With Amex currently offering a 30% transfer bonus from Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic, I realized that it was well past time to update this post for 2022. Virgin Atlantic points continue to be the best option for booking Delta One business class flights between the U.S. and Europe. Fly one-way nonstop business class for only 50,000 points! When a 30% transfer bonus is available, the same flight will cost you only 39,000 transferable points!
This post has been updated with an embedded link to our new video tutorial, improved step-by-step written instructions, details about how to switch search results from the default one-week view to 5 week calendar view, and new solutions for VirginAtlantic.com bug workarounds.
For select routes, one of the best ways to book Delta flights is with Virgin Atlantic points. On some routes, Virgin Atlantic charges fewer points than Delta for the same Delta flights. Sometimes the difference can be extreme. For example, Delta might require over 300,000 miles for the same flight that Virgin Atlantic would charge 50,000 points.
Virgin Atlantic also has low award change and cancellation fees. Virgin Atlantic charges only $50 per passenger. Even better, on awards that incur less than $50 in taxes and fees to book, you’ll lose those fees, but you won’t have to pay $50 to cancel and get your points back. It’s worth noting, though, that this is no longer a big advantage over booking with Delta miles. Delta now waives award and cancellation fees for flights originating in North America. When booking flights originating elsewhere, though, Virgin Atlantic’s low change and cancellation fees are still an advantage.
Virgin Atlantic points are super easy to get. For example, you can sign up for the Virgin Atlantic credit card (which often has a 65K welcome bonus) and then average more than 2 cents per dollar on spend with that card. Also, points transfer 1 to 1 from most major transferable points programs:
| Rewards Program | Amex Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Chase Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Citi Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Marriott Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Capital One Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) | Bilt Transfer Ratio (and transfer time) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 1 to 1 (Instant) | 60K to 25K (1 to 2 days) | 1 to 1 (Unknown) | 1 to 1 (~1 Minute) |
Even better, transfer bonuses are common. The following display shows current transfer bonuses, if any:
| Transfer From | Transfer Bonus Details | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| Amex | Get 30% bonus when transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 2023/06/14 |
| Chase | Chase: 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic | 2023/06/15 |
7 things you need to know
- Search and book online: Most itineraries can be booked online at virginatlantic.com.
- Book nonstop Delta flights: 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 Delta miles.
- Watch out for the 21 day blockade. For domestic flights within 21 days of departure, Delta often blocks awards from partners such as Virgin Atlantic. This means that it may not be possible to book the flight you want if the departure date is within 21 days.
- Mind the bugs: The Virgin Atlantic website is buggy, but there are easy workarounds detailed later in this post.
- Virgin Atlantic provides support via Twitter: If you’re having trouble getting someone on the phone to help with a problem, try using Twitter to send Direct Messages to @VirginAtlantic. When attempts to finalize award bookings online resulted in errors, I was able to get the awards booked through the Twitter team. If they tell you something like “I am sorry for any inconvenience. Due to Brexit we are limited and cannot sell any flights which do not fly via the UK,” make sure to reiterate that you’re not looking to buy a ticket, but that you want to use Virgin Atlantic points to book an award flight.
- Instant point transfers: Point transfers from most transferable points programs (Amex, Chase, Citi, etc.) to Virgin Atlantic are usually instantaneous. This is great because you can find available award space before transferring points and then transfer and book the award with little risk of someone else swooping in to book the same flights.
- Book Virgin Atlantic flights with Air France or Delta miles: Just as it is often much cheaper to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic points, it is often cheaper to book Virgin Atlantic flights with Air France or Delta miles.
Award prices
Virgin Atlantic has published comprehensive award charts for Delta flights (found here). There are three separate award charts: US to UK, US to Europe, and all other routes. Virgin Atlantic also lists pricing for lap infants.
US to UK Award Chart
The following are one-way non-stop award prices for Delta flights between the United States and the United Kingdom. Note that while award prices are competitive, taxes on Delta One (business class) flights are extremely high. I’ve consistently seen over $700 in fees one-way for these flights. That’s crazy. The sweet spot here is flying standard season main cabin for only 15K to 20K points plus ~$150 in fees one-way.
