* FREE = 1.2 million miles
If you have 1.2 million Virgin Atlantic miles sitting around, here’s the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift for your loved one. Richard Branson’s Necker Island, located in the British Virgin Islands, has opened up a few dates (referred to as “Celebration Weeks”) in January and February for people to book individual rooms. While most dates are cash only, you can book a full week starting February 12th for 1.2 million Virgin Atlantic miles. Note that the price does not include airfare.
Acquiring 1.2 Million Virgin Atlantic Miles
As shown in my Transfer Partner Master List, Virgin Atlantic is the single most promiscuous airline loyalty program. You can transfer points from any of the 5 major transferable points programs to Virgin Atlantic: Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Diners Club, and SPG. So, if you have 1.2 million points across those programs and Virgin Atlantic, you can make this happen.
Before transferring any points to Virgin Atlantic, though, please note that Necker Island awards can be put on hold for up to a week. I highly recommend making sure that you can hold the week before transferring points.
Booking the week
First, check for availability by sending an email to: enquiries@virginlimitededition.com. Then, read my post: How to book a free week on Necker Island. All of the details you need to know are there.
Two people are included, a third is $$$$$ extra
As some readers may remember, I have a week already booked at Necker Island for October 2016. That booking includes all food, activities, and tips for two people (my wife and I). To catch up, please see these posts:
- Considering the 1.2 million mile Necker Island challenge… Who’s with me?
- Necker Island, here we come!
- 1,200,000 miles for Necker Island: Not easy. Not free.
A few days ago I received an email saying that February dates had opened up on Necker Island. We have competing plans for Valentine’s Day week so it wasn’t really practical, but I was curious if Necker Island would allow us to change the October booking to February, and if we could tack on our son as a third guest. So, I emailed to ask. Here’s what I learned:
- Yes, they would let us change dates for no fee.
- Yes, we could add a 3rd person, but it will cost us $7,000 + 2.5% service charge for the 3rd guest and an upgrade fee of $2,520 + 2.5% BVI service charge to upgrade from a Great House Room to Bali Kukila.
In summary, we would have to pay a fee to add our son, plus we would have to upgrade to a bigger room. Altogether, adding our son would cost us $9,758. No thanks!
Anyone going?
While 1.2 million points is an outrageous sum, keep in mind that Necker Island rooms start at about $30,000 for the week. At face value, 1.2 million points works out to 2.5 cents value per point. That’s not amazing, but its pretty good – if you value Necker Island at face value (note: that’s a big “if”). I also think this would be a candidate for the most amazing Valentine’s Day gift ever.
If anyone does do this, I’d love to hear about your experience — It could make a great story for this blog!
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I love the posts about Necker Island and the updates!
Amen!
All due respect, my eyes glaze over whenever I see posts about this Necker Island thing and I have to say I don’t quite get it. No interest whatsover. It doesn’t seem aspirational or like the greatest anything ever to me, I wouldn’t pay $3000 a week let alone $30,000 to stay there, and I’m sure if I had over a million of any miles or points I’d come up with something a lot more fun/exotic/culturally interesting/stimulating/valuable to me than a week on a Caribbean island, no matter how exclusive . But to each his own and enjoy.
Amen!
Am I the only one who finds this to be an obscene abuse of miles.
no way, i think it’s fun!
Virgin miles are quite useless anyway…
agreed!
For normal people who have full time jobs and earn miles on the side it is obscene. For “full-time” bloggers that have nothing better to do than see how many boa cards they can get in a day and spend all day driving around to different retailers to buy and load prepaid cards it makes sense. You gotta do rediculous stuff like this for blog traffic.
“Abuse”? Why? It’s simply redeeming miles against a published award.
Did you mean to say “mis-use”? Why would that be obscene?
Hurricane season is June to November. Do you have trip cancellation provisions?
Nope. I’m living on the edge
I was looking through your posts on this topic and am wondering how you are getting to Beef Island airport? I assume you are flying to St. Thomas on miles and then have paid for an inter-island flight on a local carrier?
Right now the plan is to fly to San Juan and then book a small carrier from there. Haven’t finalized plans yet.
looking forward to your trip report from Necker Island….. lots of pics I hope. I’m glad that you went through the entire process of earning the 1.2 million VA miles required, just because you could. I think that’s pretty cool, especially because you fully acknowledge that it probably wasn’t the best use of some of your points….. but hey, how many people can say they enjoyed a week on Necker Island???
Thanks. Yes, I plan to take lots of photos and videos!
Does boarding area require you to make at least 1 post per day?
Clickbait.
Besides 350k IHG gets 7 nights in an overwater bungalow in bora bora. How could this possibly be worth 1.2 million?
well, necker island already includes all meals, drinks, activities, tips… so that softens the blow a little bit.
plus the problem with bora bora is that their high season is during our summer, and it’s just not so appealing to travel to the tropics when it’s warm here.
now they have rainy season in bora bora. it will still be beautiful, but chances are you’ll spend more time in your room.
Less people can say they’ve been to Necker Island than Bora Bora. Yes, Bora Bora is aspirational to the average person, but that type of destination is not really “out of reach” to the average points/miles user.
For some, points/miles/status is all about doing things you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) otherwise do.
– Fly First Class on Etihad Apartments, Emirates, or Singapore Suites.
– Take an island hopper in the Pacific Ocean.
– Fly for 24 hours with multiple stops only turn around less than 24 hours later.
– Sit in an SPG Luxury Suite at Madison Square Garden.
– Stay in a huge suite (or penthouse) when you’re a solo traveler who will do no more than sleep in the room.
I think you could question what a lot of us points/miles nuts end up doing with the millions we accrue. 🙂
$9,000 to sleep on a sofa bed. Must be sooooooome sofa…….