(EXPIRED) Back: 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic from Membership Rewards

Starting today, there is another 30% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic. Amex previously offered a 30% bonus to Virgin Atlantic in March of this year. If you can find availability that fits your needs, Virgin Atlantic still offers a couple of great sweet spots that get sweetened further yet by this transfer bonus.

The Deal

• American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club from 12/8/22 through 12/29/22. This can create some fantastic sweet spots.

Key Terms

• Expires 12/29/22
• Transfers that result in more than 999,999 Flying Club miles will not be accepted

Quick Thoughts

This transfer bonus is scheduled to run through nearly the end of this month, so there is time yet to take advantage if you find the right opportunity.

Virgin Atlantic has long been loved for a couple of key sweet spots. Unfortunately, during the pandemic, they quietly took away many of the various sweet spots for booking Delta award tickets. However, one key sweet spot for Delta flights remains: US cities to/from Europe cost just 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles in business class on Delta.

While Delta flights that are available to partners have dried up significantly, you can still find some space now and then. For instance, earlier this year, I booked 4 passengers in Delta One from New York to Amsterdam for 200,000 Virgin Atlantic points and $22.40.

It would have only required 154,000 Membership Rewards points to cover the 200K points necessary to book that flight thanks to a bonus like this.

Better yet would be paying just 60,000 points one-way — just over 46,000 Membership Rewards points one way for ANA First Class from the East Coast to Tokyo. I haven’t seen many of those seats available for a while, but if you can find availability this is a great chance to get a phenomenal deal. Business class to Japan on ANA is also an excellent deal via Virgin Atlantic considering the transfer bonus and the fact that Virgin Atlantic points do not expire.

I don’t recommend transferring speculatively. While that’s always solid advice, it seems particularly poignant given the fact that Virgin Atlantic quietly devalued Delta awards overnight without notice during the pandemic (before rolling back those changes on transatlantic routes). I wouldn’t want to transfer speculatively and risk another unannounced award chart change. On the other hand, if you can find availability, it can be worth jumping on a deal like this since you don’t have to worry about point expiration if plans change.

While Virgin Atlantic technically charges a cancellation fee, my past experience with it is that the fee is waived when the taxes are less than the fee (as would be the case departing the US). I wrote about how they even retroactively fixed that on an itinerary where I had previously been charged a cancellation fee.

Overall, this will be a great deal for those able to take advantage.

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