Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a versatile loyalty program offering exceptional value for travelers, particularly through its unique partner redemptions and extensive transfer partnerships. While not part of a traditional airline alliance until recently joining SkyTeam in 2023, Virgin Atlantic’s individual airline partnerships and flexible point transfer options make it a program worth understanding—even for travelers who rarely fly on Virgin Atlantic metal.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the loyalty program of Virgin Atlantic Airways, a UK-based airline founded by Sir Richard Branson in 1984. The airline operates primarily from its hubs at London Heathrow, London Gatwick, and Manchester airports, with flights to destinations across North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club stands out for several reasons:
When flying on Virgin Atlantic, you earn points based on the distance flown and the fare class purchased. The earning rates are as follows:
Elite status members earn additional bonus points:
You can earn Virgin Points when flying on any SkyTeam alliance member airline as well as Virgin Atlantic’s non-alliance partners. Earning rates vary by airline, route, and fare class, but generally range from 25% to 400% of miles flown.
Key airline partners include:
Virgin Atlantic offers a co-branded credit card in the US through Bank of America:
One of the greatest strengths of the Flying Club program is its extensive list of transfer partners:
Virgin Atlantic has partnerships with numerous hotel chains and booking platforms:
Car rental partners include:
Virgin Atlantic uses dynamic pricing for its own flights, with award costs varying based on demand, season, and availability. The program divides the year into Standard Season and Peak Season, with Standard Season awards costing significantly less.
Sample one-way award costs from the U.S. to the U.K. (Standard/Peak):
The main drawback of Virgin Atlantic awards is the high fuel surcharges, which can range from $361 round-trip in economy to $919 round-trip in Upper Class. Despite these fees, redemptions can still provide good value, especially in premium cabins where you might get 5-6 cents per point in value.
Partner redemptions often offer the best value in the Flying Club program. Key partner award opportunities include:
Virgin Atlantic offers some of the best infant award pricing in the industry. For children under two years old, you’ll pay:
These rates apply to both Virgin Atlantic flights and partner awards, making Flying Club an excellent choice for families traveling with infants.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has three membership tiers, each offering progressively more valuable benefits.
Status is earned by accumulating Tier Points, which are separate from Virgin Points. Tier Points are earned based on the cabin and fare class flown:
Since September 2020, award flights also earn Tier Points at 50% of the rate for cash tickets:
Additionally, the Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard earns 25 Tier Points for every $2,500 spent (up to 50 per month).
Red status is valid for 36 months of inactivity. Silver and Gold status is valid for 12-13 months and must be renewed by earning the required Tier Points during the membership period. If you don’t earn enough Tier Points to maintain your current tier, you’ll drop to the next lower tier (Gold to Silver, or Silver to Red).
Virgin Atlantic operates premium lounges called Clubhouses at select airports. These lounges are known for their upscale amenities, excellent food and beverage offerings, and stylish design.
The following passengers can access Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses:
At airports without a Clubhouse, eligible passengers can access partner lounges based on their status and cabin class.
The most celebrated sweet spot in the Flying Club program is ANA business and first class awards between Japan and North America:
These rates are significantly lower than what other programs charge. For comparison, United MileagePlus charges 110,000 miles for a one-way business class award on the same routes.
Flying Club offers excellent value on nonstop Delta One business class flights between the U.S. and Europe:
Delta often charges 120,000+ SkyMiles for the same Delta One flights, making this a tremendous value when you can find availability.
Flying Club offers exceptionally low rates on Air New Zealand flights:
The challenge is finding award availability, as Air New Zealand is notoriously stingy with partner award space, especially in business class.
For short domestic flights on Delta, Flying Club can offer excellent value:
These rates can be significantly lower than what Delta charges for the same flights using SkyMiles, especially during peak travel periods.
As mentioned earlier, Flying Club offers exceptional value for infant awards (under 2 years old):
This applies to both Virgin Atlantic flights and partner awards, making it an excellent option for families traveling with infants.
Virgin Atlantic’s Points Plus Money option allows you to use points to offset the cash price of tickets. However, this typically provides poor value at around 0.68 cents per point—well below the average value of 1.4 cents per point for Flying Club redemptions.
While Virgin Atlantic’s own flights can offer good value in terms of points required, the high fuel surcharges (especially in Upper Class) can significantly reduce the overall value. For example, a round-trip Upper Class award between the U.S. and UK requires around $919 in surcharges and taxes.
Converting Virgin Points to hotel points generally provides poor value:
These conversions typically yield less than 1 cent per point in value and should only be considered if you need to top up a hotel account for a specific redemption.
While there are some sweet spots, most redemptions on SkyTeam partners using Virgin Atlantic’s distance-based award chart don’t offer exceptional value. The award chart is designed to prevent outsized value, so these redemptions typically yield average or below-average value.
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