Earn double Virgin Points with Virgin Trains Ticketing

In 2021 Virgin Red launched a new way of letting you earn Virgin Points – its own train ticket booking platform, called Virgin Trains Ticketing. It was originally part of the Virgin Red app but is now available as a standalone smartphone download.

It is a very simple structure:

• you earn 3 Virgin Points per £1 spent
• there are no booking fees

Until 23rd June, you will receive 6 Virgin Points per £1 spent.

As long as the rail company you are using does not have exclusive discounts for users of its own website, you will be getting the same price as you would pay elsewhere.

However, at the moment LNER is offering 5% to 10% cashback on many American Express cards and some Mastercard / Visa cards. You can use the LNER website to book tickets for any train company.

Uber users will have an offer for 10% back in Uber credit for train tickets booked via the app, and this includes Eurostar.

If you don’t have access to an LNER offer, and especially if you don’t have access to a 10% offer, Virgin Trains Ticketing should be competitive.

PS. Something I have found recently is that, for long distance train companies, you don’t get granular control over picking seats if you book via a third party. The booking site will give you a seat of its choosing and you can’t change them. If you want full control over where you sit, I find booking direct with the train operator is better – even if you forfeit cashback or rewards. Automated ‘Delay Repay’ is usually also possible when booking direct.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (February 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

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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