US to Europe Award Chart
The following are one-way non-stop award prices for Delta flights between the United States and Europe (excluding United Kingdom). Unlike flights to the United Kingdom, taxes and fees are nearly nonexistent for flights originating in the US. You will pay a few hundred dollars in fees, though for flights originating in Europe.
Gotta love the simplicity of this chart!
All Other Nonstop Flights Award Chart
Award pricing for all other routes is based on the distance flown. Very short flights are cheap, but very long flights are (in my opinion) unreasonably expensive for flying Delta One or First Class.
Sadly, if your flight includes multiple segments, each segment is priced separately.
Lap Infant Award Chart
Infants under two who do not require their own seat at the time of travel can be added with the following award prices:
Step by Step Guide
The best way to learn how to find and book Delta awards using Virgin Atlantic miles is by watching the following video. If you prefer to read instructions, skip the video and read below.
Here’s how to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic points:
Enter your search criteria
Browse to virginatlantic.com and enter your origin and destination airports; select “round trip” or “one way” (I recommend booking one-way awards); select your travel dates, and the number of passengers.
Set advanced search criteria
Click the “Advanced search” link, then select “Points” under “Show Price in” Then choose whether to search for Economy or Upper Class seats. If you want to fly Delta first class or Delta One (AKA “business class”), select “Upper Class.” Always click “Show flexible dates” to increase the chances of finding available awards. When ready, press the red circle with arrow to start the search.
Search one week at a time
By default, Virgin Atlantic’s website will search one week at a time: from three days before the date you picked to three days after. If for the full 7 days Virgin Atlantic couldn’t find award space on any route in your selected class of service (e.g. Economy or Upper Class), it will then show you an error:
The trick then is to edit your search criteria for one week later and try again. Keep repeating until you get results, even if it’s not the results you want. For example, I searched one week at a time for Detroit to Paris Upper Class until I got this:
I knew that the above results were not exactly what I was looking for. If I had found nonstop Delta One flights, they would have cost 50K points each and only $5.60 in fees.
Switch to 5-week view
If your week-by-week search doesn’t immediately reveal useful results, it’s very helpful to switch to the full 5 week calendar view. Unfortunately, Virgin Atlantic has taken away the button for viewing the 5-week calendar. Fortunately, I found an easy hack to switch to this view:
- When viewing a single week of results, click on your browser’s address bar to see the full URL.
- Find the words “flexible-dates” and change it to “flexible-calendar”
- Press enter
Now you’ll see 5 weeks at a time and can click left or right to go back or forth a full month a time:
By clicking the red arrow (>) on the right, I searched the next month and found several days with awards available for 50K points plus $5.60 in fees. This means that these are one-way Delta One non-stop flights from Detroit to Paris:
Select and book your flight
Once you find a date that has award availability, click the link within that date and press “Continue” to see available flights for that day. Here’s an example showing an option to fly nonstop to Paris or to fly to Paris with a short layover in Amsterdam:
To book the flight, simply click on the award price next to the flight you want. For example, if you want the nonstop flight in the example above you would click “50,000”. This will then lead you through a straightforward checkout process.
To learn more about the flight (or flights) before booking, click “Details“. This shows you the specific flight number, aircraft, and more. And to see available seats and seat configurations for a flight, click “Seats.”
As you can see above, the nonstop flight I found offers old-style reverse herringbone Delta One seats. If you were really hoping for a Delta One Suite with a privacy door, you’ll have to look for another flight.
Optionally add your Delta number
If you have elite status with Delta, you may want to add your Delta account number to the reservation:
After you receive an email confirmation of your booking:
- Log into your Delta account on Delta.com
- Go to: My Trips… Find My Trips
- Use the Virgin Atlantic confirmation number to find the flight
- Next, you can modify the flight details, remove the Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer number, and then add your Delta account number
- Now the flight will appear under “My Trips” on Delta.com
Dealing with bugs and limitations
Pay with Points is grayed out
If the website only lets you choose to show price in “Money” and not “Points,” the workaround is to temporarily change to a multi-city search, pick “Points” and then return to a one-way or round-trip search.
