Bits: £200 off a holiday for 10000 Avios, 3000 miles for joining Virgin Flying Club

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

News in brief:

Save £200 on a package holiday by redeeming 10,000 Avios

You have always been able to redeem Avios points via avios.com for package holiday discounts. The rate was only 0.5p per Avios point, however, which was never a great deal.

Until 21st September, you can receive a whopping 2p per Avios point. This is a very generous deal – assuming you meet the terms and conditions – and is far better value than using your Avios for a flight!

You need to redeem this offer via avios.com which means using ‘Combine My Avios‘ to move your points from British Airways Executive Club if necessary. Full details are on their website here.

In summary:

You must book by 21st September

There is a minimum spend of £750 per person

You can travel at any point until the end of 2016

Avios can book most of the major tour brands, from Butlins to Kuoni.

Avios

3,000 free miles for joining Virgin Flying Club

Whilst I cover Virgin Flying Club on Head for Points, you may not be a member because you never thought it was relevant to you.

This offer may change your mind. Via the Virgin Red iOS app which I discussed a few weeks ago, you will receive 3,000 miles for joining Flying Club.

You don’t need to do anything. The miles will be automatically dropped in your account within 7 days.

3,000 miles won’t get you far, especially with the final Little Red domestic flights taking place in a couple of weeks. However, once you have your account open, you are better placed to pick some miles via the generous credit card sign-up bonus, opening an ISA, buying wine, Heathrow Rewards, Tesco Clubcard conversions or American Express Membership Rewards.

The offer is only available to 2,000 people so I would do it sooner rather than later.

However …. do NOT sign up if you have a Premium Economy or Upper Class Virgin Atlantic flight in the pipeline. You are better off joining via the standard refer-a-friend scheme, as this gets you 5,000 miles if your first return flight is Premium Economy or 10,000 miles if your first return flight is Upper Class. Email me at rob at headforpoints.com if you are not a Flying Club member but have a cash ticket booked and want to be referred.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.

(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Jonathan says:

12 Sep12 September 06:31

Good avois redemption discount, though the T&Cs are a bit ambiguous.

– Do people interpret this as £750 spend post £200 discount or pre-discount?
– Is this definitely £750 spend per person?
I’m reading this as this as a single £200 off booking for 10,000 avois, which makes me think the spend (be it £750 pre or post discount) is probably an absolute rather than per person amount.
Lumma says:

12 Sep12 September 07:45

Just out of interest, how many Virgin miles would I need to be able to purchase something interesting? 3000 avois for free would be brilliant (almost 1 short haul flights worth) but what about with Virgin?
- Hilly says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 08:02
  
  I interpret the terms as 10,000 points max conversion giving £200 off holiday per booking.
  - Hilly says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 08:03
    
    … Pre-discount
- Rob says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 09:03
  
  Until the end of September when the services are dropped, a one way with Little Red to Aberdeen or Edinburgh is 3,750 miles. After that, the cheapest ticket is presumably a one way to New York in Economy which would be 17,500.
- pol says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 09:09
  
  10,000 miles for a one glass upgrade to most east coast USA destinations. Remember you can also get 2,000 miles for free at the moment by turning Tesco auto convert on, the miles usually post quickly and you can turn it back off again before you actually have to convert anything (ends 15th September though).
  3,000 gets you £50 off an Economy flight at present too (but you did say interesting not sure that qualifies).
  - pol says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 09:11
    
    Sorry, one class not one glass! Also note 10,000 per flight not return.
  - Saif says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 15:13
    
    Hi,
    
    I signed up for auto convert back in August when the bonus came along but I’ve still not got the bonus. When are the points posted? Will I have to contact clubcard?
    - Liz says:
      
      12 Sep12 September 17:24
      
      They will post after the 15th Sept deadline – you can then switch back to receive the vouchers afterwards if you want.
      - Saif says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 20:24
        
        Ah right,
        
        Cheers
- Charlie says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 14:06
  
  One good use for such small amounts is in long haul economy flights via their ‘miles plus money’ option. For LHR-JFK, return, 3000 miles will reduce the ticket by approx £50.
  
  These flights do not earn any miles and so are only good for non-frequent flyers. One to put away in the back pocket, personally I’m creating accounts on behalf of my family members on the off chance we do end up needing this.
cheekychappie says:

12 Sep12 September 08:05

Raffles – I thought you already had the ability to refer new members to VA http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/miles-more-friends.html

Not like you to give up a finder’s fee 🙂
- Rob says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 09:00
  
  I only take the finders fee when it is in the best interests of both parties …
  - cheekychappie says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 09:23
    
    There might be a few old frats like me who don’t have any apps on their mobile phones (mine is just for emergencies) – and would welcome the chance to get 3000 miles through the other route
    - cheekychappie says:
      
      12 Sep12 September 09:25
      
      delete that, saw the edit
SirElmo says:

12 Sep12 September 08:41

Hello everyone. I would appreciate your advice on this. I am scheduled to fly Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class LHR to HKG in end of September. Return is with Aeroflot. Considering it is only one leg (not a return with Virgin), would I still be eligible for the 10,000 miles through the refer-a-friend scheme? I am yet a Flying Club member. Many thanks.
- Joe says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 08:54
  
  It technically says return but then says the points are added per sector, so you’d likely get half and the next half the next time you flew…
- Rob says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 08:58
  
  The rules are inconsistent. It says that the referrer (not you) gets 5,000 points for each of your first 2 Upper Class segments. For the person referred, it says you get 10,000 points for your first return flight – which implies you must complete a return.
  
