How to redeem Virgin Points on SkyTeam flights (Virgin Redemption University #4)

How do you book flights on SkyTeam alliance members using Virgin Points?

This article is Part 4 of our updated ‘Virgin Redemption University’ series. Further articles will follow on different aspects of spending Virgin Points. We ran a ‘work in progress’ version of these articles last year and then refined them after reader feedback. This year you are getting the polished versions up front!

If you want to earn more Virgin Points, our review of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard credit card is here (18,000 bonus points) and our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card is here (3,000 points bonus).

This article should give you a good introduction to what you need to know to make a redemption booking with Virgin Points on a SkyTeam partner airline.

Which airlines can be booked online and which must be booked by telephone?

The Virgin Atlantic IT system is not fully up to speed with SkyTeam redemptions, and some require you to book by telephone.

If you are reading this article after its original publication date (September 2024), you can check what airlines are currently bookable online by:

• visiting this partner page of the Virgin Atlantic website
• clicking on the logo of the relevant airline to go to their specific partner page
• scrolling down to the ‘Spending Virgin Points’ box – it will either say ‘book direct’ (ie online) or ‘get in touch with our Flying Club team’ (ie call)

Which SkyTeam airlines must be booked BY TELEPHONE with Virgin Points?

• Aerolíneas Argentinas
• Air Europa
• China Airlines
• Czech Airlines (closing down in November 2024)
• SAS

Which SkyTeam airlines can be booked ONLINE with Virgin Points?

• Aeromexico
• Air France
• Delta Air Lines
• Garuda Indonesia
• ITA Airways
• Kenya Airways
• KLM
• Korean Air
• Middle East Airlines
• SAUDIA
• TAROM
• Vietnam Airlines (Business Class review here)
• Xiamen Air

The process for booking these 13 airlines online is the same as it is to book Virgin Atlantic redemption flights.

Fundamentally, it is as simple as going to Virgin Atlantic’s homepage, entering your destination and dates you want to fly and selecting ‘Points’ under the ‘Advanced Search’ button. Sadly the Virgin Atlantic website is very buggy when it comes to SkyTeam as I will explain below.

Which SkyTeam airlines cannot be booked with Virgin Points?

China Eastern is the only SkyTeam partner which cannot be booked at all with Virgin Points at this time. It has been ‘on the way’ for over a year now!

How many Virgin Points will I need for a SkyTeam redemption?

Unfortunately, there multiple redemption charts for Virgin’s SkyTeam partners because Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines have their own pricing, and Delta has three sub-charts!

The chart below shows the number of Virgin Points required for a one way flight on any SkyTeam airline except for Air France, KLM and Delta. Scroll down for pricing on Air France, KLM and Delta.

Pricing is per sector if you have connecting flights. You can’t add two flights together and pay the total for the combined distance.

How many Virgin Points are Delta Air Lines flights?

Reward flights on Delta start at just 7,500 Virgin Points, which would get you a one-way economy flight between New York and Boston.

The Delta reward chart is complex, because there are three separate charts for:

• UK to US flights (destination based chart – 15,000 to 20,000 Virgin Points one-way in economy and 47,500 to 67,500 Virgin Points one-way in business class on off-peak dates)

• Europe to US flights (flat rate of 30,000 points one-way in economy and 50,000 Virgin Points one-way in business class, albeit business class availability is almost impossible to get)

• All other Delta flights (distance based chart)

UK to US flights (or vice versa) are subject to peak and off-peak dates whilst other redemptions on Delta Air Lines are not.

Infants (under 2 years old) are 1,000 Virgin Points in economy and 5,000 Virgin Points in business class, each way.

You can see the charts and peak / off-peak dates on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

How many Virgin Points are Air France and KLM flights?

Air France and KLM have a different reward chart because they are part of a transatlantic joint venture with Virgin Atlantic.

You can verify the tables below on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

Short haul flights

The short haul pricing chart applies to all flights under 1,750 miles each way.  This pricing INCLUDES connections where the total distance remains under 1,750 miles, so Manchester – Amsterdam – Stockholm would be OK.

All of these numbers exclude taxes and charges and are for one way flights.

Air France & KLM short haul redemptions	Economy (off-peak)	Economy (peak)	Business (off-peak)	Business (peak)
Up to 600 miles (eg. Amsterdam to London)	4,000	4,500	8,000	9,000
601 to 1,249 miles (eg. Amsterdam to Rome)	7,500	8,500	25,000	26,000
1,250 to 1,749 miles (eg. Paris to Athens)	9,000	11,000	30,000	32,000

You can use the Great Circle Mapper tool (www.gcmap.com) to find the distance between your departure and arrival airport.

Long haul flights

For long haul redemptions (above 1,750 miles) on Air France and KLM you need to use the following charts. Destinations are divided into ten separate zones:

• Zone 1: Western and Central Europe
• Zone 2: Eastern Europe and North Africa
• Zone 3: Middle East and Russia
• Zone 4: Central Africa
• Zone 5: Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Indian Subcontinent
• Zone 6: East Coast North American & Caribbean
• Zone 7: West & Central North America and Central America
• Zone 8: South America
• Zone 9: Far Eastern Asia and Eastern Russia
• Zone 10: Oceania

Not all of the zoning is logical. For example, Iceland is in Zone 2 – “Eastern Europe and North Africa” – although it clearly isn’t in either of those regions.