Destination doesn’t auto-complete
When entering your search criteria and you click on the destination box, a pop-up box opens to allow you to type the name of the airport you’re looking for. With some airports, like London, a scrolling list of suggested auto-completions will pop-up. Often, though, nothing like that will appear. If that happens to you, you have a few options:
- Click “Full Airport List” and look for the airport that way.
- Type the destination into the departure airport text box and then copy and paste it into the destination box.
- Simply type the three letter airport code into the destination box and then press the X to close the dialog box. This is my favorite option since it’s so quick and easy.
Airport not found
Some foreign airports aren’t loaded into the Virgin Atlantic system. If you want to book flights to one of these airports, it can’t be done online. I recommend first finding award space and then contacting Virgin Atlantic to book it:
Find Award Space
Air France’s website can be used to search for Delta award space. You need an Air France Flying Blue account to search for awards. And note that the Air France award availability calendar does not work for Delta flights. You need instead to search for Delta awards on specific dates. If you find award availability through Air France on Delta flights, ignore the award price that Air France wants to charge. Virgin Atlantic has different award pricing for the same flights. The key is that if Air France can see the award space on Delta flights, then Virgin Atlantic should be able to also.
Error when finalizing award booking
Sometimes after going through all of the steps of booking an award, including entering your credit card info to pay the taxes and fees, the system craps out with an error like this one:
Sorry, there are no longer seats available on your chosen flight. Please try another search.#100503A.
In my experience with this error, the award seats were still available, but no matter how many times I tried to book online, with different browsers, or with the mobile app, I got the same error. The solution was to send a direct message to Virgin Atlantic via Twitter.
I sent a direct message on Twitter to @VirginAtlantic to explain the problem. It took slightly over 3 hours for a live person to get back to me on Twitter (their bot is quite chatty though), and another 7 hours to get the award booked, but they did it! And, I could go about my business doing other stuff without having to keep an ear to my phone (or an earbud in my ear).
To finalize the booking through Twitter, the Twitter team emailed me a link to a website where I entered my credit card info to pay taxes and fees ($56 USD per person in this case).
Note: If they tell you something like “I am sorry for any inconvenience. Due to Brexit we are limited and cannot sell any flights which do not fly via the UK,” make sure to reiterate that you’re not looking to buy a ticket, but that you want to use Virgin Atlantic points to book an award flight.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Thank you soooo much. I fly on Delta with VA points often. I could not get the point to show for ATL to AMS. The switch to multi-city worked like a charm. YOU ROCK!
Twitter messaging is no longer available.
Right now, there are no one-way JFK to Rome Delta flights on Virgin Atlantic’s website that I can see (even though a nonstop Delta flight exists for that route). I’ve even tried booking with money instead of points and nothing. The only flights that show up are Virgin no matter what date I choose (March 2023-August 2023). Any ideas?
Thanks for outlining this! If using points to book a Delta operated flight via Virgin, will I earn MQM or MQD? Need to maintain status for the following year! Thank you!!
Unfortunately, no. You won’t earn any MQMs or MQDs if you book with Virgin points.
Is Delta award ticket no long possible via Virgin?
Points option is grayed out and error message is “Reward tickets are subject to availability and only available on Virgin Atlantic operated flights.”
You addressed the grayed out issue in your article and the recommended work around is good, thank you!
However, Delta flights are still not showing up on Virgin’s Website
That’s only because Delta is incredibly stingy with releasing award space to their partners. When partner award space is available it does show up on Virgin’s website.
If you were to book a Delta flight with points for earlier in the year and you look for a flight “similar to it would you be able to change it enough if there isn’t any availability through points but only with cash?
No that won’t work
I found a delta married segment availability on Virgin Atlantic. Transatlantic non stop does not show in Virgin’s site. Any data points on agents being able to book the transatlantic segment only ?
I haven’t heard one way or the other about that.
Nice presentation but it did not work for me. There was no DATE in the URL so I could not put in calendar. this was the URL ( https://www.virginatlantic.com/flight-search/book-a-flight?cacheKeySuffix=783283e2-35a5-4976-aaae-81a93ff69393) Could not click on Flexible dates. Any other work arounds?