  However, my gut feeling – as I know how they post these points – is that you would get 5,000 points for doing a one way as your first flight.
  
  You need to decide between definitely getting 3,000 via this link and probably getting 5,000 via the referral route.
- pol says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 09:00
  
  The terms and conditions say this “For every person you refer who joins Flying Club, you will earn Miles on the basis of the cabin in which they complete their first round trip with Virgin Atlantic” for the referrer and ‘For all persons referred who subsequently join Flying Club and travel, they will earn bonus Miles on the basis of the cabin in which they complete their first round trip with Virgin Atlantic,”
  so according to the rules it seems not. However, I have referred people before and got the miles even when they have only booked a one way, as have they, and they always seem to post immediately after the first flight, however you obviously have no comeback if you don’t get them.
Kathy says:

12 Sep12 September 09:00

Oh, typical! Two weeks after I join Flying Club there’s a 3000 point bonus for joining!!
Ben says:

12 Sep12 September 09:04

Do you still earn Avios on the remaining package holiday spend? I have got 10 avios per £1 on my last two Thomson bookings. Losing this would make it much less attractive. Note from terms that 30k avios can be used for £600 discount etc.
- kirill says:
  
  13 Sep13 September 11:18
  
  Minimum spend of £750. Discount will not be doubled up to £400 if using 20,000, or £600 for 30,000 Avios etc.
robstaaaar says:

12 Sep12 September 09:06

Had a heavy night n my head’s still a little thick, but where’s the link to join up with Virgin Flying Club?
- pol says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 09:14
  
  for the 3,000 bonus miles you need to download the Virgin Red app and join through that.
  - Raymond Hennessy says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 09:35
    
    Not available on Android 🙁
    - cheekychappie says:
      
      12 Sep12 September 09:41
      
      Side load? Or go through Raffles’ link, you’ll still get the 3000 points when you fly plus can start earning points through other means 🙂
      - Alan says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 09:51
        
        You can’t sideload an iOS app onto Android 😉 Stupid of VS to limit their platforms like this, but at least we’ve got the Raffles route!
      - Alan says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 16:37
        
        Not quite – if you read this and other articles on the topic you’ll see it’s all from a Colombia Uni project called Cider (a variation of the the WINE Linux emulation naming no doubt!), subsequently renamed to Cycada. However development status is marked as unknown and most articles on it either date from August 2014 or rehash the same content/video from that time. Things were quite different for Blackberry where they were actively pushing emulation development to help grow the apps on their platform.
        
        Regardless in this case Virgin should be developing for at least Android and iOS.
      - cheekychappie says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 20:16
        
        You are right
    - Raymond Hennessy says:
      
      12 Sep12 September 15:39
      
      OK, borrowed the wifes iPhone and joined up. 3000 points credited immediately . Approx 1250 slots still available at 15.30.
      - Rob says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 17:34
        
        I’m amused at how quickly they are going down. It had been up for a while when I saw it and only 150 of the 2,000 had been taken. We seem to have taken around 500 between us today!
  - Jon says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 10:06
    
    I’ve already got the Virgin Red App but I can’t seem to find a link to join the Flying Club. Feel like I’m having a blonde moment. Any guidance would be appreciated.
    - Rob says:
      
      12 Sep12 September 10:40
      
      It was on the home page yesterday and there were still 1,800 of the 2,000 packages left. Try using the search ‘funnel’ at the top and filtering by travel offers. Cannot check myself as daughter is playing Smurfs games on my iPhone ….
      - Jon says:
        
        12 Sep12 September 11:02
        
        Can’t find anything on the Virgin Red App. Might just have to go with a referral. Don’t have any plans to fly Virgin just yet but happy to join with sign on bonus if a referral is the next best thing.
Kai says:

12 Sep12 September 09:40

The numbers you quote are for REFERERs, referees get 2000 miles and 3000 miles only.
- Kathy says:
  
  12 Sep12 September 13:50
  
  It’s weird, I was looking at this just a couple of weeks ago and I could have sworn it was the other way around, that the person being referred got 5000 and the referer 2000. But it does look like it is how you say, now. I wonder if the colleague I referred actually signed up?
  - Kai says:
    
    12 Sep12 September 16:21
    
    I specifically looked for the terms around one month ago and I’m sure it was already this way at that time. I referred my Mum this January before her one-way economy flight this January, I got 1000 miles and she got 500.