Get 1,000 Virgin Points with your first Virgin Trains Ticketing booking

If you’ve not tried Virgin Trains Ticketing yet, the new rail booking app, there is a generous incentive available.

You will receive 1,000 Virgin Points with your first booking of £5+.

1,000 Virgin Points are worth £5 off a future Virgin Trains Ticketing booking (which confusingly is how the offer is promoted) or can be used towards reward flights or any other Virgin Red redemption.

This is how the deal works:

• download the Virgin Trains Ticketing app

• register or sign-in using your Virgin Red account details (you will need to install the Virgin Red app if you haven’t already, and link it to your Virgin Flying Club account)

• make your first purchase (this offer is strictly for new Virgin Trains Ticketing customers) for £5+ with Virgin Trains Ticketing

• receive a promo code during the checkout process for 1,000 Virgin Points which must be redeemed in the Virgin Red app within 30 days

You can, as Virgin Red suggests, use these 1,000 points for £5 off your next train ticket, but in reality you are free to use them as you wish.

You will also receive your standard 3 Virgin Points per £1 spent at Virgin Trains Ticketing.

The offer will expire either:

• on 31st December 2023 or

• whenever 5,000 promo codes have been allocated

I’m not sure how you’re meant to know when the latter has taken place, but I suspect that Virgin Red is confident that it won’t exceed the target by the end of the year.

It’s worth noting that the Virgin Trains Ticketing app offers split ticketing, allowing you make additional savings if two separate tickets – instead of one direct ticket – would be cheaper. London Paddington to Bath Spa, for example, could be cheaper if booked as London Paddington to Reading and Reading to Bath Spa. The app will identify such anomalies automatically.

If you have a Virgin Atlantic credit card, you may also have a decent cashback offer for Virgin Trains Ticketing in your app.

I have an offer for 8% cashback, which would stack with the 1,000 points offer.

You can find out more about this offer in the Virgin Red app.

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

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

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.)