How Much Are Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points Worth?

The value of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points may vary significantly based on how you choose to redeem them and The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program offers versatile ways to utilize your points, affecting their overall worth. Booking an economy ticket with Virgin might give you a value of 0.5 cents per point, for example, but you may get up to 2 cents per point on an upper-class ticket.

Earning Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points is straightforward too. You accumulate points each time you fly with Virgin Atlantic or its partner airlines. Additionally, points can be garnered through Virgin Atlantic’s online duty-free shop, collaborating travel partners, booking Virgin Atlantic Holidays, and using a co-branded Virgin Atlantic credit card.

When it comes to using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points, you have several options. You can redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points for flight tickets with Virgin and its airline partners or to upgrade your seat. Moreover, these points can be used for booking Virgin Atlantic Holidays. They are also accepted by several travel partners and for online shopping.

How much Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points are worth depends on the redemption method. While not always the case, you’ll often get better value if you use your points with an airline partner instead of using them for flights with Virgin Atlantic. When flying with Virgin Atlantic, you stand to get better value for your points with premium and upper-class tickets than economy-class tickets. The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club redemption chart gives you an idea of how many points you need to fly across different routes and classes.

The average value you stand to receive for your points through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program is better than several other frequent flyer programs, although it’s probably not the best.

The Virgin Atlantic membership program gives you a variety of ways to earn points. You earn points each time you take a Virgin Atlantic flight or fly with any of its airline partners. Making online purchases through Virgin Atlantic’s duty-free store lets you earn points, and you stand to earn bonus points through partner merchants on the Shops Away platform. Using a Virgin Atlantic co-branded rewards credit card will also help you accumulate points more quickly. You also earn points through Virgin Atlantic Holidays, Virgin Trains Ticketing, Virgin Red and the program’s travel partners.

The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program features two co-branded credit cards: the Virgin Atlantic Black Card and the Virgin Atlantic White Card. Both cards offer impressive rewards, with similar earning structures. However, the Black Card has an added perk of giving bonus 25 tier points (up to a maximum of 50 tier points per month) for every $2,500 spent. Although new applications for these Virgin Atlantic co-branded credit cards are currently paused, existing cardholders can continue accruing points.

Virgin Atlantic runs the Flying Club program for its frequent flyers. Members get different ways to earn and redeem points. If you cannot find an award seat on a Virgin Atlantic flight, you can use Points Plus Money to bring down the cost of the ticket.

You need to join the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program to start earning Flying Club points. Joining the program is relatively simple, and you may do so online. The information you need to provide includes your name, date of birth, gender, email address, home/work address and phone number.

The Virgin Atlantic rewards program has three membership tiers. You need to earn tier points to move up from one level to the next. You may earn tier points when you fly with Virgin Atlantic, spend on Virgin Atlantic Holidays or meet your Virgin Atlantic credit card’s spend-based requirement.

Tier-specific benefits include bonus points on Virgin Atlantic flights, preferred seat selection, extra hand/hold baggage, Premium check-in and Clubhouse access.

You earn Flying Club points every time you book a ticket with Virgin Atlantic or its partner airlines. The number of points you earn for a Virgin Atlantic flight depends on the flight distance, the type of ticket and cabin you select and your membership tier. For example, you get 25% of the base miles flown if you book an Economy Light (T) ticket. It changes to 400% for an Upper Class (flexible J, C or D) ticket. In addition, Silver and Gold members can earn 30% and 60% bonus points on every flight, respectively.

When booking flight tickets with the program’s partner airlines, the points you earn depend on the airline you select and a few other factors. For example, if you book a short-haul flight with Air France and get a Business class (J or D) ticket, you earn 2,400 points. If, on the other hand, you book a Business class (J or D) ticket on a long-haul flight, you get 400% points based on the distance the flight covers.

You stand to earn even more points if you use a co-branded Virgin Atlantic credit card to pay for your flight ticket.

You can also earn Virgin Atlantic points when you shop via its online duty-free shopping platform, book a Virgin Atlantic Holiday and spend with various travel and shopping partners.

Buying points from Virgin Atlantic is possible, and you need to buy them in increments of 1,000. If you have a U.S.-based Flying Club account, you will need to pay $25 per 1,000 points plus a one-off $22 transaction fee not including taxes. That means you pay more than 2.5 cents per point, which is less than the average value you may expect to receive when redeeming your points.

You might benefit by purchasing points during promotional offers that come with bonus points. Taking advantage of these promotions means you can receive up to 70% more in bonus points, depending on how many points you purchase and your membership tier.

You may also want to consider buying Virgin Atlantic points if you wish to use them for an award flight that offers better value for your points than how much you’ll spend on the purchase.

With at least 12 seats allocated as award seats on every long-haul Virgin Atlantic flight, you should be able to redeem your points for a flight ticket relatively easily. The number of points you need to make a booking depends on the route and the type of cabin and ticket you select. And it's worth noting that the required points differ during standard and peak seasons.

If you find a flight with no award seats, you may use the Points Plus Money option to reduce the cost of your ticket. In this case, you'll need to redeem points in increments of 3,000.

There are no Virgin Atlantic Flying Club transfer partners to transfer your points to, but you can use your points to book flights with Virgin Atlantic's airline partners. These include Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia, South African Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, All Nippon Airways and IndiGo.

You may also redeem your Flying Club points through Virgin Atlantic Holidays. You can use this platform to book vacations, hotel stays, tours and car rentals.

There are also a few other ways to use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points.

You need considerably fewer points to fly with Virgin Atlantic during its standard season than its peak season. For example, buying an Economy Classic ticket from the West Coast to the U.K. would require 30,000 points from September 5 to October 19 in 2023. The same ticket on October 20, 2023, would set you back by 50,000 points. Also keep in mind that the airline spreads its standard and peak season dates throughout the year.

Standard and peak seasons might also play a role in redeeming your points for flight tickets through Virgin Atlantic’s partner airlines. For example, a main cabin Delta flight from the West Coast to the U.K. during the standard season would need 20,000 points. This increases to 30,000 points during peak season. These, as you may notice, require fewer points than you’d need for a Virgin Atlantic flight across the same route.

Using Air France to travel within Europe might be worth your while during peak and off-peak seasons alike. A flight that covers less than 600 miles requires just 4,000 points for an Economy ticket during off-peak season. If you fly during peak season, you’ll need 4,500 points. An Economy ticket for a flight that covers 601 to 1,249 miles during the off-peak season would need 7,500 points.

If you wish to redeem your points for business class travel, you may benefit by looking at what Virgin Atlantic, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Air New Zealand, Air France, KLM and Delta have to offer based on the route you wish to fly.

Looking at answers to other questions about how much Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points are worth and the best ways to redeem them may give you an indication of which path to follow.