Update 8/6/24: Bank of America has announced that all current Virgin cardholders will be transitioned to a BOA Unlimited Cash Rewards in October. In the meantime, Synchrony has opened the waitlist for the new Virgin card.
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There’s some interesting news today as Virgin has announced that it’ll be launching a new credit card this summer.
Historically, Bank of America was the issuer of credit cards for Virgin Atlantic. That’s going to be shaken up this summer as Synchrony will be the new issuer for the Virgin Red Rewards credit card.
There’s a couple of things worth noting about this. The first is that while Bank of America’s cards were for Virgin Atlantic the airline, Synchrony’s card will be for Virgin Red the loyalty program. Virgin Red points can be freely redeemed on a 1:1 basis for Virgin Atlantic flights, but can also be used for redemptions with other Virgin companies.
The second is that it looks like this credit card will be replacing Bank of America’s credit card offerings for Virgin Atlantic, at least when it comes to new applications. What I hadn’t realized until today is that it hasn’t been possible to apply for a new Virgin Atlantic credit card for a year or more. Virgin Atlantic’s landing page states that they’re not accepting new applications for the Bank of America cards and, when plugging that link into the Wayback Machine, it shows that that’s been the situation since at least June 6, 2023, if not earlier than that. Although it hasn’t been possible to apply for a new Virgin Atlantic credit card for a long time, Bank of America is still – for now at least – maintaining those cards.
The Virgin Red Rewards credit card will be a World Elite Mastercard and will be released in the second half of 2024, but beyond that we don’t have many other details as of right now. The information we received states that the card “will offer consumers the opportunity to boost their Virgin Points balance with Virgin companies, among other perks and rewards from across the Virgin Group.” It’s also being marketed as a “multi-category travel credit card program”, so it’ll be interesting to see what those multiple categories will look like.
Your Hopes
Seeing as details of the card are so limited right now, why not have some fun in the comments section. What features would you like the new Virgin Red Rewards credit card to have when it comes to benefits, earning categories, perks, etc.? Let us know in the comments below.
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I just called Virgin Atlantic to try and get some clarity. On hold for 10 minutes, she came back on the phone and was clueless
I’ve had the BoA card for 14 years. In the past, Virgin used to send me holiday gifts and invites to special dinners, etc. (They cut all that back with the Delta investment.)
If this new card doesn’t earn Tier Points with each spend, it is worthless to me. Plain mileage points can be earned from just about any card, often times with transfer bonuses/multipliers, and Virgin Red is of no value to me outside of Flying Club. I’m already sitting on over 1M miles that are hard to spend. I need the Tier Points!
Same goes with me. If no Tier points, then being loyal to virgin is worthless.
I’m in the same position. Had the BoA card for twenty years..!
Seems the new card will mirror the BoA tier point earn.
Also what happens to our longevity with virgin do you have to start from scratch
I have a Virgin Atlantic card for 19 years are they just going to drop us cold Turkey I don’t want a Bank of America card I want Virgin and what happens to my companion seat I earn each year
I have been Virgin Gold for the past several years, thanks in no small part to spending on the BOA Virgin card. Hope that stays on the new card. Just got notice from BOA that they are moving me to the BOA cash back card. Tears.
SAME!! I need a new Virgin credit card pronto!
Hopefully our existing earned mileage transfers to the new red card! Not sure how that plays out.
I just got the notice.
Have you found an easy way to use your virgin miles? I have a lot but it’s often the same price to book not using miles because of the high tax and fees.
I have had very little luck using the miles on delta or other partners.
I usually redeem for regular Virgin Upper Class flights. Try to redeem during non-peak periods. 37,500 miles OW from NA to UK is cheap (which the surcharges negate unfortunately).
Availability is quite good, which is important for me. I also regularly use the companion certificates when traveling with family. It’s quite a bit cheaper if you don’t stop in London (though I do that regularly too). Love the LHR Clubhouse and Gold/Upper Class terminal. The partner awards are too difficult to redeem so I haven’t.
I would love to see the tier point system earnings based on spend to qualify for gold.
Love virgin right now and just hope they keep everything pretty much the same.
I w
I want to see extra points for virgin hotels and Voyages and then something standard like dining/grocery/flights etc currently there isn’t many great credit cards for cruises. Also virgin red is a hassle compared to its competition I really hope the credit card improves that. I want to be able to redeem points 24/7 instead of them picking and choosing what virgin properties or voyages I can redeem for
[…] credit card provider we don’t want to get its hands on credit cards is Synchrony, oh boy: A new Virgin Red credit card is coming, but it won’t be issued by Bank of America. Will they give out a 2-liter soda as a Signing Bonus? […]
Signup bonus is a one week stay at Necker Island.
Wish….
The BofA Virgin Mastercard disappeared in early 2023, along with the Air France MC from BofA directly. I was surprised that almost no blogs noticed, but figured it’s because the card is low on the totem, and maybe I was missing something.
Didn’t AF just merge the card laminate with KLM. Same card. Different artwork.
That’s a good card with the XP additional like the Delta MQM bonuses.
What I meant was that the Virgin and AF cards both disappeared from BofA’s cobranded cards page, although the latter is still open to new applications from Air France/KLM’s website. The Virgin card was discontinued for US customers awhile ago, based on Virgin Atlantic’s cobranded card landing page.
True, they updated the card art on the AF card to emphasize the Flying Blue branding (ask me how I know because I successfully reapplied for a second card in March…churn and burn). IMO the Flying Blue card is a no-brainer since it pays for itself and can be churned every 24 months.
Yep next up on my lists. I ended up SkyTeam during the Pandemic.
The Delta changes to status earning likely hit me next next year. I’ll make Platinum again for 2025.
Still using mine! Only got notification today that this partnership is ending. Had no clue before. Came as a big surprise.
Potentially interesting for reasons.
Saving on fees like British Airlines
3x (your airline’s name here)
2x Dining and other travel
1x All other spending
No surprises
You forgot to mention $99 annual fee for that none sense
I’m honestly surprised that Cardless is not issuing the credit card. Foreign airlines seem to be their target market right now.
I’d prefer a synchrony card over cardless.
Me too. The only Synchrony card I have right now is the Synchrony Premier CC that I got from the converted Rakuten Cash Back CC in 2022.
Ditto. RIP Rakuten Visa Signature, that was a gem .
Discount Virgin Voyage! A great use of points.
Free is even better. We did the Barc-based 100K free cruise last summer and I would jump on board again in a heartbeat. Cruising with Virgin spoiled us.
I really hope it’s a consistent redemption option. I’ve been doing virgin red surveys for at least a year and they had several about the card, didn’t seem like they had any game changing ideas but at least we got to give feedback.