Virgin Atlantic launches a reward seat sale on selected US routes

Slightly bizarrely, because dynamic reward pricing means the price of a reward flight is meant to follow cash prices, Virgin Atlantic has launched a reward seat sale to the US.

Despite what airlines keep saying about travel to the US not being impacted by political events (‘and please don’t slash our share price target’) Virgin Atlantic has decided to cut the cost of economy reward flights by 20% during the peak summer travel period.

Flights are as low as 4,800 points each way.

The lowest pricing from Heathrow is:

• New York JFK – 4,800 Virgin Points one way (also from Manchester)
• Boston – 4,800 Virgin Points each way
• Washington – 4,800 Virgin Points each way
• Miami – 6,000 Virgin Points each way
• Seattle – 7,200 Virgin Points each way
• San Francisco – 7,200 Virgin Points each way

No other routes are included.

All ‘Saver’ seats have been reduced by 20%. A ‘Saver’ ticket is one which is priced at or below the points price under the previous reward structure. A New York ticket which was 12,000 Virgin Points last week will now be 9,600 for example.

These examples are all off-peak pricing. Pricing will be slightly higher on peak dates. The peak / off-peak calendar is here (click ‘find out more’ under ‘Saver seats’.)

You must:

• book by 27th May
• travel by 30th September

Taxes and charges start at £272 return for New York JFK.

This still isn’t necessarily a great deal

With cash tickets to the US under pressure, you still might not be getting a great deal even with a 20% discount.

Let’s take a random trip in early September.

In the current Virgin Atlantic sale, a return flight to New York JFK is £376 return.

The cost of a redemption, in the sale, is 9600 Virgin Points + £272.

You’re getting just over 1p per Virgin Point. This does hit our target valuation of 1p but its not knocking it out of the park.

On the upside, your redemption can be cancelled for £70 and includes a checked bag – the cash price I quoted is ‘hand baggage only’. On the downside, the cash ticket would earn some Virgin Points back.

That said, if you can get 1p per Virgin Point via this sale then you should be happy.

The Virgin Atlantic ‘Reward Seat Checker’ is here if you want to look for days with the cheapest prices listed above.