Get a 70% bonus when you buy Virgin Points – worth it?

Virgin Atlantic is repeating its biggest ever deal for buying Virgin Points – see here. The offer runs until 7th July.

To put this in perspective, before 2020 Virgin Atlantic had never even run a 50% bonus. 15% to 30% was the best you could expect. 50% was big but the current 70% is huge.

The bonus depends on how many points you buy:

• 5,000 to 24,000 points – 20% bonus
• 25,000 to 69,000 points – 40% bonus
• 70,000 to 124,000 points – 60% bonus
• 125,000 to 200,000 points – 70% bonus

The maximum number of points you can buy is 200,000 which is double the normal annual cap.

At the top end, 200,000 Virgin Points, which comes to 340,000 points with the 70% bonus, will cost you £3,000.  This works out at 0.88p each.

0.88p is exceptionally cheap for a direct miles purchase. Most Virgin Atlantic commercial partners will be paying the airline more than 0.88p for their miles. That said, as always, we don’t recommend buying speculatively.

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. SAS will be added later in 2024. This article explains what it costs to redeem Virgin Points on the new SkyTeam partners.

The link to buy points is here.

The 70% bonus offer runs to 7th July. The discounts will then drop to 20% / 30% / 50% / 60% depending on quantity and continue at this lower level until 4th August.

If you want to earn more Virgin Points more cheaply, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here 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 (October 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 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 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.)