Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: How to Earn & Redeem These Valuable Points

Looking for a flight to Europe? Not just London, but almost anywhere in Europe? Or even Japan or New Zealand? Virgin points can probably get you there for less.

Among the hundreds of airline mileage programs, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is one of our absolute favorites. Thanks to some recent changes, it's better than ever for booking flights over to the U.K. in both economy and business class. And while they've taken some hits over the years, there are tons of sweet spots to book flights on partner airlines like Delta, ITA Airways, Air France and KLM, or even Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) – often for far fewer points than any other airline would charge you.

Best of all these points are incredibly easy to earn as Virgin is a transfer partner of all the major banks. So if you're earning points with cards like the *chase sapphire preferred*, *venture x*, or the *amex gold*, you can easily transfer those points to Virgin. Combined with some recent, record-setting transfer bonuses that give you 40% more points, Virgin and its mileage program are more powerful than ever.

Here's how to use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points to your advantage.

 

 

The 411 on Flying Club

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

But the beauty of using airline miles is that they're not just good for flying one carrier – you can use them to book partner airlines, often for far fewer miles. And after joining the SkyTeam alliance a few years back, Virgin has a ton of partner airlines – including some random, non-SkyTeam carriers like Japanese carrier ANA, Air New Zealand, and Singapore Airlines. That opens up even more opportunity.

What you should care most about is an airline's award chart: the cheat sheet that determines exactly how many miles you need to book a flight from point A to point B. Virgin has several different award charts, including: 

• One specifically laying out prices when booking flights on Virgin Atlantic itself
• Separate award charts for many partner airlines like Delta, Air France, KLM, Air New Zealand, ANA, and others
• One award chart for the majority of its newer SkyTeam partners like Aeromexico or Korean Air

While its website and booking process has a few quirks, this setup opens the door for some excellent redemptions.

 

& Why You Should Sign Up for an Account ASAP!

You'll need to sign up for a free Flying Club account. And you'll want to do it ASAP.

If you're hoping to put any of the great sweet spots we get into later to use, signing up before you plan to redeem these points is essential. That's because it can take 24 to 72 hours for Virgin to verify your account, which is required before you can book a flight with Virgin points.

Read more: Points Stuck in Limbo? Here's Why (& What You Can Do About It)

Fortunately, it's a pretty straightforward process. If you're just opening a new account, you'll automatically be signed up for Virgin Red – the overarching loyalty program for the airline, cruise line, hotels, and other companies – too. 

 

Already have a Flying Club account but don't have Virgin Red? If you're hoping to transfer Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, or Wells Fargo points to Virgin, you'll need a Virgin Red account, too. 

Just head to the Virgin Red homepage and choose the option “Join Virgin Red.” After a quick email verification and some personal details, finalize your enrollment. Immediately, you should be prompted to link your Virgin Red account with your airline account.

 

 

It's Now the Cheapest Way to Fly Virgin to the UK with Points

For years, we cautioned against using Virgin points to book flights on Virgin itself due to the astronomically high taxes and fees. No more.

Virgin's recent shift to dynamic pricing has resulted in some outstanding deals to book Virgin Atlantic flights to the U.K. …. for a fraction of the miles and fees Virgin previously charged. Here's what you can book now: 

• Economy flights to London-Heathrow (LHR) as low as 6,000 points and $73 each way (or $350 roundtrip)
• Premium economy from 10,500 points plus $105 in taxes and fees each way
• Or business class from East Coast cities like Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), Orlando (MCO), or Atlanta (ATL) for as low as 29,000 points and $255 in taxes – half the mileage and a quarter of the fees Virgin previously charged!

Just note that the taxes and fees listed above are for one-way flights departing from the U.S. Taxes and fees will be much higher on the way back from the U.K. – or if you're booking roundtrip. 

 

Of course, dynamic award pricing is a double-edged sword. You can get dirt-cheap deals like the ones above … but with award rates that vary based upon the cash price and time of year, you may also see much higher prices, too: Double the lowest economy rate and business class redemptions that may cost you hundreds of thousands of points.