You can look up the exact region of your destination on the Virgin Atlantic website here – select ‘Spend Virgin Points’ and then scroll down to the long haul pricing.

Once you’ve looked up your dates, check the list above to see if your redemption is a peak and off-peak date.

Economy pricing for Air France and KLM:

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.  Click to enlarge:

Premium Economy pricing for Air France and KLM: 

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.

Business pricing for Air France and KLM:

This is OFF PEAK each-way pricing.  You must add 10,000 points each-way for peak dates.  Connecting flights are included.

First Class:

KLM does not have First Class.  Air France does not allow partner airline customers to redeem points for First Class.

What are the rules when redeeming on SkyTeam airlines?

Here are the basic rules when booking SkyTeam redemptions with Virgin Points:

• the pricing charts are for a sector – if you need to connect, each flight will be priced separately based on the distance of each leg. Pricing is NOT based on the total distance flown.

• the pricing charts are one-way – for a return flight, you do NOT add up the total distance and price from that. Each flight must be priced individually based on its own distance.

• First Class redemptions are not possible on those airlines which offer it

• you can mix different partners on the same booking online but the call centre agents are encouraged to book each carrier separately to make changes easier to process. I am assuming that you can still interline baggage even though your connecting flight wil be on a separate ticket – SkyTeam is more flexible than oneworld.

• for those carriers where you can book online, the Virgin Atlantic website is not able to show all possible permutations of connecting flights but, if you can see a flight combination via the reward booking website of any SkyTeam carrier, the Virgin Atlantic call centre should be able to book it. The exceptions are Air France, KLM and Delta – their websites offer more seats for their own members on their own flights than are offered to partners like Virgin Atlantic.

• you cannot use Virgin Atlantic credit card 2-4-1 or upgrade vouchers on SkyTeam partners, only on Virgin Atlantic itself

How much are taxes and charges?

How long is a piece of string?

In general, you will get a better deal if you start outside the UK. This is partly to do with avoiding long haul UK Air Passenger Duty, and partly because Virgin Atlantic itself does not add surcharges.

Let’s take Paris to Beirut on Middle East Airlines, which is bookable online and so the surcharges are easy to check. Business Class is 70,000 points plus just €163 in taxes, return.

Paris to Seoul on Korean Air, in Economy, is 69,000 points plus just €112 in taxes, return.

ITA has some low tax options from Rome as we covered in this article. Dubai is €70 return in business class for example.

SAS has historically had low surcharges on its own flights using its own miles. Having only joined SkyTeam 12 days ago, flights are not yet available for booking online via Virgin Atlantic so we don’t know what is available.

Air France and KLM are most likely to be your partners

Despite the scale of the SkyTeam alliance, the reality is that – for most UK-based HfP readers – the most common partner redemption will be a hop over to Paris or Amsterdam for a connection to Air France or KLM.

Air France and KLM have excellent connections from most UK regional airports, although if you want to save Air Passenger Duty then you may want to buy two separate tickets.

Here is a review of Air France Business Class from 2022. I took my own advice and took the Eurostar to Paris to save on taxes, investing the savings in a 24 hour break before connecting. A KLM review is on our ‘to do’ list…

Here are some off-peak examples (add 20,000 Virgin Points return for peak dates):

• Air France, Paris to Abu Dhabi in Business Class, return – 100,000 points + €397 (albeit route ending in October 2024)

• KLM, Amsterdam to Dubai in Business Class, return – 100,000 points + €378

• KLM, Amsterdam to New York in Business Class, return – 97,000 points + €652

• Air France, Paris to Tokyo in Business Class, return – 224,000 points + €583

It is worth checking the cost with a UK connection included, because the peace of mind you get from having your two flights on the same ticket may be worth the added cost, and of course you would need to pay for a ticket to Amsterdam or Paris regardless.

One quirk is Curacao, which appears to benefit from lower taxes due to its territorial status. A return Business Class flight from Amsterdam on KLM is 97,000 Virgin Points + €146:

Can you cancel Virgin Points redemptions on SkyTeam partners?

Yes. It is the same rule as for bookings on Virgin Atlantic itself – £30 per person cancellation fee with all points and taxes refunded.

I’m not sure if the ‘no fee’ 24 hour cooling off period applies to Virgin Points redemptions on SkyTeam or not.

What elite benefits do you get on SkyTeam airlines?

This article looks at the SkyTeam benefits you get if you are Virgin Flying Club Gold.

This article looks at the SkyTeam benefits you get if you are Virgin Flying Club Silver.

How many Virgin Points are other partner flights?

For flights on other niche Virgin Atlantic partners, refer to this section of the Virgin Atlantic website.

Not all Virgin Atlantic partners allow you to redeem miles – some are ‘earn only’. The participating airlines for spending Virgin Points are:

• Air New Zealand
• ANA
• Hawaiian Airlines
• LATAM
• Singapore Airlines (restricted mainly to regional flights)
• South African Airways
• Virgin Australia

We look at how you can redeem Virgin Points on these airlines in our next article on how to redeem Virgin Points on ANA and other partners.

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