Virgin points are super easy to accumulate. Points transfer 1 to 1 from most major transferable points programs. Even better, transfer bonuses are common such that transfers to Virgin Atlantic are often better than 1 to 1. Additionally, we expect a new Virgin Red credit card from Synchrony to debut this summer. With all of those points easily accessible, the question is what to do with them…
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club vs. Virgin Red
Virgin offers two rewards programs. One is the legacy Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, and the other is the Virgin Red program which offers awards far beyond flight awards. Even though they have different names, it’s best to think of the two programs as one thing. By joining Virgin Red, you can link your Virgin Atlantic account and then all points will appear together in both programs. In other words, you’ll have equal access to all of your points regardless of whether you log into Virgin Red or Virgin Atlantic.
Transfer Partners & Transfer Bonuses
Virgin points can be transferred from most common transferable points programs:
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Wells Fargo Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Unkown) |
Even better, transfer bonuses are common. The following display shows current and future transfer bonuses, if any:
| Transfer From | Transfer Bonus Details | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| Amex Membership Rewards | 40% transfer bonus from Amex Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 12/31/24 |
And, here are the expired bonuses (may be useful for predicting when to expect a new bonus):
Practical Sweet-Spots
The sweet-spot awards in this section are available often enough to be considered a practical use of Virgin points. This is in contrast to the Unicorn Sweet-Spots section which shows great uses of Virgin points in the very rare situations where you can find those awards.
North America to Europe starting at 48.5K (Air France or KLM Business Class)
Use Virgin Atlantic points to book Air France or KLM Business Class from North America for as few as 48,500 points one way (plus fees). The 48.5K pricing is off-peak between Western & Central Europe (Zone 1) and Eastern North America (Zone 6). Here is how Virgin Atlantic defines those zones:
Zone 1 (Western and Central Europe) includes: UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Balearic Islands, Finland, Italy, Malta, Norway and Sweden.
Zone 6 (East Coast North America & Caribbean) includes: East Coast USA, East Canada, Antigua, Barbados, Bahamas, Cuba, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Caiman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Martinique, Haiti, Porto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Marteen.
- Includes the following US states – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida
- Includes the following Canadian provinces – Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
Award chart:
How to book: book online (details here)
North America to Italy (ITA Business Class)
This one is a sweet-spot not because of the award pricing, but rather because business class awards have been relatively easy to find. Virgin Atlantic uses a distance-based award chart for ITA Airways and so the best deals are from the US east coast. The following are the prices for the distance bands that would apply to US routes:
- 4,000 to 5,000 miles flown (Boston, Chicago, New York, Toronto, or Washington DC to Rome)
- 30K points each way in economy class
- 75K points each way in business class
- 5,001 to 6,000 miles flown (Miami to Rome)
- 31K points each way in economy class
- 85K points each way in business class
- 6,001 to 7,000 miles flown (Los Angeles or San Francisco to Rome)
- 37K points each way in economy class
- 100K points each way in business class
North America to Europe (Air France / KLM Economy)
Use Virgin Atlantic points to book Air France or KLM Economy from North America to Europe for as few as 12,000 points one way from the US east coast and 15,000 points one way from the US west coast (plus fees, as shown below). Not only are these awards very cheap, but award availability for economy class tends to be pretty good.
Here are the award prices and fees for Economy to/from Europe:
- East Coast North America & Caribbean
- Point Price: 12K Standard / 22K Peak
- Fees to Europe: ~$160
- Fees from Europe: ~$240
- West & Central North America & Central America
- Point Price: 15K Standard / 25K Peak
- Fees to Europe: ~$160
- Fees from Europe: ~$240
US to London (Economy Class)
Whether you want to fly Delta or Virgin Atlantic, you can use Virgin Atlantic points to fly cheaply from the East Coast to London. Virgin Atlantic offers the same pricing whether flying Delta or Virgin Atlantic (but fees are higher when flying Delta) when flying towards the UK. Flying from the US to London for 10K to 15K during standard season is a bargain even after accounting for award fees. Here are the award prices:
- East Coast US (Boston, Newark, New York JFK, Washington DC): 10K standard, 20K peak
- Midwest & South US (Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Minneapolis, Orlando): 12.5K standard, 22.5K peak
- West Coast US (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Seattle): 15K standard, 25K peak
As shown in the images below, when flying from the US to London, you can expect to pay about $150 in fees when flying Virgin Atlantic or ~$225 when flying Delta:
In the opposite direction I saw the opposite: approximately $185 in fees flying Delta vs. $265 flying Virgin Atlantic. Unfortunately, Virgin Atlantic charges more for flying Delta in this direction (15K instead of 10K).
