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Update 11/24/25: A couple of commenters have shared that they’re not seeing any bonus for Virgin Atlantic. There have been targeted Amex transfer bonuses in the past (e.g. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Etihad Guest), but this is the first time I recall hearing that this might be the case for Virgin Atlantic too.
Seeing as the transfer bonus is on Amex’s end, you should see the 40% bonus being taken into account when making the transfer. If you don’t see that 40% boost, it presumably means you’re not targeted.
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American Express is out with a new transfer bonus today and it’s a good one. Through the end of this year, you can get a 40% bonus when transferring Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
The Deal
- Get a 40% bonus when transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic.
Key Terms
- Expires December 31, 2025.
Quick Thoughts
We’ve only ever seen two transfer bonuses as high as 40% from transferable currencies to Virgin (other than status-based bonuses from Bilt). One of those was from Chase last fall, while the other was from American Express in the final month of last year.
It’s therefore great to see Amex offering the same deal again this year because 40% is a superb bonus. In fact, it’s high enough – and I have a large enough Membership Rewards balance – that I’m very tempted to speculatively transfer some of my points over.
There is one thing giving me pause though: Virgin’s history of overnight devaluations – in more ways than one. There’s been more than one occasion where Virgin Atlantic has conducted an unannounced, overnight devaluation of one or more of its award pricing sweet spots (e.g. ANA first class).
Award pricing isn’t the only way they’ve devalued though in recent years. For example, a few months ago they increased the associated fees payable when booking award flights to Europe. Economy went up from ~$75 to ~$110 when flying from the US to London which wasn’t great, but wasn’t completely awful. What was much worse was premium economy fees going up from ~$100 to ~$250 and business class from ~$250 to ~$600.
I’ll likely still transfer some of my Membership Rewards over speculatively as I imagine I’ll still get decent value from the 40% transfer bonus even if there were to be some further devaluation, but I’d be very cautious about transferring a substantial sum unless you have plans to redeem them immediately, especially seeing as this transfer bonus will be around for almost six whole weeks.
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what does “targeted” mean? How do you know if you are “targeted”?
It means some people are targeted by Amex to get a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin, but other cardholders aren’t seeing the transfer bonus. If you’re targeted, you’ll see that 40% bonus listed when going to transfer Membership Rewards to Virgin.
Can you guide us how to use virgin points for trips to SEA? i.e. primarily bkk from PHL/JFK?
Thankfully I was targeted on my account with a significantly larger MR balance than P2’s. Transfer was near instant and able to book LATAM from LIM – ATL in J for three next October at about 36K per person with the bonus. Great timing, glad I waited past the Chase offer to keep UR points intact!
I have both Virgin and Avianca. I am P1
Nada on my account, but P2 has both the Virgin and Avianca transfer bonuses. Problem is, my MR balance is a lot larger.
P2 has both Avianca and Virgin Atlantic bonuses. I have neither.
WhaT ARE YOUR BEST USES OF VIRGIN POINTS
I’m not seeing the elevated points. It shows 1 to 1 point transfer. I have checked the app and the website on a computer and get same results. I just linked my virgin account to Amex. Is there a timeframe in which the accounts have to be linked before the bonus miles will show up or is this a targeted offer?
No. I’m not aware of this being targeted, though. I even got a notification about it today from my Virgin app. Do you have a US-issued Amex?
Yes US issued Amex.
I’m thinking it’s targeted. I don’t have it on any of my Amex accounts but I see it on my wife’s Amex account.
I’m assuming not, but I take it your Amex cards aren’t all no annual fee cards? I was just trying to come up with some kind of reason why there might be a differentiation.
Cards that I’m the primary cardholder
Amex Platinum – no bonus
Amex Green – no bonus
Amex Gold – no bonus
Amex Blue Business Plus – no bonus
Amex Business Platinum – no bonus
Cards that I’m an authorized user on
Amex Gold – 40% bonus
It’s really strange, tried desktop and mobile app and still same results
Thanks for confirming – there goes that theory.
Can you transfer Amex points to VA and then use those points under the Skyteam umbrella accordingly?
Of course. You can book any award that is bookable with Virgin points. But keep in mind that the flight you want must be available to Virgin Atlantic — not all SkyTeam flights are available as partner awards. You should search for availability before you transfer.
I am fuming right now. I transferred 310,000 membership rewards points last night and this promotion got announced this morning. I reached out to Amex to honor the bonus anyway and they refused. Has anyone ever had any luck getting Amex to honor the transfer considering I made the transfer 8 hours before this was announced!!?
I almost did this too, but luckily waited a day. I feel so bad for you. Playing the points game, I’ve been in this spot before and it suuuuucks. I’m so sorry. Hope you’re able to convince them, and you probably have a higher chance with Amex than other credit card issuers, but these companies can be extremely dogmatic unfortunately.
That’s unfortunate and bad luck, but I don’t see any reason why Amex would honor a transfer bonus when you made a transfer before the bonus was announced or live. I know it doesn’t help now, but good idea in the future (or for others) is to check FM’s Current Transfer Bonus guide to see the Expired Transfer Bonus list, which shows Amex Virgin Atlantic bonuses at the end of the last 3 years.
Why didnt you wait until this offer? They have similar offers all year round. If not 40% then 30% is very common.
Zero chance. You cannot ask a shop that has free rump steaks until 1pm. Turn up at 9pm and be mad at them why they won’t give you one. It’ll cost Virgin out of their pocket 40% to give them now to you. You win some, you lose some.
I still don’t see it. And I’m not the only one.
You blew it, such is life
Agree you have to use the app. I can log in to the website and search like 2-3 times before it stops working. And forget about trying to pay. But on the app it’s easy enough.
of course it is VA so the website will crash if you ever try to redeem. Any workarounds for that issue?
I can’t log in to my account on their website, but it does work in their app.
Almost as if Amex timed this to occur exactly on the day that Chase’s gimmicky “early bird” 40% Virgin bonus dropped down to 30%. Honestly taking pleasure in watching Amex troll Chase – seems to be pretty beneficial for all of us as well!
The timing on this is pretty hilarious. Would much rather cash out MR to Virgin than UR too.