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Virgin launches new reward seat sale in Economy and Premium Economy

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Virgin Atlantic has launched another reward seat sale.  This one is the same as February, with a 30% discount, which is more aggressive than we saw in previous years.

These deals look pretty good – especially as Premium Economy is included as well.

You can book until 22nd September.  This is same deadline as for the parallel ‘buy miles’ bonus.

Virgin Atlantic 350

Virgin taxes on Economy redemptions are lower (by roughly £100) than British Airways although they are roughly similar for Premium Economy.  Following the Avios devaluation last April, you will also need substantially fewer miles than BA for an identical route.

Here are some example prices in both Economy and Premium Economy – the Premium Economy deals look particularly attractive:

New York – 24,500 miles + £259 / 38,500 miles + £415 (this is up £70 since the February sale!)

Barbados – 31,500 miles + £211 / 49,000 miles + £347

Delhi – 29,750 miles + £254 / 49,000 miles + £390

Hong Kong – 35,000 miles + £278 / 56,000 + £427

Almost all other routes are bookable too.  A full list of taxes and the miles required can be found here.

What is interesting about this sale is that you can book for any time in the next 11 months.  There are no date restrictions as long as seats are available.  Remember that, even with 30% off, not all of these deals necessarily make sense in low season.

The closing date for booking is 22nd September.

If you are short of miles, remember that Virgin miles transfer INSTANTLY from American Express Membership Rewards as long as your accounts are already linked.  It will take a couple of days if you have not previously linked your accounts.

Transfers from Tesco Clubcard are also very fast, usually overnight – the ‘Clubcard to Virgin’ page is here.

You can combine these discounts with a CombiFare.  CombiFare is explained in this post, but basically if you can only find a redemption in one direction Virgin will sell you a cash ticket for the other half at a discounted rate.

You cannot do a ‘miles plus money’ redemption for these deals.  It has to be a 100% miles booking.

Virgin is also offering a 30% bonus on purchased miles and on Miles Booster.  I will take a look at this tomorrow.

Full details of the reward flight sale are here.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

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 Rewards credit card

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

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

Virgin Rewards Plus credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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:

American Express Platinum card Amex

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.)

Comments (46)

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

  • Matthew says:

    I think Virgin are offering a 20% bonus conversion from clubcard until 16 Sep too which would combine quite nicely!

  • Genghis says:

    Very OT. IHG reservations. If I book a rate and add 1,000 bonus points per night, how does this appear on the receipt / booking confirmation?

    • Liz says:

      It does appear on the booking in text but the additional cost is not shown in the costing if I remember correctly. I did one for the last accelerate promotion.

  • Simmo says:

    Can these then be upgraded to Upper at a later date using Miles?

    Also, Has anybody every used the companion miles offer? (not the voucher).
    Says something like buy a full fare upper ticket and get a companion in the same class for only 60,000 return (usa)

    • Fraser says:

      You can’t officially upgrade a voucher’d PE ticket to UC, but I have done it at LAX thanks to a friendly agent! 😉

  • James says:

    Sorry, OT – I’ve cancelled my gold rewards card, does my lounge club still allow me to access twice or does that automatically cancel with the gold card?

  • Lev441 says:

    It’s a shame they’ve hiked up the PE fee’s! When i booked in February it was about £350 in surcharges/fees.

    Out of interest, when using the PE upgrade voucher on the Virgin Amex do you pay the fees for economy or premium economy? Looks like my voucher won’t post until after the sale ends but would be good to know for future

    • Fraser says:

      You pay the PE fees but the economy miles, and only need seat availability in PE. Vouchers post on the card anniversary date, not when you hit the spend target.

      • Lev441 says:

        Thanks! Can’t remember when my anniversary is! All I know is that it was around the September/October time!

        • Genghis says:

          Can you not work it out from your online statements?

          • Lev441 says:

            Good idea, will have a look this evening

          • Lev441 says:

            Actually seen them posted on to my FC account already. Looked at my emails and application went in to MBNA on 10th September so I got them a few days early 🙂
            Got to get booking now whilst the sale is on!

    • Charlie says:

      Previously I have booked an economy redemption, and added a PE upgrade over the phone when the voucher comes though.

      There is the issue of there being no PE availability by the time you have the voucher, so you’ll need to be flexible in this case and change date.

      Try to book the economy redemption for a period that has plenty of availability in PE to increase your chance of being able to use the PE upgrade voucher.

      These tips have helped me capitalise on the reduced economy miles and the upgrade voucher on several occasions.

  • Rachael says:

    Anyone booking with Virgin be aware that the taxes and duties on the link is incorrect as I booked flights to Seattle with points and the taxes were lower online with my booking, but Virgin advised me they have advertised taxes incorrectly. It worked out £289 with my actual booking but when you click the link at the top of the page it advised taxes and duties are £445 to Seattle. I think it is best to call them to get an accurate price.

    • Yemi says:

      Something dodgy going on with virgin these days. I booked economy seats during the last sale and decided to upgrade to premium cabin with this sale. I was told tax difference was £168. I told the CA that online I could only see a difference of £61.He popped me on hold and came back saying it’s now £138 I insisted it was still wrong then he popped me on another hols and eventually came back with yes it should be £61. From. £168 to £61. One just needs to be very careful with their calculations.

  • james says:

    I checked flights a few days ago was was planning to book them once I spoke to my partner. The deal has now finished and it will cost be an extra 30K air miles. Does anyone know how often they have these sales because I would book them now if the sale was still on but now it doesn’t feel like a very good deal.
    Can I do anything to get the old better deals?

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