How to book: book online (details here for booking Delta flights)
Flights within Europe and to northern Africa (Air France / KLM)
Virgin Atlantic has great rates for flights within Europe on Air France or KLM. They charge between 4K and 8.5K for economy flights under 1250 miles in start to end distance (which is most within Europe), and between 8K and 9K for business class flights under 600 miles in distance.
Virgin Atlantic offers the following award chart for short distance flights on Air France or KLM:
As you can see above, for Air France or KLM flights under 600 miles, Virgin Atlantic charges only 4K points (off-peak) or 4.5K points (peak) for economy, or 8K or 9K points for business class. That’s awesome. Even more awesome is the fact that on flights with multiple segments, only the distance between the origin and destination are considered. You can do things like fly from Marseille, France to Algiers, via Paris, for only 8,000 or 9,000 points in business class or 4,000 or 4,500 points in economy.
More details can be found here: Air France & KLM across Europe for less.
How to book: book online (details here)
Nonstop Flights (Delta Economy)
Virgin Atlantic offers a distance based award chart for Delta flights (except those between the US and Europe). This means that short, non-stop Delta flights can be booked cheaply.
As you can see above, one-way flights start at only 7,500 points one-way. On some routes, this can be a huge bargain compared to booking with Delta miles. Usually the best deals are found on the shortest flights, but even long flights can sometimes be much cheaper when booked with Virgin Atlantic miles.
How to book: book online (details here)
Virgin Voyages Cruises
Virgin occasionally offers point sales on Virgin Voyages cruises. During these sales, it has been possible to book a cruise for two for as few as 80,000 points. There are often no additional taxes or fees required. If the dates for these sales match your needs, this can be a fantastic use of points! To find current offers, check this page for “Limited Time Only” deals.
Sales we have seen so far:
- Virgin Voyages: Book a cruise for as few as 45K points per person. Valid for sailings through September 2024.
- Virgin Voyages cruises for 80K or 100K Virgin points through Virgin Red. Valid for sailings before June 30, 2023.
- Caribbean or Mediterranean cruise for 2 people for 110k-120K pts. Required booking by 9/30/22 for departures until 10/16/22.
Virgin Limited Edition Properties
In addition to Necker Island (which is highlighted in this post separately), Virgin points can be used to book a number of other Virgin Limited Edition properties. Except for Necker Island, none of these options give much better than 1 cent per point value and most give less than that. The only Virgin Limited Edition properties, besides Necker Island, that offer better than 1 cent per point value are Mahali Mzuri for a 3 night stay (~1.1 cents per point value) and Son Bunyola in high season (~1.25 cents per point value). I included all of these properties in this post more to save you time when investigating best uses of points rather than to suggest that these are great uses for points (most are not). However, if you get in on an especially good transfer bonus to Virgin and you don’t have other good uses for those points, some of these could be a reasonable use of points.
Here is what is available at the time of writing:
- Ulusaba, South Africa (private game reserve): Includes transfers from the nearby airstrip, all meals and drinks (including alcohol), and twice daily game drives. Located in the Ulusaba Private Game Reserve bordering Kruger National Park. Note that more than half the year is blocked from point reservations (see website for current details).
- Minimum-two-night stay: 280,000 Virgin Points
- Extra night (each): 140,000 Virgin Points
- Stays using points are only permitted between 01.07.2024-06.30.2024 and 09.01.2024-12.19.2024.
- Mahali Mzuri, Kenya (luxury tented safari camp): Includes transfers from the Olare Orok airstrip airstrip, all meals and drinks (including alcohol), laundry service, twice daily game drives, and unlimited access to the exclusive Olare Motorogi Conservancy. Located in the private Olare Motorgoi Conservancy in Maasai Mara. Note that more than half the year is blocked from point reservations (see website for current details).
