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Just a point up for discussion here.
Isn’t the virgin rewards+ credit card more valuable than the BAPP Amex IF you don’t spend enough/earn enough points for a business class ticket long haul?
I.e. realistically you’d need around 160k avios to get a business class long haul ticket to NYC. If you’re earning the companion voucher every year and want to use it for a long haul trip but don’t earn 160k avios a year then you’d be out of luck.
However with the virgin companion voucher you can use it for a companion or upgrade on a cash booking, which in my head seems to be really useful.
I totally understand if you are earning over 160k avios a year then the BAPP seems to make sense, but am I right in thinking if you’re not getting that level of points then it may be better to direct towards the virgin points system/VA Rewards + card?
Correct. It could be a really useful feature for those less all-in on frequent flyer mile collection than the typical HfP reader.
The things that badly let the Virgin voucher down are:
1) Almost total lack of integration with Virgin website – although they show in your account as of about 1 week ago you have to phone to book. Before that the voucher was almost invisible.
2) Even more that the above: being almost wilfully complex to the point of being almost incomprehensible to the non-frequent-flyer who is not much interested in points. You needs points-reward inventory seats to pay cash to upgrade a cash ticket; there are different rules with and without status, it’s really a 2-for-1.5 for most people, etc. Try explaining all that to someone not familiar with frequent flyer schemes in the first place.This article pretty much covers that issue.
Conversely with the BA Avios ecosystem you dont need to book long haul business to find value – it’s possible to book short haul too. So a smaller Avios pot has more options in that respect. Virgin’s short haul offering via partners is much less useful for most people (although having said that I used Virgin points on AF/KLM in 2023 and will again this year).
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