 

 

To find the cheapest rates, use Virgin Atlantic's Reward Seat Checker. This tool allows you to see a full month of flights through Virgin – and zero in on the best award deals. It specifically denotes the lowest-priced “saver” awards with a neat red label. 

 

 

But note: Since these awards are now dynamically priced, what's considered a “Saver” award depends on when you're flying. So while the lowest rate for a one-way economy flight in February might be 6,000 points, flip the calendar to summer and you'll see that same designation applied to higher, 12,000-point rates. 

 

Save Points Flying Tons of Partner Airlines, Too

While using Virgin points to fly Virgin Atlantic itself is now a significantly better deal than it once was, you can also get excellent value redeeming Virgin points to fly one of its many partner airlines.

And after joining the SkyTeam alliance, you can now redeem Virgin points for travel on nearly 27 different partner airlines, including a few non-SkyTeam partner airlines as well. 
 

Airline name	Part of SkyTeam?
Aerolineas Argentinas	Yes
Aeromexico	Yes
Air Europa	Yes
Air France	Yes
Air New Zealand	No
All Nippon Airways (ANA)	No
China Airlines	Yes
China Eastern	Yes
Delta Air Lines	Yes
El Al	No
Garuda Indonesia	Yes
Hawaiian Airlines	No
ITA Airways	Yes
IndiGo	No
Kenya Airways	Yes
KLM	Yes
Korean Air	Yes
LATAM	No
Middle East Airlines	Yes
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)	Yes
Saudia	Yes
Singapore Airlines	No
South African Airways	No
Tarom	Yes
Vietnam Airlines	Yes
Virgin Australia	No
XiamenAir	Yes

 

Unlike most other airlines, Virgin Atlantic has separate award charts for each and every partner airline, meaning the number of points you'll need to book varies from carrier to carrier. But for the majority of its newer SkyTeam partners, Virgin has a standard award chart based on flight distance. Here's what it looks like.

 

 

Need to calculate the distance of your flight? Use the Great Circle Mapper!

You can book flights on many of Virgin's partner carriers online, including the best deals flying Virgin's long-time partners Air France/KLM, ITA Airways, and Delta. To redeem Virgin points for flights on Aeroméxico, ANA, Hawaiian Airlines, and other carriers that don't appear online, you'll have to call to book (more on that later). 

 

The Best Virgin Atlantic Redemptions

Virgin Flights to London from 6K Each Way (or 29K in Biz Class)

After writing off Flying Club altogether for booking Virgin flights – ironic, isn't it? – these points are now the cheapest way to get to London … in any cabin. 

Now, you can find Virgin business class flights to London-Heathrow (LHR) 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 and a much more reasonable $255 in taxes.

 

 

There are solid deals to be had in the lower cabins now, too:

• A one-way from the East Coast to London starts at 6,000 miles
• A one-way in premium economy isn't bad either, at just 10,500 miles

You'll see some higher rates from other cities like Miami (MIA) or Los Angeles (LAX). And Virgin's dynamic pricing also means you may see higher pricing in the summer … if not closer to 100,000 points or more.

But if you time it right, these deals flying from the U.S. to London are unbeatable.

 

Lie-Flat to Hawaii for 40K Points (Or Less!) 

Flying Hawaiian Airlines is a great way to kick off a vacation to Hawaii – especially if you can score a lie-flat seat for the long flight. 

The best way to get there is in one of Hawaiian's fancy new Hawaiian's new first class suites on its Boeing 787 Dreamliners. You can also book lie-flat seats aboard Hawaiian's older Airbus A330-200, which isn't the fanciest but still beats flying in a standard domestic first class recliner any day.

Virgin charges just 40,000 points each way from the West Coast or 65,000 points for departures from Boston (BOS) and New York City (JFK). Factor in one of the frequent transfer bonuses to Virgin from banks like Chase and Amex and you could book these lie-flat seats for even fewer points! 

These deals have become a regular sight for Thrifty Traveler Premium members in the last year. 

 

 

You'll need to call Virgin to book flights on Hawaiian Airlines – it's not possible to book on Virgin's website. And that means you'll first need to find award availability, which is easiest by using Hawaiian's own site. Look at the first class rates, and be sure to expand the flight details to confirm you're getting a lie-flat seat. 