- Minimum-two-night stay: 320,000 Virgin Points
- Extra night (each): 160,000 Virgin Points
- Stays using points are only permitted during 01.07.2024-06.14.2024 and 11.01.2024-12.19.2024.
- Son Bunyola, Mallorca. Includes complementary daily breakfast and minibar snacks and drinks.
- Low season:
- 2 nights for 2 adults for 100,000 points.
- Extra night: 50,000 points.
- Low season: 03.01.2024-03.27.2024 and 10.14.2024-11.24.2024
- Mid season:
- 2 nights for 2 adults for 130,000 points.
- Extra night: 65,000 points.
- Mid season: 03.28.2024-06.13.2024 and 09.16.2024-10.13.2024
- Details here
- Low season:
- Kasbah Tamadot, Morocco. Includes complementary daily breakfast and minibar snacks and drinks.
- Low season:
- Minimum-two-night stay: 130,000 Virgin Points
- Additional night (each): 65,000 Virgin Points
- Low season: 05.01.24-29.02.24, 01.06.24-31.08.24 and 01.12.24-22.12.24
- Mid season**:
- Minimum-two-night stay: 160,000 Virgin Points
- Additional night (each): 80,000 Virgin Points
- Mid season: 01.05.24-31.05.25, 01.09.24-30.09.24 and 01.11.24-30.11.24
- Details here
- Low season:
- Mont Rochelle, South Africa.
- Low season:
- Minimum-two-night stay: 60,000 Virgin Points
- Additional night (each): 30,000 Virgin Points
- Low season: 05.01.2024-09.30.2024
- High season:
- Minimum-two-night stay: 100,000 Virgin Points
- Additional night (each): 50,000 Virgin Points
- High season: 01.07.2024-04.30.2024 and 10.01.2024-12.19.2024
- Details here
- Low season:
Unicorn Sweet-Spots
Some of the best uses for Virgin points are impractical because these awards are so rarely available.
North America, Europe, or Australia to Japan (ANA First Class)
This is considered a unicorn deal because ANA rarely releases first class award space to partners, and to make matters worse, it looks like they may no longer allow Virgin to book close-in awards.
This is one of the sweetest sweet-spots around, albeit slightly less sweet than it was prior to March 7, 2023 (when Virgin Atlantic devalued ANA first class awards without notice). Virgin Atlantic points can be used to fly ANA (All Nippon Airways). The following chart shows round-trip award pricing using Virgin Atlantic points (one-way awards are half the shown price):
As you can see, you can fly long-haul ANA business class between Japan and Australia, Canada, or the Western US for 90K miles round trip (or 45K one-way) or fly between Japan and Europe and the Central & Eastern USA and Mexico for 47.5K miles one-way.
Additionally, you can book ANA first class between Japan and either Australia, Canada, or Western USA for 145,000 points (or 72.5K one-way) or long-haul ANA first class round-trip between Japan and either Europe, Central USA, or Eastern USA for 170,000 points round trip (or 85K one-way).
Some of these round-trip flights (such as first class between JFK and Tokyo, as shown above) often sell for over $20,000 but can be had for great mileage rates. Compared to the cash price you can easily get great value per point.
How to book: Use an award search tool to find availability and then call Virgin Atlantic to book the award.
US to New Zealand (Air New Zealand Business Class)
Virgin Atlantic charges only 125K round-trip or 62,500 points one-way for Air New Zealand business class non-stop flights between New Zealand and North or South America. Unfortunately finding award availability is notoriously difficult.
How to book: Use an award search tool to find availability and then call Virgin Atlantic to book the award.
North America to Europe (Air France Premium Economy)
This is more of a theoretical sweet-spot than a real one since Air France never seems to release premium economy award space to partners. Of course that could change at any time so it’s worth keeping an eye on this.
Use Virgin Atlantic points to book Air France Premium Economy from North America to France for as few as 24,000 points one way (plus fees, as shown below). The best pricing is from “East Coast North America & Caribbean,” but that includes states as far west as Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
Here are the award prices and fees for Premium Economy to/from Europe:
- East Coast North America & Caribbean
- Point Price: 24K Standard / 34K Peak
- Fees to Europe: ~$160
- Fees from Europe: ~$240
- West & Central North America & Central America
- Point Price: 39K Standard / 49K Peak
- Fees to Europe: ~$160
- Fees from Europe: ~$240
FlightConnections shows that Air France flies from these East Coast North American airports:
How to book: book online (details here)
Dead/Expired Sweet-Spots
[DEAD] US to Europe (Delta One Business Class)
UPDATE 7/2/24: Virgin has ruined this previous sweet-spot partially by increasing point prices but mostly by adding insanely high surcharges to these awards.
