Review: the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card

This is our review of the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card.

It is part of our series of articles looking at the major UK loyalty credit cards and discussing whether or not they are worth applying for. These articles are linked to the relevant sections of the ‘Credit Cards‘ area of the menu bar. Our other UK airline and hotel credit card reviews can be found here.

Key link: Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard application form

Key facts: No annual fee

The representative APR is 26.9% variable.

Reward credit cards generally have high interest rates and are not suitable for anyone who does not pay off their full balance each month. If you do not clear your balance, you should look for a non-rewards credit card with a low interest rate.

About the Virgin Atlantic free credit card

The Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card – issued by Virgin Money – comes as a Mastercard.

Virgin Money does not have any other travel reward cards apart from Virgin Atlantic so it should not conflict with any other credit cards you hold.

You can find our review of the £160 annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus credit card here. Whilst there is a fee, it does have a sign-up bonus of 18,000 points.

As the sign-up bonus on the free card is only 3,000 Virgin Points, you might find Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus to be a better overall deal, at least for the first year.

What is the sign-up bonus on the free Virgin Atlantic credit card?

The sign-up bonus on the Reward Mastercard is 3,000 Virgin Points.

You will receive this after your first purchase. There is no spending target to hit.

The Reward+ card, on the other hand, comes with a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points. There is no spending requirement with the bonus arriving after your first purchase, however small.

You cannot apply if you have recently cancelled a Reward card. The website states that you can apply if: “You don’t already have a Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card or have closed one in the last 6 months. If you have – don’t worry, you can apply for our Reward+ card instead.“

You CAN apply and get the bonus if you have the paid-for Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus credit card. You are allowed to hold both cards.

You can apply if you have a non-Virgin Atlantic credit card from Virgin Money.

You can apply if you are currently a supplementary cardholder on someone else’s Virgin Atlantic credit card.

Any other benefits?

Yes.

The Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card comes with an annual bonus for hitting a spending target.

Unlike British Airways American Express vouchers, there is no difference between the voucher you receive for spending £20,000 on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card and the voucher you receive for spending £10,000 on the £160 Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card.

Both vouchers are valid for two years and both vouchers have the same value.

How can you use your annual Virgin Atlantic credit card voucher?

There are two ways of using your voucher:

• if you bought a ticket, for either cash or Virgin Points, you can use your voucher to pay for a 2nd ticket (same flight, same cabin) for a companion

• if you are travelling alone, you can use your voucher to upgrade a cash or reward ticket

Following changes to Virgin Flying Club in October 2024, credit card vouchers now have a fixed value:

• Flying Club Red members can redeem their voucher up to a maximum of 75,000 Virgin Points

• Flying Club Silver or Gold members can redeem their voucher up to a maximum of 150,000 Virgin Points

The value of your voucher will be calculated by your status at the time of redemption, not when you fly.

No ‘change’ is given if you use your voucher for less than its maximum value.

You can top up your voucher

You can use your voucher even if it doesn’t cover the full amount of the companion ticket or upgrade, as Virgin Atlantic will let you top it up.

For example, if you book an Upper Class reward ticket to New York for 170,000 Virgin Points for yourself, you could book a second ticket for (170,000 – 75,000) 95,000 Virgin Points if you have no elite status, or (170,000 – 150,000) 20,000 Virgin Points if have have Silver or Gold status.

For a companion ticket, full taxes and charges are payable. For an upgraded ticket, additional taxes and charges may be payable if there is a difference between the cabin you booked and the cabin you are now flying in.

You can’t use your voucher for a totally free ticket for yourself

You cannot use a credit card voucher for a straight 75,000 or 150,000 points discount on a ticket for yourself. If you are travelling alone and only using points, you need to pay the points cost of a lower cabin and then use your voucher to cover the difference between the cabins.

For example, let’s assume an Upper Class ticket is 130,000 points and an Economy ticket is 20,000 points. You CANNOT use a 150,000 points voucher to cover the full cost of the Upper Class ticket. You need to spend 20,000 points booking the Economy ticket and then use the voucher to cover the upgrade.

How do you receive your annual voucher?

Your voucher is triggered within 1-2 weeks of passing the £20,000 annual spend threshold.

