Whoa: £1200 surcharges now showing on BA and Virgin Atlantic redemption flights

Both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have sharply increased surcharges on redemption tickets.

This definitely covers routes to North America – I’m not totally sure about the impact elsewhere due to a lack of historic data.

Avios flyers have some protection because of Reward Flight Saver which caps your fees, but you will take a big hit if you use Avios to upgrade to Business Class.

EDIT: Virgin Atlantic has now reversed this increase after an outcry. Click here to read the latest.

What’s happened with Virgin Atlantic surcharges?

Let’s take a look at what you pay, starting with Virgin Atlantic.

Here’s an Upper Class return to New York:

£900 of ‘carrier imposed surcharges’ (which is pocketed by the airline) is pretty crazy, however you cut it. This is a £200 increase on what you would have paid last week.

Premium is ‘just’ £280 of ‘carrier imposed surcharge’ return:

What’s happened with Avios surcharges?

Let’s go across to Avios.

Here’s a Club Suite return from Heathrow to New York JFK off-peak. The price is unchanged at 160,000 Avios + £350 because of the Reward Flight Saver cap:

However, if you look at upgrading a World Traveller Plus flight to Club World, you see the full force of the £900 ‘carrier imposed surcharge’.

Here’s a World Traveller Plus cash ticket to New York which is £999 return:

Let’s try upgrading this ticket to Club World with Avios during the booking process. You may, naively, believe that the price would be 48,000 Avios + the World Traveller Plus cash price of £998.59. You would be wrong.

Here’s exactly the same flight but using the ‘upgrade with Avios during booking’ option. The cash element shoots up to £1,619. The difference of £620 is because the ‘carrier imposed surcharge’ has jumped from £280 (World Traveller Plus) to £900 (Club World).

However …. want to see something weird?

BA has NOT increased the surcharge on First Class tickets, which is ‘only’ £550 return:

First Class – which is not part of Reward Flight Saver, remember – now has total taxes and charges of £849 between Heathrow and New York. Compare this to the £1,199 of taxes and charges you have to pay on a Club World seat when upgrading from World Traveller Plus.

Conclusion

It’s not a coincidence that BA and Virgin Atlantic keep their surcharges in step. This is always the case.

I don’t know who moved first here. The Virgin Atlantic increase happened in the last 48 hours but I don’t know when BA went to £900. If it was British Airways moving first, and Virgin Atlantic automatically followed, then Virgin Atlantic has been caught out.

Ever since BA moved to Reward Flight Saver for long haul redemptions, the carrier surcharge doesn’t have an impact on what you pay. The surcharge only kicks in for anyone upgrading with Avios or who doesn’t qualify for Reward Flight Saver – which isn’t many people.

For Virgin Atlantic, an increase in surcharges makes a difference to everyone who redeems.

£1,196 return for Upper Class is just silly. Pre-covid, BA Holidays would regularly offer Club World flights to New York, plus 3-4 nights in a hotel, for £1,299 per person all-in. Even in recent sales we have seen cash tickets to New York in Business Class drop back to the £1,500 mark.

We have, of course, seen Virgin Atlantic offer a lot of reward seat sales in recent months. There was one just last week. However, even with a 50% reduction in miles, you’d still be looking at around 50,000 Virgin Points plus £1,200 in taxes and charges for a return flight to New York. This isn’t much of a deal.

At the full price of 95,000 Virgin Points plus £1,200 of taxes and charges, you seriously have to consider what value you are getting out of Virgin Flying Club if your goal is premium cabin redemptions.

What is crazy is that you can still redeem Virgin Points for one way Delta flights in Business Class from the USA to mainland Europe for just £5 in taxes and charges.

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

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.)