Virgin Atlantic is running its latest big promotion, slashing how many points you need to book a trip across the pond this spring – whether you're good flying economy or looking to splurge for a business class seat.
The London-based airline is offering 30% off many award tickets between the U.S. and England for travel through May 31, 2023. From economy to premium economy to Virgin's chic Upper Class business class seats, every cabin is discounted. And this isn't a rebate: That discount applies automatically when you search for flights at VirginAtlantic.com using points. You just have to book by Feb. 28 to get the cheaper rate.
In addition to a handful of Virgin's other international routes, the 30% discount only applies to flights between select U.S. cities and the U.K. Fortunately, that covers most of the U.S. cities where Virgin flies, including:
- Atlanta (ATL) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Austin (AUS) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Boston (BOS) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Los Angeles (LAX) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Miami (MIA) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- New York City (JFK) to London-Heathrow or Manchester (MAN)
- San Francisco (SFO) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Seattle (SEA) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Tampa (TPA) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) to London-Heathrow (LHR)
At 30% off, you can score a one-way ticket in Virgin Atlantic's business class from New York to London-Heathrow (LHR) as low as 33,200 Virgin Points. Or book round-trip tickets in economy as low as 14,000 points total. And those points are incredibly easy to earn, as you can transfer credit card points to Virgin Atlantic from all the major banks.
Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of Chase, American Express, Capital One, Citi, and even Bilt Rewards. So if you’re earning points with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, or the American Express® Gold Card, you can easily transfer those points to Virgin – often with a big bonus, making offers like this one even better.
The savings here are nothing to scoff at, but there are two huge caveats. While award rates have been slashed by 30%, you'll still be on the hook for all the taxes and fees … and those can be substantial when booking with Virgin. Still, you can easily come out way ahead.
And unfortunately, these discounted award rates are only available on Virgin Atlantic flights; you won't get 30% off bookings on partner airlines. That means you can't use the discount to book Delta One suites or an ANA first class flight – assuming you get the heads-up to book one of those unicorn fares.
How to Get 30% Off Virgin Atlantic Flights
Booking these flights should be relatively easy, especially if you're booking online. Head to VirginAtlantic.com and start searching for award tickets, and you'll automatically see these discounted award prices in your results. But the short time frame to book and travel means you need to act fast to find the flight you want.
Select “Show Price in Points” under the “Advanced search” option followed by your desired cabin: Economy, Premium, or Upper Class. The rates you see in points should be with the 30% discount as long as you're searching the eligible cities and dates.
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.
Need help booking this deal? Read our full guide on redeeming Virgin points!
Take a look at Virgin's standard season award chart to get an idea of how much these flights will normally run you in miles. Pricing is for roundtrip tickets.
To get the best value for your points, you'll want to travel during Virgin's standard season, as the airline ups its pricing slightly during peak travel seasons. For example, a one-way business class ticket between New York and London jumps from 47,500 miles to 57,500 miles. With this discount, that's a difference of around 33,200 to 40,200 points each way. To get the lowest rates during this promo, you'll just want to avoid the March 24 – April 17 travel window.
If you've got your sights set on flying in one of Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class suites, you'll need to be flexible. Many of our searches found those award tickets already sold out, no matter which route you're flying. And Virgin has made it more difficult to find those sweet spots and book by hiding its price calendar search. Luckily, there's a workaround that will let you pull up a month's worth of flights so you can zero in on a business class fare like this one.
If you want the best experience, look for flights operated on Virgin's Airbus A350-1000 or Airbus A330-900neo, both of which have far nicer business class seats than what you'll find on other Virgin jets.
At 33,200 points each way, that rate is far lower than you'll find on almost any airline program. And while paying another $877 in fees stings (or slightly less for a one-way back home from the U.K.), that's nothing compared to the usual $3,000 cost of these tickets.
Discount or not, you'll always find the lowest award rates flying from New York and Boston. The further you get from the Northeast, the more points you'll typically need to book. For example, you can book from Atlanta (ATL) or Miami (MIA) starting at 8,700 miles each way in economy, though business class award rates remain unchanged.
Starting from the West Coast, you'll find one-way flights starting at 10,500 points for economy or 47,200 points for business class.
Bottom Line
Virgin Atlantic is out with a new promo for 30% off most of its routes connecting the U.S. and the U.K. for a trip this spring.
While this discount only applies on Virgin Atlantic flights – not booking Delta One suites to Europe or other airline partners – it's still a solid deal if you've got a trip to London in mind over the next few months.