Virgin Atlantic: 40% off award flights (but mind the fees)

Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red are offering a 40% discount on award tickets for all flights on Virgin Atlantic metal booked from today through June 24th for travel through December 31st, 2024. The discount covers economy, premium, business class and upgrade awards.

Officially this is for Virgin’s 40th Anniversary, but the airline runs these sorts of award discounts regularly. For instance, we saw a 50% discount last Fall, and recent versions have hung out in the 20-33% range. These sales are often trumpeted around the interwebs as being great deals…and they are an excellent reduction on the points cost of an award. This time around, transatlantic economy tickets can be had for as little as 6,000 points each way, with business class flights starting at 28,500.

However, keep in mind that taxes and fuel charges on VA flights are quite high on most of these routes, usually between $1300-2000 roundtrip in business class. Economy class awards usually end up with fees around 1/4-1/3 of that, with premium economy awards at ~$500-700 roundtrip. Also note that the booking period are quite a bit shorter than usual on this sale and the discounted pricing does include this year’s prime Summer months.

The Deal

• Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Red are offering a 40% discount on reward flights and points upgrades on all Virgin-operated flights.
• Valid for bookings made between June 21st and June 24th, 2024
• Valid for travel through December 31st, 2024

Direct link to this promotion

Terms and Conditions

• Offer valid for new reward flights, upgrades and companion bookings booked using Virgin Points between 00:01 GMT 21st June 2024 and 23:59 GMT 24th June 2024. All flight departures, including returns, must be on or before 31st December 2024.  
• A 40% reduction will be applied at the time of booking to the standard Virgin Points price of all flights booked between 21st June 2024 – 24th June 2024
• This offer is for Virgin Atlantic reward flights, upgrades, and companion bookings (including those earned on Virgin Atlantic Credit Cards) for one-way or return flights in Economy, Premium and Upper Class. Bookings in Economy will be for travel in the Economy Classic category.   
• Discount is not valid on Gold Reward flights (reward flights booked with double points) or Points Plus Money bookings.  
• Valid on Virgin Atlantic designated flights that are Virgin Atlantic marketed and operated routes only (flight number starts with VS). 
• Partner airline and codeshare flights are not eligible. . 
• The discount only applies to Virgin Points, not any cash element (taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges) of the flight price. 
• Standard tier points will be awarded. Passengers are not entitled to earn Virgin Points.  
• Existing bookings changed within the promotional booking period will be eligible for this offer and any reduction in the points price will be credited back to the member’s account. Changes are subject to the usual change fees and any increase in taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges.

Quick Thoughts

Award rates for travel on Virgin Atlantic are already fairly reasonable in terms of the number of points required, so with 40% back, the points rates look very appealing indeed.

Between the US and the UK, normal pricing is as follows, depending on season:

• Economy – 10,000-25,000 each way
• Premium Economy – 17,500-37,500 each way
• Business Class (Upper Class) – 47,500-67,500 each way

28,500 points for a transatlantic business class award sounds very good…and it is. That said, fuel surcharges and taxes will still be $600-1000 on most routes in business each way. For instance, here’s the lowest fare in September for a roundtrip from Manchester to Orlando (originating in the UK):

The round trip total is only 57,000 points…and ~$1240 in fees. We value Virgin points at ~1.3 cents each, so one way of thinking about this is that you’re getting the flight for $1240 in cash and ~$750 in points, for a total of around $2k. The 40% award sale discount ends up saving you around ~$500 worth of points, or about 25% of the total “normal” points + cash cost.

That’s a good deal when compared to cash rates, particularly for journeys between the US and UK, but it’s not necessarily a screaming one either. This is especially true given that Virgin Atlantic has such a great award chart for partner flights with a fraction of the taxes and fees.

Economy flights are also a decent deal (and perhaps better for many folks):

If Virgin Atlantic fits your needs, it obviously makes more sense to book while rates are reduced. Virgin Atlantic partners with most major transferable currencies, so it’s very easy to get together enough points for an award. Also keep in mind that you can still use this trick to see Virgin’s monthly award calendar in order to find space.

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