I’ve noticed that I can see the link when it starts to look for a flights and I can copy that link before it finds nothing and returns to the link that you are posting. I can then paste that link and overwrite the word “dates” to “calendar”. That being said, I have yet to find a single Delta 50k flight. So far I’ve found just a few 58.5 plus fees Air France options
I can’t get Virgin to pull up any Delta flights for points in business. I know there are flights (JFK-EDI, non-stop) and they can pull up Delta flights for cash, but not points. Tried all the work arounds, no luck. Tried using mobile app and PC, no luck.
When the lowest fare is not a Delta one how to see if the 50000 Delta one is still available via calendar. The calendar only shows the lowest and often the lowest is not a Delta one even though there could be a Delta one on that day.
Thanks for explaining how to force calendar view and bypass bugs. I hit airport code bugs before and wasn’t always sure what magic click I used to get it to sometimes work. Spelling this out really helped
Amazing post. Thank you so much Greg
Keep getting a 404 code when I try to adjust the url. My url does not come up exactly the same as what you show but even if I adjust just the word or adjust the whole url to match what you show, still getting a 404 page. Even tried running it through an ingocnito tab. Still wont work.
I tried contacting @VirginAtlantic twitter yesterday regarding the error
I received the following reply
Yikes. Did you try the web messaging service?
I had to remove the URLs because they didn’t paste in correctly.
I just posted about the no Twitter. I did try the messaging service. Sorry, but it’s as bad–or worse, than FedEx in US. I went round and round and NEVER got a real person contact. You really had my hopes up, there as I’d already dumped over 100,000 pts into VA since 4 seats were (and still are) available. Trying to resolve the same Sorry, there are no longer seats available on your chosen flight. Please try another search.#100503A.
Great job as usual.
These types of posts are the reason I visit this site.
Side note, is the picture of the Delta One accurate on the VA site? Because I was looking at the same exact flight via Delta it shows as Delta One Suite with privacy door but the picture on VA still shows the old Delta One
While this is an awesome way to fly US -> Europe for 50k one way in business. What’s a good way for points when coming back from Europe -> US? I see that virgin charges ~200 in fees for Europe -> US, or is that across all other airlines
Thank you! This is a great guide.
I thought I remember you commenting on the podcast that flying into LHR didn’t have a lot of surcharges but flying out of LHR incurs a lot of surcharges.
For me, I can’t seem to replicate that. Flying into LHR or out of LHR incurs high surcharges. Is this normal?
What other airports are good options other than Paris? We are planning a europe trip and don’t care where we land really.
I live in Austin and love the Austin to LHR Virgin Atlantic upper class product but wow the surcharges are insane. Air France has better surcharge pricing but charge like 25% more in miles.
This is great. I appreciate the tips and tricks to deal with bugs. As experienced as anyone is, there’s always some nugget to learn. And, your focus on travel “execution” and avoidance of travel “drama” is also appreciated. Thanks.
It might be worth noting that it appears the “back end” of the Virgin reservation system is the same “back end” of the Delta reservation system and the Flying Blue Twins reservation system. If so, the tips and tricks to deal with Virgin bugs might be helpful with the sister airlines’ systems.
Thanks Greg headed to BER this summer for 100K on DeltaOne. Speaking of which, I added my SkyMiles to the reservation and now see this trip under My Trips at Delta.com. However, I don’t believe that I will receive MQM’s for this flight because although it is on Delta metal, it was sold/marketed by Virgin. Can anyone please confirm this?
That’s correct, you won’t earn MQMs on an award flight unless you book the flight with Delta miles. Believe me that getting this flight for 100K round-trip is a much better deal than booking for maybe 300K Delta miles in order to get MQMs.
@Greg, that would neve been a good detail to add to your post. I did not see this comment and was suprised to learn, belatedly that MQMs & MQDs were not granted on Virgin award bookings. In my case i would have booked either cash or skymiles in order to meet criteria for a status challenge. Thanks.
@greg The Frequent Miler– Wanted to say that YOU ARE THE BEST! I recently status matched to DL Plat and was sure there would be a way to get DL benefits of seat selection etc. on DL flight booked w Virgin miles. VA/DL CSRs no help (of course) and nothing on interwebs I could find but then I googled you, because I knew you would know and cover this for your readers. I followed your “Optionally add your Delta number” instructions which of course worked like a charm. This is why I refer all newbies wanting to know more about the game to your site and anytime I apply for a CC, I use one of your links (5-6 times a year). Thank you for the great work (even if I often disagree with some of your and Nick’s assertions on your weekly podcast– still thought provoking and entertaining!) 😉
Glad this helped!