You should receive an email from Virgin Flying Club confirming this.

You can also see your voucher online by going to your account page on the Virgin Atlantic website. There is a ‘Vouchers’ option in the menu which will show unredeemed credit card vouchers.

The voucher cannot be redeemed online. You need to call Virgin Flying Club to redeem it.

Is there an annual fee?

No.

There is no fee for the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard.

What do I earn per £1 spent on the free Virgin credit card?

You earn 0.75 Virgin Points per £1 spent.

This is a very good return for a free Visa or Mastercard.  Only one card beats it – the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard, which earns 1 Avios per £1 spent.

The key issue to consider before applying, however, is whether it is worth spending £160 for the paid Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus card instead.  The paid card earns you a 18,000 miles sign-up bonus and has an earning rate which is twice as high at 1.5 Virgin Points per £1.  This justifies the £160 fee for the first year.

Bookings with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Atlantic Holidays earn double miles.

The number of miles you earn per month is restricted to your credit limit.  For example, if you have a limit of £10,000 then you will only earn points on the first £10,000 of your spending each month.  This only impacts the small number of people who would otherwise pay down their account during the month and then run it up again. Bonus miles from spending with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Atlantic Holidays are not included in the cap.

What is a Virgin Point worth?

This is clearly a ‘finger in the air’ exercise. However, I am happy to value Virgin Points at 0.75p – 1p each, in line with Avios, when used for a ‘Saver’ redemption in a premium cabin. Upper Class ‘Saver’ redemptions are hard to find on some routes, however – this article gives you an example of where you need to look.

You can transfer Virgin Points to Hilton Honors points at a 1 : 1.5 ratio which puts a floor under their value. You can also transfer Virgin Points to IHG One Rewards points at 1 : 1.

As Virgin Atlantic does not offer any short haul redemptions from the UK, except for those offered by Air France, SAS and KLM, you need to be confident that you can earn enough points to unlock a good long-haul deal.

If you need more Virgin Points before you can redeem, Virgin Flying Club has a lot of partners. You can earn points by converting Tesco Clubcard points as well as Heathrow Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards points.

Is this a good card to use when travelling?

Yes, in Europe.

Virgin Money does not charge any fees when you pay for something in Euro, Swedish Kronor or Romanian Lei.

The two Virgin Atlantic credit cards are the ONLY ‘miles and points’ credit cards in the UK which waive foreign exchange fees on some transactions.

As Virgin Money adds a 2.99% foreign exchange fee on transactions in all other currencies, you might want to get a separate free credit card to use abroad.

Unfortunately there are no travel rewards cards without any foreign exchange fees globally. One option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than the Virgin card charges outside the EU) and withdraws the money from your bank account. You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

How does the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard compare to a cashback credit card?

The majority of UK credit cards offering ‘retail rewards’ – those from Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsburys, John Lewis, Amazon etc – give you 0.1% to 0.25% back on what you spend.

Offering 0.75 Virgin Flying Club points, plus an added bonus for spending £20,000 per year, the Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card is substantially more attractive.

Anything else I need to know?

Virgin Atlantic is part of the SkyTeam airline alliance. This allows you to redeem Virgin Points on many other airlines including Delta, SAS, Air France, KLM, Vietnam Airlines, Korean Air and many more.

Note that you can ONLY manage your account via the Virgin Money app or with paper statements. There is no ability to manage your account via a website.

Conclusion

The Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard is one of the best free airline or hotel Visa or Mastercard credit cards on the market for day to day spending.

It is only beaten by the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard, which offers 1 Avios per £1 spent.

Whilst there is only a modest sign-up bonus, the real strength is the on-going earning rate. 0.75 Virgin Points for every £1 you spend is a very good return for a free card.

The bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points on the £160 paid card means that you may want to consider paying the fee and getting that one instead for the first year, downgrading later.  You can apply for the paid card here.

Note that the application process is a little odd. You must go through the ‘Check Eligibility’ process first, although the data you supply is carried across to the application form so it isn’t much more effort.

The application form for the Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard credit card can be found here.

(Want to earn more miles and points from credit cards?  Click here to visit our dedicated airline and hotel travel credit cards page or use the ‘Credit Cards’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.