Back Again: Get a 40% Transfer Bonus from Amex to Virgin Atlantic!

One of the best transfer bonuses we've ever seen – and arguably one of the best ways to use American Express Membership Rewards, period – is back! 

From now through the end of the year, you can get a 40% bonus when transferring Amex points to your Virgin account. So long as you've got a card that earns Membership Rewards like the *amex platinum* or the *amex gold*, you should see this bonus in your Amex account.

Unfortunately, your co-branded Delta SkyMiles credit cards from American Express won’t do the trick … and not everyone with an Amex Gold or Platinum card will be targeted either. While this bonus is showing up for most members of our team, a couple of unlucky ones have been shut out completely. 

If you've got a good use for Virgin points – and odds are, you do – be sure to take advantage before this offer ends Dec. 31! 

Thrifty Tip: Don't have Amex points? Chase is running a 30% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards to Virgin Atlantic!

While you may be tempted to cash in immediately, remember: These transfers are a one-way street – once you send points to Virgin, you can't get them back to your Amex account. That means you shouldn't transfer points to Virgin Atlantic (or any airline) until you can confirm the flights you want are available. 

Here's a look at how it works – and what you should consider booking before this transfer bonus disappears. 

Related reading: How & Where to Transfer Your Amex Membership Rewards Points

The Basics on Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is a quirky airline with a quirky frequent flyer program. The airline flies from several U.S. gateways to London-Heathrow (LHR), as well as between several international hubs like Dubai (DXB), Cape Town (CPT), or Mumbai (BOM).

Plus, you can book flights on more than a dozen other airlines using Virgin points … and save a ton of miles while paying reasonable fees, too. Add in this transfer bonus from Amex, and it’s a no-brainer. You can also transfer points to a Virgin Atlantic account from Chase, Capital One, Bilt, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Marriott. All of them (with the exception of Marriott, which transfers at 3:1) transfer on a 1:1 basis.

But with this current 40% bonus, Amex should obviously be your go-to. If you transfer 50,000 Amex Membership Rewards points, you’d get 70,000 Virgin Atlantic points. These transfers generally clear immediately – meaning the points will be available in your Virgin Atlantic account as soon as you make the transfer. 

There's one big exception. If you're just setting up a Virgin account, your transfer could be delayed by 24 hours or more. That's a recurring problem with Virgin, which requires new accounts to be verified before they can accept these transfers.

Read more: Points Stuck in Limbo? Why & What You Can Do?

Virgin Atlantic’s website can be a tad difficult to navigate. Getting award flights to show up on a given route can take a few tries. One good trick is to search for airports by country or region and pick them, rather than manually typing in the city name or airport code.

The Best Ways to Use This Transfer Bonus

So what can you book? In two words: A lot.

Lie-Flat to London for 21K Each Way 

Virgin's transition to dynamic award pricing resulted in some outstanding deals, flying Virgin Atlantic itself … for a fraction of the miles. Unfortunately, this deal recently took a big hit: Virgin now tacks on close to $600 in taxes and fees on a one-way business class ticket to London-Heathrow (LHR).  

Still, flying business class to London from East Coast cities like Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), or Atlanta (ATL) for as low as 29,000 points could be worth stomaching the higher fees.

Factor in this transfer bonus, and you could book a lie-flat ride to London for as few as 21,000 Amex Membership Rewards points each way. 

There are deals to be had in the lower cabins now, too … with far more tolerable taxes and fees. 

• A roundtrip from the East Coast to London for as few as 12,000 miles – as few as 9,000 Amex points with this bonus.
• A roundtrip in premium economy isn't bad either, at just 21,000 miles – as few as 15,000 Amex points with this bonus

Thrifty Tip: It’s much easier to search for Virgin Atlantic flights one-way rather than roundtrip – and unlike with many other airlines, it’ll often save you money on taxes and fees booking one-ways separately, too.

Big Delta Deals

We don’t need to tell you that trying to understand the value of Delta SkyMiles can be frustrating. There’s no award chart, so the airline’s pricing when booking a flight with miles can be all over the map. Often, a Delta award flight can be obscenely expensive – especially if you want to fly business class.

Enter Virgin Atlantic. You can often use Virgin Atlantic to book the exact same Delta flight and save a boatload of SkyMiles. The London-based airline offers a far more stable – and frequently cheaper – alternative to booking Delta flights than using SkyMiles outright. 