I’m trying to book DSM-ATL-SXM (in economy no less!) and can’t find any award availability on Virgin Atlantic’s website. At all. Do you have any helpful hint or tips? I’m just trying to get to SXM for our 10th anniversary using UR points and hit a dead end at every turn.
Most likely there’s simply no award space on Delta for the dates you want. Does it have to be Delta? Consider using a tool like point.me to search for awards and it may suggest programs other than Virgin Atlantic to transfer your points to.
[…] you can use your 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book flights. Other options include booking business class to Europe through Virgin Atlantic for 100K points roundtrip (you would be flying on Delta One), get 3 one-way flights to Europe in […]
Update here’s what happens if you try to message them.
Hello. We’re very sorry to inform you that since 18th of February 2022 we have ceased offering SMS messaging and WhatsApp as a contact channel. Following the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and changing travel restrictions, our resources need to be utilised to support on other channels that can assist you in a more efficient manner. This will, in turn, mean that urgent support is ultimately provided faster. This unfortunately means that the team has not received your message, so will be unable to respond. But please don’t worry; we have a better, faster way to help you.
They offer two links that don’t work as well.
Thanks updated. I’ve had some luck using Twitter instead.
Are you now able to add the connecting legs onto the same ticket as the overseas?
Yes
i am no longer able to get VA website to search reward flights internationally, except to/from LHR. Looking for BOS to ATH hoping to score a D1 on delta nonstop flight. i even tried the BOS to LHR search first and, as you advise, then modified to ATH. Yet site immediately switches search to money. i think they’ve changed programming to prevent. ty
That is what I have found also. I would love someone to explain what is going on before I transfer a ton of points to VA with the goal of booking 3 Delta D1 seats to FRA, AMS, or ATH.
It looks like the 97634 number no longer works. I tried it, and it says that as of 2/18, they have ceased using this and their Whatsapp numbers.
Greg,
Three or four years ago I was almost always able to use my Virgin points to book Delta flights from NYC to Las Vegas. For the past year every time i try I get nothing, not even the calendar showing nothing just this message: Sorry, no reward flights are available for your search, some flights don’t operate every day. Try selecting flexible dates to see more availability.#101638_
Am I doing something wrong or has Virgin stopped letting people book NYC to las Vegas on delta using Virgin points?
Jim
Is it fair to say that Delta One (Upper Class) is nearly never available from Atlanta with points to Europe? I have searched nearly every destination I think they fly nonstop and can’t find anything other than a few random dates in Jan/Feb. Is this always the case?
No, not always the case. Availability ebbs and flows.
[…] is a primer: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles (2021 Edition). I highly doubt that this will stay intact this year, […]
The ATL to EZE leg isn’t 105K OW anymore, it’s showing up as 5,011 miles so it’s 130K Miles OW… Wow, it used to be 45K OW… what a rip off…
Hi Greg: If I’m understanding this correctly, on order to go US-EUR in Delta One using Virgin miles and low fees the flight must 1)be nonstop and 2)not go thru the UK. There can’t be that many Delta routes that do that. Can you specify some?
Yep, off the top of my head, Delta has plenty of flights US to Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Rome, to name a few. I’d bet they have more flights through AMS than LHR (but I haven’t checked to verify)
Hi Greg, and thanx for responding. Understand Delta has flights TO those places; I was hoping you could help us with a few examples of where those non-stop, non-UK flights come FROM.
Most are from Delta’s midwest and east coast hubs. You’ll find lots out of Boston, JFK, Atlanta, Detroit, and Minneapolis. Use this site to find them: https://www.flightconnections.com/route-map-delta-dl
[…] The best way to book these flights is via Virgin Atlantic for just 50K miles each way. See how to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] our guide to booking Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles for more detail about how to […]
Hey Greg & Nick just wanted to say thanks for this article because it just helped pick my seats on Delta that I booked through Virgin Atlantic.
Great!
