Worth it for booking a flight?

[pointshunter]

Hey guys,

So I’m looking to book my first Virgin Atlantic flight (not flown with them before). Would it be worth taking out a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card in advance, to get money off?

Currently the yearly £160 one gives you 18,000 points and I’m thinking the 18,000 points could take £180-200 off the flight? Making it worth the cost of the card initially 🤔

Maybe this is a dumb idea as I know it would take at least a week to arrive but with the points being earned on any purchase I thought maybe I could use that to my advantage. The other benefits of the card would be useful later on.

Thanks for your help

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

I don’t think 18k points will get you & 180 off the price.

IIRC it’s £16 – £17 for every 3,000 points so not such good value.

[NorthernLass]

18k points would nearly get you to JFK and back in economy on an award booking, I would save the points for a later redemption.

[as02]

If you already have a destination and date in mind (which seems like the case from your post), then you should be able to see how much you save if booking through points.
I’ve consistently realised a 1-1.2p value per point on Virgin, but that’s because I book for travel to India. I guess it’s more difficult to realise good value for the US.
You should also consider the timing of bonus points accrual on the new card, and the card delivery itself. From other posts here it seems like the Virgin card takes 3-4 weeks to arrive after application.

[Nomad312]

Could well be worth it depending on your intended route and date. As has already been suggested, put in a dummy booking and see the points price. If you figure 1p a point then a you should get an idea of worth and how it compares to the cash price. So yes, I would say 18k points would equate to £180 off a reward flight which may already be cheaper than the cash price. Don’t forget that for that fee you’ll also get a 2-4-1 voucher once you spend £10k on the card, which will get you a another flight for taxes and fees only for someone travelling with you in economy (and I think PE) or half the amount of points plus taxes and fees in upper class.

[Peter K]

Be careful here with the difference between a reward redemption and using points to take money off a cash flight.

The 1p a mile is usually only achievable on true redemptions and sometimes then only in premium economy or business (upper class on virgin).

If you are using points to reduce the cost of a flight bought with cash then you’ll typically only get about 0.5p a point in value.

[Peter K]

This will be useful to read:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/08/13/how-does-virgin-atlantic-points-plus-money-work/