There used to be far more Delta sweet spots you could book using Virgin points, but Virgin obliterated many of them over the last few years with a handful of nasty devaluations. But booking short Delta flights – 1,000 miles in distance or less – through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club can still be a great deal!

For example, this short flight from Fargo (FAR) to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) might otherwise cost you 20,000 SkyMiles. With Virgin Atlantic, you can still book for just 7,500 points each way – just 6,000 Amex points after the 40% bonus kicks in.
 

On other routes, turning to Air France/KLM Flying Blue is often the better workaround these days. But this 40% transfer bonus could tilt things back toward Virgin Atlantic. 

For example, Virgin now charges 70,000 points for a roundtrip award on the long flights from Minneapolis to Honolulu (HNL). But factor in that 40% transfer bonus, and transferring just 50,000 Amex points will get you what you need – slightly less than Air France!

Get this: Delta itself is charging more than 127,000 SkyMiles for these exact same flights! 

Fly in Style with ANA

You can also use this transfer bonus to score an amazing deal on a trip to Japan on one of the world’s best airlines. 

ANA is one of Japan’s flag carriers, and it lives up to its five-star reputation. Its first class cabin is spacious, private, and offers some of the best catering in the aviation world. And even ANA business class is outstanding, and rivals Qatar Qsuites for #1 in the world, too. 

Go figure Virgin Atlantic also has a sweet spot for booking ANA flights, and this transfer bonus makes it even sweeter. While Virgin raised award rates to fly ANA first class, it's still easily the best way to book these flights.

A one-way flight in ANA first class flight from Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO) to Tokyo now costs 72,500 Virgin points – just 52,000 Amex points with this bonus. Or you could get from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) or New York City (JFK) to Tokyo for just 61,000 Amex points. That’s still substantially less than what United charges for a one-way fare in business class. 

These days, finding award availability on ANA can be a chore. You also can't book these flights online through Virgin Atlantic, which means it requires a bit of extra legwork. You'll want to search for award availability through a site like United.com and then ring up Virgin Atlantic at 1-800-365-9500 when you're ready to book. On the plus side, you can now book these awards as one-ways.

Read our guide to booking ANA flights with Virgin Atlantic miles

Of course, ANA’s business class is nothing to scoff at either – especially if you can snag the brand new business class seats it calls “The Room.”

Read our full review of flying ANA's The Room business class from Chicago to Tokyo!

Over the last couple of years, Virgin Atlantic raised award rates for these flights, too. But just as with booking first class, Virgin remains the cheapest way to book ANA business class: 

• Flights from West Coast cities like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), or Seattle (SEA) to Japan now cost 52,500 points each way – just 38,000 Amex points with this transfer bonus.
• Longer flights from cities like Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) and New York City (JFK) now cost 60,000 points each way, meaning you can transfer just 43,000 Amex points with this 40% bonus  

Oddly, finding the award availability to book ANA business class seats may be even harder than first class. You'll have to focus within just weeks of departure … which is tough, as Virgin often can't book ANA-operated flights within the final two weeks.

Business Class to Peru from 36K!

Heading South? You can score a lie-flat seat to South America for a serious bargain with this big bonus. 

With business class flights between the U.S. and Lima (LIM) starting at just 50,000 points each way, using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points is already one of the best ways to get there. Factor in this transfer bonus, and this seat could be yours for just 36,000 Amex points!
 

You'll find the lowest rates flying from New York City (JFK), Atlanta (ATL), Orlando (MCO), and Miami (MIA) directly into Lima, while nonstops from Los Angeles (LAX) are significantly pricier at 95,000 miles. 

Scoring a lie-flat seat on the long, overnight flight from New York to Lima is an absolute bargain with this bonus … and you'll pay some pretty reasonable taxes and fees to boot. 

Thrifty Tip: Flying LATAM business class from New York or Los Angeles means you get access to the excellent new Delta One Lounge before departure! 

Bottom Line

This Amex transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic can unlock some of the best deals in the world of points and miles.

Whether you want to save your SkyMiles when flying Delta or head across the pond to Tokyo or London, a 40% bonus to Virgin Atlantic can save you a ton of Amex points. Just make sure to use it before it ends Dec. 31!