40% transfer bonus from Amex to Virgin Atlantic

American Express Membership Rewards is out with a new transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic: through 12/31/24, get a 40% transfer bonus when you transfer points to Virgin Atlantic. This is now the ninth transfer bonus we’ve seen to Virgin Atlantic in 2024 and the tenth in the past 12 months.

The Deal

• American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 40% transfer bonus when you transfer points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through 12/31/24

Key Terms

• Expires 12/31/24
• Must transfer in increments of 1,000 points

Quick Thoughts

Just days after the expiration of a 40% transfer bonus from Chase, Amex has launched a similar 40% bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. As was the case with the bonus from Chase, this can be a great deal if you have a near-term redemption in mind. Virgin Atlantic has had some sweet deals on its own flights since going dynamic this fall. We also sometimes see good deals on cruises, though current cruise offerings range from ~187K points for 5 nights to 245K points for 7 nights or 372.5K for 10 nights (with lots of different options). With a 40% bonus, the deals are OK, but not nearly as good as they once were.

While some may be tempted to make a speculative transfer given the big bonus, that’s not something that would interest me. As noted at the top, with a look at our current point transfer bonuses page we can see that this is the ninth transfer bonus we’ve seen to Virgin Atlantic in 2024 alone and the tenth within the past 12 months. Transfer bouses to Virgin are so frequent that I never feel much urgency to transfer — there’s a decent chance that one will be running if and when I need to make a redemption. Couple that with the fact that Virgin has an established track record of no-notice, no-notification devaluations and its newfound completely dynamic pricing for its own awards and I just wouldn’t want to get points locked up until I’m ready to use them. I simply don’t have faith that today’s good uses will be there when I need them months or years in the future.

That said, if you do find availability, Virgin does have some good sweet spots. I was thrilled to find 8 seats in business class on Air France for 48,500 points per passenger for travel early next summer. A deal like that drops to around 35K points each with a 40% transfer bonus, which is terrific. But I’d recommend finding the availability before making the transfer.

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