I’m having no luck with Virgin. In July I was able to check Sea to Pek every day for several weeks and got 4 biz class tix for 60k each way. Now we’ve cancelled that trip and ii’m looking for Mia to CDG which is an airfrance flight. AitFrance website shows availability for June but cant get Virgin (or delta) to even pull those flights. Now I even struggle to pull up sea to pek when doing a search with flexible dates and miles. Once I get an error I seem to get it consistently. Sometimes using the LHR hack works for those flights then when I put in another route it fails again.
Hello, I just texted the Virgin Flying Club only to be told I cannot use my Virgin miles on Delta. The wording of the response was as follows: “Hi, you are speaking with Becky. I hope you are well. I’ll be more than happy to help you with that! It’s great to hear you’re a member of the Flying Club! You can use your loyalty miles on our flights only for upgrades.”
Anyone else have trouble with this before?
Edit: Virgin Atlantic on Twitter told me the opposite! Hi Tyler, hope all is well. Great to hear you are a member of our Flying Club. You can use miles to fly with Delta. Here is a link to our website with more information on spending miles with them. https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/partners/airlines/delta-air-lines.html
So I guess the text line isn’t always correct or misunderstood.
Booked domestic delta flight on Virgin Atlantic website and now want to cancel. Do not appear to be able to do this online on Virgin website.
Logged onto delta website and has button to cancel flight. If I cancel on delta website, will I def receive my virgin miles back ??
You have to call Virgin to cancel the award flight and they’ll give you your miles back.
Nick and Greg, I’m assuming you guys actually keep this card and put your non-bonus categories purchases on this card?
I keep this card and use it to automatically loan $2500 per month via Kiva. This way, I earn all of the card’s big spend bonuses each year without having to think about it.
Thanks for the response Greg. In your other article, you mentioned about spending $2500/month for 10 months to maximize it. Is that what you’re still doing? Cuz if you set it and forget it, isn’t there a risk that you’ll spend another 2 months?
Are you or Nick still planning to write an article about the cards in your wallet?
I just go ahead and spend the $2500 every month for all 12 months. It’s not ideal for maximizing, but it’s easier than stopping for 2 months each year
Regarding searching for flights, I too find the VS website very clunky. I actually use their app for it. It is extremely similar to thr Delta app.
Notice that Delta seems not release A350 transpacific flights to Virgin Atlantic. I see saver award availability on some days for ATL-ICN or DTW-ICN but no luck. I gave up and went ahead with ATL-PVG so I can experience D1 suite.
How did you search for award space to ICN? Air France? If so, remember that the Air France calendar tool doesn’t work for Delta flights.
Funny enough I just booked this for my wife, father, daughter (under 2) and I from ATL to EZE last night! 90K / Person RT and only 10K for our daughter… gotta love it!
Great!
Can I sign up for the Virgin card and the Alaska card on the same day? What are the rules for BOA? I need a refresher
Yes. The main rule to remember is “2,3,4”
Consumer card applications: Limit 2 per rolling 2 months, 3 per rolling 12 months, and 4 per rolling 24 months.
Just a quick question. How many miles for a flight on DL on their Delta One seats with one or two stopover using Virgin Atlantic miles?
It depends on the route. With a stopover, you’ll have to pay for both segments separately.
Has anything changed lately? Virgin’s direct Virgin/Delta route map no longer shows CDG or AMS, just LHR and other UK airports. And nothing is coming up in search to CDG or AMS.
No, it still works fine for me.
same here. nothing is coming up for CDG or AMS.
Just tried ATL-CDG one-way for fall 2020 (ex: Sep 13). Economy shows up, but nothing in Biz class. Delta often doesn’t release biz class awards, but then sometimes does all at once so keep checking.
Any reason this article doesn’t show up on feedly under frequentmiler on 1.27.20? Only shows on boardingarea as of 8:37 am.
This is a re-posting of a previously published post. As such, RSS readers like Feedly do not recognize it as being new even though we’ve updated the contents and the publication date.
We looked into fixing this the way Doctor of Credit does, but their approach of modifying the post’s unique identifier (GUID) apparently goes against best practices (according to the tech staff at Boarding Area).
What if VS site only finds availability on their own planes? How do I “force” it to look at partner airlines? And, if a flight shows as available on Delta’s website, would I be able to get it if I called Virgin instead of trying online?
