Virgin Atlantic moves its Cape Town return flights to overnight

If you have Virgin Atlantic flights to Cape Town booked for this winter, you may need to take action.

Virgin Atlantic has moved the return flight from daytime (10.15am, arriving in Heathrow at 8.10pm) to an overnight flight.

You will now depart Cape Town at 9.50pm, arriving in Heathrow at 7.40am.

For some reason flights have not been adjusted yet for existing passengers. The Virgin Atlantic website still shows my booking for December returning at 10.15am.

I am assuming that passengers will be moved to the evening flight on the same day.

However, this may be a problem for you depending on your personal circumstances. If you want to move your return flight back by a day then I suspect you may need to call.

If you definitely want a day flight, you may (or may not) be able to get Virgin Atlantic to move you to the Air France flight. This leaves Cape Town at 8.50am, landing in Heathrow at 9.25pm after a change in Paris.

You are also legally entitled to a refund.

Personally, I am probably stuck with the overnight flight back because I need the tier points from Virgin Atlantic to get back to Silver and thus increase the value of my Virgin Atlantic credit card voucher! Virgin Atlantic only gives tier points on redemptions on its own flights and not partners.

What isn’t clear is why Virgin Atlantic is doing this. It is short of aircraft at the moment due to issues with the Boeing 787-9 fleet and keeping an aircraft on the ground in Cape Town for 10 hours each day is not exactly maximising your fleet.

With a lot of tickets already sold for the winter season it won’t make a lot of difference in the short term to revenues, although long term overnight flights from South Africa have already been more popular.

PS. In one other change, Virgin Atlantic has brought forward the start of its Cape Town season from 26th October to 13th October

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Credit Card

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

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

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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