Use Virgin Atlantic miles to book Delta One business class from the United States to Europe for only 50,000 points one way. This is for all routes other than to/from the UK. Unfortunately, flights to/from the UK include extremely high award fees.
The trick to optimizing this award is to begin your journey in the United States. If you book a one-way flight from the US to Europe you’ll pay only $5.60 in fees:
With a round-trip flight originating in the US, you’ll pay a reasonable amount in fees (fees will vary depending upon the European airport you return from).
If you book your flight departing from Europe, though, fees will be far higher:
FlightConnections shows that Delta flies from the US to these European airports:
If you want to go to airports other than those shown above, you can do that too. Book a mixed partner award where you fly Delta across the Atlantic to either Paris or Amsterdam and then fly onward on Air France or KLM to wherever you really want to go. Full details can be found here: New sweet spot — Virgin Atlantic mixed-partner award to Europe
How to book: book online (details here)
[EXPIRED] Necker Island Celebration Week
This is the ultimate splurge. Sir Richard Branson (founder of Virgin businesses) lives and works on his private island named Necker Island. Each year he designates around 10 weeks as “Celebration Weeks”. During Celebration Weeks, guests can book the all-inclusive week for 2 adults starting at $5,158 per per day or $36,106 for the week, off-season. Or, pay 2 million points.
Compared to the $36,106 cash rate, booking with 2 million points results in a value of 1.8 cents per point.
Full details about this award and how to book, can be found here: Book Necker Island with Virgin points.
[DEAD] US to South Africa (South African Airways)
Note: At the time of this writing, South African Airways is no longer flying between the US and Africa. If/when that changes, I’ll remove this deal from the “expired” list.
Virgin Atlantic charges only 150K round-trip or 75K points one-way for South African Airways business class non-stop flights between South Africa and the US. Note that award space is notoriously difficult to find.
What about Dakar Senegal? The sweetest sweet-spot on Virgin Atlantic’s partner award charts is arguably the ability to fly South African Airways between the US and Senegal for only 25K one-way in business class. Unfortunately, South African Airways has stopped flying that route, so that sweet-spot no longer applies.
How to book: Call Virgin Atlantic.
[DEAD] Hong Kong to London (Virgin Atlantic)
As of October 5, 2022 Virgin Atlantic has announced that they have discontinued service to/from Hong Kong.
Flights from Hong Kong do not include fuel surcharges. As a result, Virgin Atlantic flights from Hong Kong to London are really cheap. Here are the one-way prices:
- Economy: 12.5K standard or 22.5K peak + ~$42 in fees
- Premium Economy: 22.5K standard or 32.5K peak + ~$42 in fees
- Business: 57.5K standard or 67.5K peak + ~$45 in fees
How to book: book online at Virgin Atlantic.
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Time to update it since the devaluation
It seems ITA is not on VS website. Move to star alliance already?
Greg, not sure if this is a true sweet spot, but I booked Santiago Chile to Cancun for 50k points and $77 in taxes and fees for Latam lie flat business class. It’s an 8+ hour flight that comes in at 3928 miles so just under the 4000 miles limit and there is pretty much unlimited 8+ award seat availability for the one day a week they fly it. Instead of being 95k miles to the rest of the US or Mexico City it’s only 50k miles. Since I had to position from Texas anyways and I used all my AS miles to do a multi-city booking to Easter Island for 60k AS points in business, it was my best return option.
Apparently I posted this almost a year ago, but the Air New Zealand section really needs to be moved up from the Unicorn to the Practical Sweet Spots section. Briefly looking at seats.aero, at the time of writing this comment there are 23 flights from the US to AKL with business class availability on ANZ, and 26 flights back from AKL to the US with availability. Availability has not been “notoriously difficult” for a while, particularly since the big 3 US carriers have started/increased flights to there (with better business class seats).
For ANA flights from JFK to Japan, do I use the ANA website to find availability, then call Virgin to book? Cause on Virgins site you can even select HND or NRT when looking for flights.