There’s no way to know from Delta’s website whether a flight is available to book with Virgin Atlantic. If VS only finds their own planes, then there are probably no Delta flights available to them for the routes and dates you picked.
Hi Greg … thanks for replying! Just so I am clear: are you saying that if an award flight is available to redeem directly through Delta’s site, it does not necessarily mean it is available to book on VS? In other words, availability (on the same plane) varies depending on which airline you book through?
Correct. Delta shows almost all flights on Delta.com, but only makes a subset of them available to partners.
Is it possible to use book Delta Codeshares flights using Virgin Atlantic miles?
If you mean Delta codeshares flown by Delta partners other than Virgin Atlantic (Air France, KLM, Korean, …)? Then no.
I’m unable to get past the gray. When I enter LHR, the Book with Miles options becomes available and I select it. But then when I update LHR to SFO (for example), it resets to Money.
Try running the search with LHR. Then when the results come back, modify the search criteria.
Bummer almost all my flights on Delta are connecting since I don’t live at a Delta hub. Too bad, was looking forward to a better points option to book Delta.
Did anyone use Flying Blue to search for DL awards recently? Booked a couple of transatlantic/transpacific tickets 4 months ago by searching Flying Blue and calling VS, smooth experience (Including flight to ICN that not shown up in VS website).
Trying to change one of my itineraries today but all search results came back as no flights available on Flying Blue. Even tried flights directly available on VS (e.g. DTW to CUN on early Dec., plenty of available choices on VS), no go on Flying Blue as well. Thanks for any help or suggestion!
I just checked one example: DTW-FRA biz class one-way on June 10th shows up in both Virgin Atlantic and Air France web sites. The good news is that VS now has more airports available to search online, so you might not need to use Air France’s website at all.
Generally speaking, the few direct Delta One routes bookable on VA for 50k right now have anemic availability. Two or three days all summer which may as well be zero. Last year there were dozens of dates and flights available during peak times.
[…] Virgin Atlantic: 22.5K one-way for direct flights (if a flight requires multiple segments, the award price is higher). See this post for tips on booking Delta awards with Virgin Atlantic awards. […]
Lots of good info!Thanks
[…] How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com. See: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com. See: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] Try FM’s submit which walks via the main points of reserving: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] Check out FM’s post which walks through the details of booking: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] is a Delta hub, as is the case with me, Virgin Atlantic miles can be incredibly valuable (see: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles). And while every other transferable points program offers transfers to Virgin Atlantic, Capital […]
Is this article correct quoting 50k miles for a business class seat on Virgin?
I have just (06/06/19) gone on Delta.com, and whereas I remember in the past booking Upper Class seats from SFO to LHR for 50,000 miles on Virgin (or maybe 55k), now it is showing me 86,000 miles for one-way redemption. The $5.60 fee is stil the same though : )
It sounds like you are looking to book Virgin Atlantic flights with Delta miles. This article shows the opposite: book Delta flights with Virgin miles.
[…] How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com. See: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com. See: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. […]
[…] was a really good post: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles. I find it amazing Virgin Atlantic has not devalued like all the […]
[…] Booking Delta Flights With Virgin Atlantic Miles: Here’s a great article explaining in detail how to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles and why it’s a good idea. I like how it explains bugs and limitations to this method as well. […]
[…] How to book Delta flights using Virgin Atlantic miles […]
is there an actual route map or only “destinations”?
Try flightconnections.com for routes.
how come the fees to europe are like $400+
bob
That’s why u need lots of different points Singapore fees ($540) were Insane so I think ORD>NCE…CDG>ORD by AA points lot cheaper next May..
CHEERs
It’s only fees to London that are absurd. Fees to most other European cities are $5.60 one-way from the US. One-way from Europe the fees are higher, but not $400 high unless you’re departing the UK (in which case, you’re getting hit with a UK-specific premium cabin tax)
Something has happened here; ALL European destinations are now north of $400 in fees one-way from the U.S…
Are you sure you’re not looking at flights that fly through London? Now that Virgin Atlantic lets you book Air France and KLM, their website pulls up flights that mix carriers such as Delta to London and then KLM or Air France onward. If it goes through London, you’ll have those high fees. You can filter the calendar results to direct flights only in order to avoid seeing these.
