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

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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.

Virgin Flying Club cuts seating benefits for Silver members

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

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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 (April 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

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Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

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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.

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Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (40)

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

  • Littlefish says:
    15 Sep15 September 04:41

    So, how much are the new fees?

  • Josh O says:
    15 Sep15 September 07:25

    The “see here” hyperlink for the 50% points bonus takes you to the Virgin Atlantic website, but further down it says you need to buy the points via Virgin Red. Just checking which one is correct Rob? Many thanks

  • BacktoBlue says:
    15 Sep15 September 08:07

    Alas I’m back to BA Blue, and flying City Flyer LCY-EDI-LCY this week at online check-in I could only change my allocated seat for a fee – no free seat selection at all.
    A new policy for BA or a system glitch?

    • FatherOfFour says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:04

      If you are hand baggage only (HBO) that’s the expected behaviour. Only Economy Standard and above can select, even after check in.
      I have an HBO next Jan and expect to still be bronze, the message in the app is different to that of my non-HBO flight.

    • Skywalker says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:39

      BacktoBlue?

      Sounds like an unreleased Amy Winehouse recording.

  • Just Nick says:
    15 Sep15 September 09:07

    If BA try this for silver that is my time with them done.

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:14

      Virgin Silver is BA Bronze (no lounge access) so actually what they’ve done is not surprising, since this is the BA Bronze policy.

    • Jonathan says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:31

      BA might be looking at changing their policy on free seat selection at any time for Silver members, as it’s not at all difficult to obtain the level, a return Business class flight to just about anywhere in Eastern Asia with Qatar Airways, then 1-2 return hand baggage only flights to anywhere in the ET network will give the right amount of Tier Points to give you Silver status, then they’ve got to let you in any OW lounge when you fly with them, and let you book a seat for free at anytime, when you’ve hardly spent any money (potentially) with the airline that hosts the program you’re using.

      • Jonathan says:
        15 Sep15 September 09:33

        Sorry my mistake above, clearly OW won’t let you into ANY lounge operated by their airlines, you won’t get into First Class lounges, but you’ll be allowed into all Business Class lounges

      • aseftel says:
        15 Sep15 September 11:26

        Those Eastern Asia QR routes are all mostly under JV with BA (and IB) so the revenue story isn’t as stark as you think.

      • Jack says:
        15 Sep15 September 16:57

        It is not easy to earn BA status at all and requires a lot of flying indeed to achieve it . The benefits are part of one world status so that wouldn’t change and should you have earned the status by travelling . It is difficult to obtain and there is nothing to say they will change it and there is no need to at all it should be free for silvers who are loyal travellers with BA

        • Jonathan says:
          15 Sep15 September 19:31

          You’ll earn 560 BAEC tier points by doing a a single return trip to just about anywhere in Eastern Asia when you fly in Business Class on Qatar Airways, you need to make at least 4 BA metal flights minimum, so earning 40 tier points by flying within Europe (and extended Europe routes) is very easily done. BAEC Silver requires 600 tier points
          So doing the method mentioned above, means you’ve already earned BA Silver status (OneWorld Sapphire

          • Jack says:
            15 Sep15 September 22:30

            But it’s not easily done is it and that still requires both a significant commitment to achieve and also you to fly those routes which is the point of a loyalty scheme. It is certainly not a easy thing to achieve by any means that is one example , ultimately if you have earned the status however you’ve earned it you can enjoy the benefits but it is far from easy at all and I’m sure many would agree . Nobody should be trying to say that it should be harder to achieve, it took me a long time to achieve silver so it’s far from easy . Quatar Fares are also not cheap either

        • Harry T says:
          15 Sep15 September 19:33

          It’s easy to get Silver status with BA, it’s not really a sign that you fly frequently. Gold and GGL are fairly hard to achieve if you just travel for leisure, but Gold is more attainable with the double TPs offer from BA holidays.

          • Jack says:
            15 Sep15 September 22:27

            You have to buy a holiday to avail that offer so it’s not any easier to get whatsoever it still requires a significant amount of flying / spend to attain . All the statuses are hard to achieve unless you fly a lot that is the idea of loyalty schemes in airlines rewarding frequent travellers and encouraging them to come back . Status is not easy to earn and people shouldn’t be saying it is or that benefits should be taken just as they themselves personally don’t see it being that hard to achieve

  • christian says:
    15 Sep15 September 09:10

    Sorry, I don’t fully understand. So I buy them on Virgin Red, then how do I get them into my Virgin flying club account?

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:14

      If your Red and FC accounts are linked, you only have one points balance which shows whether you are in the Red or Flying Club areas.

    • Littlefish says:
      15 Sep15 September 11:13

      Indeed, an own goal by Flying Club. Too complicated. Two separate accounts (and I think a Virgin Red app), just to be able to participate.

  • Gulz says:
    15 Sep15 September 09:12

    Virgin looking to launch a new credit card. Got invited to a focus group online survey

    • Rob says:
      15 Sep15 September 09:13

      I saw this. Looks like it would be Virgin Red branded, and the benefits look better than the current free VA card.

      Where they miss a trick is not launching a Virgin Holidays-branded card, with the idea that your points get you a holiday discount.

      • Jonathan says:
        15 Sep15 September 09:22

        You collect double points when spending directly with Virgin Holidays using the VS credit cards ?

        • Rob says:
          15 Sep15 September 09:26

          I think so. However, the point [sic] is that a card branded ‘Virgin Holidays’, even if it ran exactly the same way as the free VA card, would get traction from an entirely different group of people.

          • JP-MCO says:
            16 Sep16 September 04:18

            I’m not sure the time is right to launch a Virgin Holidays card. They shafted far too many people when the pandemic hit and the reputational damage was immense. Some people waited a year for refunds, they won’t forget that in a hurry.

  • Karl says:
    15 Sep15 September 09:46

    Are the Virgin points credited instantly?

    • Travel Strong says:
      15 Sep15 September 10:27

      No. Confirmation says up to 72hrs and reality was a little over 24hrs when purchased in May.

      (Of course if Amex actually credited referral points rather than being slippery, I wouldn’t have had to buy any).

      If you need points immediately you can usually buy over the phone whilst making a booking with a virgin atlantic agent.

  • Vasco says:
    15 Sep15 September 16:03

    What about for SkyTeam elite partners re seat selection?

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

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