Citi is coming in hot with transfer bonuses this morning, with a 30% bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club coming in alongside transfer bonuses to Turkish Miles & Smiles and Avianca LifeMiles. While Virgin Atlantic uses a dynamic award chart and therefore doesn’t make a lot of sense for speculative transfers, there are nonetheless some great opportunities with a big transfer bonus that make for values that are hard to ignore.
The Deal
- Citi ThankYou Rewards is offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through 10/18/21
- Direct link to this deal
Key Terms
- Offer is valid for points transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Virgin Red completed between 12:01 AM ET September 21, 2025 and 11:59 PM ET October 18, 2025.
Quick Thoughts
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has shed some of its sweet spot uses in recent years, but there is still value to be had in the program.
For instance, I recently wrote a post about booking Virgin Atlantic Economy Class Awards to Europe for just 6,000 miles and about $110 in taxes and fees one way, or Premium Economy from just 10,500 miles and about $250 worth of taxes and fees. I even found some awards to travel as far away as South Africa and India for 12,000 miles plus taxes and fees. And in some cases, there are great business class deals to be had, such as 29,000 miles for business class one way between the United States and Europe, or sometimes even fewer miles between India and London. See this post for more. Keep in mind that those prices are before the 30% transfer bonus.
Furthermore, you can sometimes score a great deal flying on partners.
For instance, you can sometimes score economy class to Europe on Air France or KLM for 12K miles plus just under $200 in taxes and fees. That’s just over 9,000 points transferred with the bonus.
Premium Economy and Business Class can be even better deals, though availability has become quite difficult to find.
If you can find SAS award availability, you can score a great deal without the big surcharges. For instance, you could fly Business class from Boston to Copenhagen on Sky Team partner SAS for just 60,000 miles and $5.60. With the 30% transfer bonus, 47,000 Citi Thank You points would give you more than enough miles to book this business class ticket to Europe (or fly economy for 16,000 ThankYou points and $5.60!).
And remember that it is not just flights that present a potentially good use of Virgin points. Through Virgin Red, it is sometimes possible to book Virgin Voyages cruises, Virgin Hotels, and Virgin Limited Edition properties. Some Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members were recently targeted with the chance to pick up 6000 free Virgin Points by creating a Virgin Red account and linking it to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
However, as noted at the outset, I wouldn’t recommend speculatively transferring to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. While there are some other great sweet spot uses of Virgin points, those are heavily reliant on partner award space. Additionally, Virgin Atlantic has multiple times devalued its award chart overnight without notice or notification. They have demonstrated repeatedly that members just don’t know when they are going to completely change their value proposition.
- ANA First Class from the US for 72.5K (West Coast) - 85K (East Coast). For a long time, the sweetest of Virgin Points sweet spots was for First Class awards from the US to Japan on ANA. Unfortunately, Virgin devalued those awards in March 2023, but even with substantial increases these awards are still a solid value if not the amazing value they used to be. ANA has one of the best first class products around, often selling for over $20,000. This is an incredible points value...especially now that you can now book one-way awards for half the price shown above. It's worth noting that ANA flights can't be booked on the VA website, so you have to call or message via Twitter (see below).
- US to UK Economy for 10K (East Coast) - 15K (West Coast). Virgin Points can be used to fly to London at great value. Virgin Atlantic offers the same pricing whether flying Delta or Virgin Atlantic, but fees are higher when flying Delta. Flying from the US to London for 10K to 15K during standard season is a bargain even after accounting for moderate award fees ($150-225). Note that flights originating in the UK have considerably higher fees.
- Delta Business from US to Europe for 50K. Virgin Points can be used to book Delta business class from the US to Europe for only 50,000 points one way, with minimal surcharges when flying from the US. Flights to/from the UK and originating in Europe include extremely high award fees. Mixed Partner Awards can be an excellent value as well.
- Air France or KLM flights within Europe. Virgin Atlantic has great rates for nonstop flights within Europe on Air France or KLM. They charge between 4K and 8.5K for nonstop economy flights under 1250 miles in distance (which is most within Europe), and between 8K and 9K for business class flights under 600 miles in distance. Details here: Air France & KLM across Europe for less.
Things to know
- Virgin Points purchases are processed by points.com and DO NOT qualify as airfare.
- Virgin Points do not expire.
- Many itineraries can be booked online at virginatlantic.com. This includes some partner flights such as Delta, Air France, and KLM.
- For partner flights that cannot be booked online, it is sometimes possible book via Twitter by sending a direct message on Twitter to @VirginAtlantic. If they respond that they cannot sell any flights which do not fly via the UK, tell them that you are not looking to purchase a flight but rather to redeem points to book an award ticket.
- Virgin Atlantic charges separately for every leg of the trip. When multiple legs are required, it is often cheaper to book the same flights with Air France Flying Blue miles or (sometimes) Delta SkyMiles.
- Point transfers from Amex, Chase, or Citi to Virgin Atlantic are usually instantaneous. It's best to find available award space before transferring points and then transfer and book the award.
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Those who got approved for the Elite card and earned the bonus recently are grinning from ear to ear today!