 

 

If the flight you want is available through Hawaiian for 40,000 in first class, you can book it through Virgin for the same rate. Call up Virgin at 1-800-365-9500, feed them the dates you found and how many seats you need, and book.

Read more: Your Best Bets for Flying Lie-Flat to Hawaii (From 35K Points Each Way!)

 

Minneapolis to Europe for 30K Roundtrip

This is one of our favorite sweet spots in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club award chart.

You can fly Air France or KLM economy from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to just about anywhere in Western Europe for 30,000 points roundtrip and around $150 in fees. It works whether you're flying nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG) or connecting elsewhere to cities like Barcelona (BCN) or Rome (FCO).

It's one of the cheapest ways to fly to Europe with points and miles because it combines low rates with low fees. The odd thing about this sweet spot is that it really only works from Minneapolis: If you depart from other cities in the U.S. or Canada, you'll get hit with cash fees of around $400 or more.

But when flying out of Minneapolis, Virgin isn't charging the fuel surcharge it does from other cities – meaning cash fees are typically around $150 or so. 

 

 

Time it right with a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin from banks like Amex and Chase, and you can score a roundtrip flight to Europe next year using just 22,000 credit card points – fewer than it often costs to fly within the U.S.! 

 

Nonstop Delta Flights from 7.5K Points Each Way

Looking to stay closer to home? Flying shorter nonstop flights on Delta is also a great sweet spot when redeeming Virgin points.

Unlike other SkyTeam partners, Virgin has a few different award charts for pricing Delta flights. There's an award chart specifically for flights to and from the U.K. and one that determines how much you'll pay to get anywhere else in Europe. Then there's this distance-based award chart for everything else, which is especially beneficial for scoring a deal on domestic Delta flights and shorter international routes.

 

 

Delta flights that measure in under 500 miles are only 7,500 points one-way. Going a little further? it's 11,000 points one-way for flights between 501 – 1,000 miles.

 

 

This can often be a much better deal than using SkyMiles if you're just looking for a quick flight to or from a major Delta hub – especially considering you'll always be booking a Main Cabin ticket on Delta when using Virgin points. That means you'll be able to make changes and get free advanced seat assignments, unlike Delta's cheapest basic economy award tickets.

Read more: Save Big on Short Delta Flights: Book With Virgin Atlantic Instead!

 

Fly Delta One Home from Europe for 47.5K

The internet collectively poured one out when Virgin finally axed one of its best sweet spots of all this year: The days of booking Delta One business class to Europe for just 50,000 points each way are over. 

Virgin now tacks on nasty surcharges and fees of $1,000-plus on these Delta business class redemptions … unless you're flying from Europe back to the states, that is. In that case, you can book for as low as 47,500 points and about $200 to $250 or so in fees!

 

 

Somehow, this particular redemption escaped unscathed. Finding the award availability to actually book Delta One flights home from Europe at these rates can be a real challenge. The handy “Delta One Finder” from Seats.aero – one of our favorite award search tools – can be invaluable.

 

Nonstops to Mexico & the Caribbean for Less

Whether you're looking to get to Mexico City (MEX), Cancún (CUN), Puerto Vallarta (PVR), or somewhere further, you might be able to save some serious SkyMiles by turning to your Virgin Atlantic points instead, thanks to the airline's distance-based pricing format for these relatively short flights. While these flights will cost more Virgin points than they once did, the savings can still be substantial compared to booking direct with Delta SkyMiles – especially considering you'd be booking a main cabin ticket.

For example, while Delta wants 25,000 SkyMiles for this one-way flight from Atlanta (ATL) to Cancún in February…

 

 

… you can book that exact same flight for Virgin Atlantic points. 

 

 

And that's just one example. So long as you can fly nonstop and your destination is less than 3,000 miles away, there can still be solid savings by looking and booking through Virgin Atlantic. In many other cases, though, you're probably better off booking these Delta flights using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles instead.

 

Fly Aeroméxico from Just 7K Each Way

Delta isn't your only option for getting south of the border using Virgin Atlantic miles. In fact, this one could be even better.

