently free, remains free

Economy Classic

• No status – currently free in selected seats but you can pay for a ‘preferred’ seat, going forward all seats will be charged

• Silver – currently free, going forward you have to pay if you want to select a seat further out than seven days before departure

• Gold – currently free, remains free

Economy Delight

• No status – you can currently select a seat in the ‘preferred’ area for free, going forward all seats will be charged

• Silver – currently free, going forward you have to pay if you want to select a seat further out than seven days before departure

• Gold – currently free, remains free

Note that everyone can still select a seat for free when check-in opens at 24 hours before departure. The comments above only apply to advance seat selection.

Nothing will change for existing bookings. The new rules apply to bookings made from 19th September. We don’t know what the new fees will be.

Silver members of Virgin Flying Club continue to receive:

• 30% bonus Virgin Points on Virgin Atlantic flights
• check-in at Premium desks
• one additional piece of checked luggage carried for free

You can see the Silver benefits – not yet updated – on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

Get a 50% bonus buying Virgin Points

Virgin Red has a new deal for buying Virgin Points with a 50% bonus. The offer runs until next Monday, 18th September.

The maximum number of points you can buy is 100,000, assuming you haven’t already made a purchase this year.

At the top end, 100,000 Virgin Points, which comes to 150,000 points with the 50% bonus, will cost you £1,515.  This works out at exactly 1p each.

We have seen 70% bonuses this year, so I wouldn’t jump in at 50% on a speculative basis. If you’ve got a plan to use them, of course, it’s a different story.

Virgin Atlantic has now joined the SkyTeam airline alliance. This has opened up redemptions across new partners such as Aeromexico, Czech Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines. This article explains what it costs to redeem Virgin Points on the new SkyTeam partners.

Note that you cannot get the bonus if you buy points via Virgin Flying Club. You need to buy via the Virgin Red app or the Virgin Red website and have a Virgin Red account.

If you want to earn more Virgin Points for less outlay, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here (30,000 bonus points special offer currently running) and our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card is here.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (September 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):

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 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

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.

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.)