No, you need to find availability through a different partner. For example, if you can find the ANA award flight on United or Air Canada’s website, then it should be bookable with Virgin
Excellent article.
It’s worth re-emphasizing partner access to award inventory.
And, it’s worth re-emphasizing that ITA *might* move from SkyTeam to Star Alliance. (As a result of LH’s acquisition of controlling interest in ITA.)
Merger just received formal EU approval. Tick tock tick tock.
When it opens up using Virgin miles to book Hawaiian lie-flat business for 40K is a decent value redemption as well. Not sure if it will continue but chunks of availability have popped up multiple times over the past year as Hawaiian rolls out their new 787 routes.
Also a lottery ticket to go space via virgin galactic?
I would have added that except that you can only use miles that you’ve earned from flying for that particular award
I like this list. I was playing around on the Virgin site last week and thought I would add a couple worth considering:
1) LATAM flights to Northern South America (I.e. LIM) are pretty reasonably priced, but SCL is unreasonable.
2) PE long haul on Virgin’s own metal can be pretty insane. Just look at PE pricing from JFK-MLE, JFK-BOM, and JFK-JNB. I know lie flat seats are all the rage, but getting these distances for 37-42K points (even with the elevated fees) can be worth it.
3) On the same note: JFK to India in Economy on Virgin metal also looked pretty amazing. Again, that’s a long way to go in the back, but…a deal is a deal.
Try breaking up the trip. US to LIM, then LIM to SCL. You might find better pricing.
I do not think ANA fly First class to Australia. JAL has recently started to SYD with 777’s and there is some avaliability for 60,000 AA miles each way
USA-MEX for 11500 on AM with minimal fee is also a pretty good deal and readily available. Delta One and ANA sound great but the award availability for those is really limiting.
It is very difficult to find available direct award seats from LAX to London and Paris. Is this your experience?
Yes, especially if you’re looking for business class. Economy awards can be much easier.
Ather great use for Virgin Atlantic miles is to book short-haul flights within the Middle East with SkyTeam members MEA and Saudia. In the Middle East, short haul flights can be extremely expensive due to monopoly, closed borders, lack of alternative transport options, geopolitics, etc. SkyTeam’s two other primary mileage programs, Delta SkyMiles and Air France Flying Blue, have high floor prices for MEA and Saudia award redemptions (i.e. they start at expensive prices to begin with). This is where Virgin Atlantic’s purely distance-based award chart have a huge comparable advantage. Saudia is currently not bookable on VS website, but Lebanon-based MEA is bookable. Anyone who wishes to fly to (from) Beirut from (to) neighboring countries such as Armenia, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus will be able to redeem VS award at very high value because MEA cash prices for these routes are often expensive. If we look further, MEA even has 6-7 hour flights to West African cities of Accra and Lagos, with business class seats availability. So MEA redemption this is a great use for folks who want to travel to multiple Middle East countries with Lebanon as one of their stops.
Thanks, great tip
Thanks for the tip, is Saudia bookable if I call in VS
I have not tried myself, but in theory it should be. Feel free to call VS and see if they can book for you over the phone.
As a data point, they do have Saudia bookable over the phone with great sweet spots from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa. Economy (Main Cabin) at 15.5k Virgin Points and ranging 30-40 pounds in taxes only. As for the Business (Upper Cabin) around 40.5k and the same taxes. This can work really well with transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic. Although it seems to have to be a direct flight with Saudia only any connections involved will not reflect. Tried different variations with the customer rep. She kinda got tired of me after some time but gave me enough information to conclude the routes.
I think the Air New Zealand section is due for an update. As has been reported on this blog, they have been much more generous with award space recently. At the time of writing, using Seats.Aero, I count 47 flights with business class availability in the next month from the US to New Zealand.
Great suggestion
Wanted to add a recent comment here but the ANA thing is more or less kaput.
You can (1) no longer rely on Star Alliance partner availability to know if there is something available on Virgin… they DO NOT MATCH anymore (2) you have to therefore call in and give them 20 minutes of your day to check availability.
I suppose if you (a) find the right agent and (b) have rather flexible dates it’s still possible to do this. But for normal travel where you have dates in mind, you kinda have to forget it.