Virgin and Aeroméxico are longtime partners but after briefly allowing members to book Aeroméxico flights online, Virgin again requires a phone call to book. But that extra legwork could be worth it: 

Aeromexico flies nonstop to Mexico City (MEX) from 15 or so airports all across the country – plus, they've got nonstop routes from several airports to other cities like Guadalajara (GDL), Monterey (MTY), and others. Most flights from the U.S. cost just 11,500 Virgin points each way or less – 23,000 points roundtrip!

Virgin tacks on about $137 in taxes and fees on these roundtrip redemptions, though those cash costs are unavoidable on these international trips. Some routes are even cheaper, like 14,000 Virgin points and $137 for this roundtrip flight from Dallas-Fort (DFW) to Mexico City (MEX).

 

 

Flights like the one above are no longer searchable nor bookable online. Instead, use Delta's website to search for award availability. Any Aeroméxico flight bookable with SkyMiles should also be bookable with Virgin points. Then, call up Virgin and feed the dates and flight to an agent to book. 

Check out Virgin's dedicated award chart for Aeromexico and you'll see there are plenty of great ways to get to Mexico using Flying Club points.

 

ITA Airways Biz Class to Rome

One of the latest additions to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club's portfolio opened up one of the best ways to fly to Rome (FCO) in a lie-flat seat.

You can now book business class on Italy's flag carrier, ITA Airways, using Virgin points, with flights between the U.S. and Rome (FCO) starting at 75,000 points each way. Economy redemptions on ITA aren't half-bad either, with rates as low as 25,500 points each way.

Exactly how many miles you'll need to book these seats depends on which city you're flying from. Virgin Atlantic uses a distance-based award chart for these ITA flights, so longer flights from Miami (MIA) or the West Coast will cost you more than a nonstop from New York City (JFK). Plus, you won't pay a mountain of additional taxes and fees: You'll pay just $5.60 for a one-way to Rome and 56 euros (about $62 USD) for the return flights to the states.

Finding award availability to fly to Rome nonstop has gotten more challenging recently, but it can be done. Earlier this year, we sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members an alert with some wide-open ITA Airways business class award space – including for the peak summer travel months! 

 

ANA First Class to Japan from 72.5K Each Way

Even after raising award rates last year, this could still be the best deal in the world of points and miles.

Flying ANA First Class to Japan is a real treat. Doing it for just 72,500 points one-way makes it even sweeter.

The lowest rates are for flights from the West Coast like Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO), while the rate jumps to 85,000 points one-way for departures from the Central and Eastern U.S. like Chicago (ORD) or New York City (JFK). Just looking to fly ANA business class? Those seats can be booked starting from 52,500 points one-way.

Fair warning: It's a bit of a unicorn. You'll have to get pretty lucky to find the award availability –  and these days its next to impossible to find seats for one passenger, let alone two. But when it's there, don't hesitate to book one of the best flying experiences in the world.

 

 

Read our full review of ANA First Class from Chicago (ORD) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND)!

Unfortunately, you can't book ANA flights through Virgin's website. Instead, you'll need to seek out saver award availability using United's website and then call Virgin to book.

Simply give the agent the exact dates where you found saver award availability on United's website. If they see the seats available, ask the agent to stay on the line while you transfer points to book.

Read More: How to Book ANA Flights with Virgin Points

 

Air New Zealand Business Class for Under 63K Each Way

Looking to fly down under in style? Turn to your Virgin points to fly lie-flat and nonstop to New Zealand from several U.S. cities for just 62,500 points one-way – a fraction of what it'll cost with other programs.

This unique partnership between Virgin and Star Alliance member Air New Zealand has stuck around even after Virgin joined the SkyTeam alliance … and it's one of the best sweet spots of all. While Virgin's award chart for Air New Zealand suggests these can be booked for even fewer points, it likely hasn't been updated. But whether you fly from Los Angeles (LAX) or Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) to Auckland (AKL), it costs just 62,500 points each way. 

With one of those transfer bonuses, your price drops even lower, that's a steal! 

