How to earn status tier points on Virgin Atlantic redemption flights

Back in September 2020 – so it was easy to miss at the heart of the pandemic – Virgin Atlantic become the first airline in the world to give you tier points when you booked a redemption flight using your air miles.

This allows you to earn elite status in Virgin Flying Club without necessarily ever purchasing a cash ticket! This could, in theory, be possible if you earned all your Virgin Points from credit cards or other non-flying partners.

Indeed, my wife and children will have Virgin Atlantic Silver status by May because we will have done two Upper Class redemptions inside five months. None have ever taken a paid Virgin Atlantic flight.

This was a genuine shake up for the industry. Virgin Atlantic said at the time that it wanted to ‘ensure members are rewarded every single time they choose to fly with Virgin’. I’m a little surprised that British Airways has not yet followed, potentially by letting Reward Flight Saver fees count for tier points under the new structure.

How do you earn tier points on Virgin Atlantic flight redemptions?

This is how it works:

• You only earn tier points when you redeem on Virgin Atlantic flights. It does NOT apply for redemption flights on partner airlines, even when those flights are codeshares with Delta, Air France or KLM.

• You do NOT earn tier points if you redeem miles from other programmes for Virgin Atlantic flights. You cannot book a Virgin Atlantic ticket using Flying Blue or Delta SkyMiles and earn tier points. Only tickets booked with Virgin Points count.

• The tier points you earn are based on the lowest amount offered for that ticket class. For example, if you book a cash ticket in Economy on Virgin Atlantic, you would earn between 25 and 50 tier points each way. On a redemption, you earn 25 tier points each way.

• You do not earn redeemable Virgin Points when you fly on a reward ticket. You only earn tier points.

How many tier points will I earn?

You can learn about tier points on this page of the Virgin Atlantic website.

On redemption flights, you will earn the following:

• Economy: 25 tier points each way
• Premium: 50 tier points each way
• Upper Class: 100 tier points each way

How many tier points do I need for Virgin Atlantic status?

There are two elite tiers in the Virgin Atlantic programme:

Silver status

Silver requires 400 tier points in a rolling 12 month period.

The key benefits are free seat selection in Economy Light, use of premium check-in and 30% bonus points on cash flights. You do NOT get lounge access.

Your Virgin Atlantic credit card annual voucher is now worth 150,000 Virgin Points instead of 75,000.

You can see full details of Silver status on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Gold status

Gold requires 1,000 tier points in a rolling 12 month period.

The key benefits are access to Clubhouses and the Heathrow Revivals lounge, use of Upper Class check-in, use of the Upper Class drive-thru wing in Heathrow Terminal 3, additional luggage allowance and 60% bonus points on cash flights.

Your Virgin Atlantic credit card annual voucher is now worth 150,000 Virgin Points instead of 75,000.

You can see full details of Gold status here.

Note that, unlike British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Atlantic status is initially earned on a rolling 12 month basis. There is no defined ‘year end’. Instead, each time you earn tier points, Virgin looks back at the previous 12 months and if your tier point total takes you above the tier threshold, you are promoted.

Once you earn Silver status, you move to a fixed year. You have 12 months to earn enough tier points to renew. If you don’t, you drop back to the base level and back onto the rolling basis.

Is this a good deal?

Yes. You can’t argue that this is an excellent opportunity to earn Virgin Atlantic status.

Realistically, I doubt many people would redeem enough miles on Virgin Atlantic to be able to progress beyond Silver status if they had no cash flights as well.

Of course, once you have earned some tier points using ‘non flying’ miles, you may well be tempted to buy some cash tickets to push you over the next status tier.

For people who already fly Virgin Atlantic for cash and manage 400 to 600 tier points per year, Gold status could now be within reach. It would only take a couple of Upper Class redemptions within a 12 month period.

There is an interesting link to Virgin Atlantic credit card vouchers

When Virgin Atlantic moved to ‘dynamic redemption pricing’ last year, it changed how the annual credit card voucher worked.

As a reminder, you receive a voucher each year when you spend £20,000 on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card (3,000 Virgin Points sign-up bonus, review here) or £10,000 on the £160 Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card (18,000 Virgin Points sign-up bonus, review here).

The voucher is usually worth 75,000 Virgin Points off a flight for a companion or off a flight upgrade for a solo traveller. When you have Silver or Gold status, the value of the voucher increases to 150,000 Virgin Points.

Interestingly, Virgin Atlantic allows you to have BOTH of its credit cards and earn two vouchers per year. You’d need to have £30,000 per year of Mastercard spending to do this of course – £10,000 on the paid card and £20,000 on the free card.

Earning two vouchers per year would open up an interesting cycle.

You generate two vouchers per year …. you redeem them for two Upper Class redemptions per year …. you earn 400 tier points from these redemption flights to retain Silver …. you use your Silver status to maximise the value of the next set of vouchers you earn …. and so on.

In theory, you could permanently keep your Virgin Atlantic Silver status by doing two Upper Class redemption trips per year. Keeping that status means that your future credit card vouchers are worth 150,000 Virgin Points each which makes it easier to take two more redemptions and continue the cycle.

You can find out more about earning tier points from redemption flights on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

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

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 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to 120,000 points. You receive 80,000 points when you spend £12,000 within three months and a further 40,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 8th April 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 60,000 points. You receive 40,000 points when you spend £6,000 within three months and a further 20,000 points if you spend on the card between Month 14 and Month 17. Points convert 1:1 into Avios and many other programmes. Click here to apply.

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