Hi – thanks. But, no. I’m afraid this hack has been stitched up and fees aligned North across the board. Check for instance some of these DTW-AMS direct flights that are often being referred to, including above. Fees coming up on Virgin Atlantic’s website are now the same (>$600) as a NYC-LHR VS or DL operated flight.
Think you guys should take a close look at this, because something has happened here lately – shutting down what has often been highlighted as a golden opportunity in spending your miles.
Dec 31 2020: DTW-AMS Biz class 50K + $5.60
I’m not seeing what you’re seeing.
Greg, if I am looking for a RT flight from US to CDG and can find the outbound segment but it is too early for seats to open up yet for the return flight, is there any way to make the one-way reservation now and later convert it to a round-trip when the return segment becomes available? I would normally just book this as two one-ways, but if I book two one-way segments, I will have to pay the large surcharge for the return flights from CDG to US. Any idea how to jump on flights as soon as they become available but avoid the one-way return surcharges?
I’m curious about this myself…
I don’t think there’s any way to do that without cancelling and re-booking — and then it’s no guarantee that the seats go back into award inventory. I think you’d have to either wait until the return opens or book them separately.
[…] morning, Greg posted all about how to book Delta flights using Virgin Atlantic miles. The timing on that post seemed perfect because Delta is currently running its latest flash sale, […]
@Greg- I tried to search JFK to Mumbai on the direct flight starting 12/22/19 and while there are plenty of dates with the 135,000 Delta miles one way, I thought maybe Virgin may also show availability. Any thoughts on whether flights to Asia and India would show up as a valid route? Thanks
I read somewhere that Virgin Atlantic can’t yet price that award since they haven’t yet set the award price for that new route. Maybe they can do it over the phone? I don’t know.
I have used VA many times to fly on Delta to LHR or AMS from PDX. Taxes have always been $5.60.
When I searched this week, I’m getting $150 and up for fees.
Any ideas for what’s going on? (I haven’t called in yet to ask because I’m not sure the phone agents would know…)
About a year ago they started adding fees for flights to London. They don’t do that for flights to other European destinations. Flights returning from Europe, though, do have fuel surcharges and airport taxes/fees. So, the only flight (of those you listed) in which you can expect to be charged $5.60 is PDX to AMS. I suspect that you’re seeing $150 for AMS to PDX. Is that right?
That is bad news about the flights *to* London. It was one of my “go to” routes.
AMS is still available for $6 but apparently only in low season. In high season, for example: June 14th: PDX to LHR is 15K miles (rather low) + $200 (high).
Two Questions: 1) Are you able to choose seats if so are you able to select preferred seats for having status with Delta? 2) Are you able to access the SkyClub with you Amex Card while flying a Delta flight booking on VA?
1) Yes. Follow the instructions near the bottom of the post for adding your Delta number to the ticket. Then you can go through Delta.com to select seats including seats that you are eligible for due to elite status.
2) Yes. You only need a valid Delta boarding pass (which you would have no matter how you booked the Delta flight)
I’m trying to find tickets to Tokyo. Tried multiple US airports and dates over several months. Always told there’s nothing. It doesn’t even bring up a calendar. Is Japan not bookable via Virgin Atlantic online?
It’s definitely bookable, but there has to be award space on Delta. When writing this post yesterday I pulled up some available Delta One seats on the MSP-HND flight for example.
I live in Hawaii and just discovered that flights from HNL to NRT in Delta One are only 35k miles each way using Virgin Atlantic. That is an amazing deal.
Appears that you actually have sufficient miles in your Virgin Atlantic account to conduct the search. Otherwise, miles option grays out. Right?
Explained in the post
No. You don’t even have to be logged in to search. See the last section in this post for how to deal with the greyed out miles option
Yes, excellent article!! Thanks! All the detail tremendously helpful to have in one place. Especially appreciated how you walk through all the bugs on the Virgin site with ways to cope.
Great post! I actually just was able to book 4 Delta One tickets to Paris for next April all with Virgin points! Net about 38.5K Amex points (due to the 30% bonus transfer) per ticket! Amazing value.
A little old on the post 4 months ??