 

 

Like ANA, you'll need to seek out saver award availability – this time by using United's website – then call Virgin to book Air New Zealand flights. Finding that award availability is typically tricky as Air New Zealand is incredibly stingy. However, last year we sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members several alerts for wide-open business class award space to New Zealand.

 

Step-By-Step Instructions for Booking via Virgin

The savings are undeniable when booking with Virgin points. Yet it's not always easy to book.

Virgin's website can be a bit wonky and tricky to use, but we'll walk you through some of the quirks when booking flights with Virgin points. 

First, head to VirginAtlantic.com and toggle on “Search for Reward Flights.”

 

 

It will be easiest to search one-way flights separately rather than your usual roundtrip – and it's often better to book one-ways separately when redeeming miles anyway. Just enter your departure airport and destination and desired travel dates, then hit search. 

 

 

You'll be prompted to login to your account to complete the search. Be prepared to have a one-time code sent to your email address for two-factor authentication.

From here, you'll see a one-week calendar at the top of the search results. Use the arrows on the right or left to see additional dates with award availability. 

 

 

Once you've found the flight you want, click through to book! Note: Even on other carriers, Virgin still labels business class as “Upper Class.” 

 

 

If the date you want is unavailable to book with points, you'll likely get an error message and will have to try another date – unless you're booking flights on Virgin itself. Virgin now prices its own flights dynamically, which means (almost) every date should be available to book with Virgin points. The cost may just be incredibly high.

 

 

Thrifty Tip: To see a monthlong calendar of award rates for Virgin flights, use the Reward Seat Checker tool. If you want to see a full month's view of flights on partner airlines, you'll need to use this new workaround to pull up Virgin's old price calendar. Getting a month-long view like this is the key to ensure you book at the lowest rate.

 

 

To book flights on carriers that don't appear online like Aeroméxico, Air New Zealand, ANA, Hawaiian Airlines, and others, you'll first need to find award availability on another airlines' website. For Star Alliance carriers like Air New Zealand and ANA, you can use United's website to search. Delta's website will work for finding available flights on SkyTeam partners like Aeroméxico. 

Once you've found availability, call Virgin at 1-800-365-9500 (or 1-800-862-8621 or even an international call center). Give the agent the dates of the flights you want to book, and have your Virgin Flying Club number and the names and date of birth for all passengers handy. You can say something along the lines of “Can you check award availability for ANA flights from Chicago to Tokyo in first class for two passengers on Sept. 1?”

If they see the seats available, ask the agent to stay on the line while you transfer points to book (if needed). All transfers should be instant and Virgin agents are generally very friendly and happy to wait.

 

How to Earn Virgin Points

Virgin points are some of the easiest to earn since you can instantly transfer points to Virgin at a 1:1 ratio from all major transferrable points programs.

If you're earning American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, Citi ThankYou® Points, or Wells Fargo Rewards, can all be transferred to Virgin on a 1:1 basis. And if you're earning points on rent, you can also transfer Bilt Rewards. Just beware that with both Bilt and Capital One, you'll actually transfer points to your Virgin Red account – check out our walkthrough of how to do it!
 

Get More Points with Frequent Transfer Bonuses

Every so often, credit card companies like Capital One, Chase, and American Express roll out bonuses when transferring credit card points to partner airlines. Think of these transfer bonuses as a way to get free points.

And no airline benefits more from these transfer bonuses than Virgin Atlantic.

Every few months, we see one of the big banks roll out a transfer bonus of 20% or 30% to Virgin Atlantic. Recently, we've seen even bigger bonuses of 40% from both Amex and Chase. Iif you transferred 100,000 Amex points to Virgin, for example, you'd end up with 140,000 Virgin points in your Flying Club account. 

 

 

Bottom Line

It's taken a few hits over the years. But with several sweet spots and easy-to-earn points, the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club can still be one of the most valuable mileage programs out there.

The website may have its quirks but once you get the hang of it and know where the value lies, you'll unlock some incredible savings when booking flights with Virgin points … whether you're looking to fly Delta, Air France, KLM, All Nippon Airways, or other airlines, all across the globe.