Bits: BA Gatwick update, Etihad Guest status with one flight, Virgin America via Flying Club

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News in brief:

British Airways Gatwick terminal move update

British Airways released more information on Friday about the switch of terminals at Gatwick.

The changeover date is now (re)confirmed for Wednesday 25th January.

A few test flights will be going from Gatwick South for anyone who wants to try it out in advance, although the new BA lounge will not be open then. These are:

BA2776 to Jersey on 23rd November
BA2273 to New York JFK on 11th January
BA2612 to Naples on 19th January

Etihad Guest status with one flight

Etihad has been running a promotion with The Times this week to give Etihad Guest status to anyone who signs up and takes one flight.

The offer is only open to new members of Etihad Guest who sign up via the link on this page. If you already have an Etihad Guest account which is empty, you may want to create a new one with different address and email details. This isn’t ideal, of course, but Etihad should have made the rules more flexible …..

You will receive Etihad Silver status if you take an Economy flight with Etihad before 10th May 2017.

You will receive Etihad Gold status if you take a Business or First Class flight with Etihad before 10th May 2017.

The rules are vague unfortunately:

it talks about a closing date of 24th November but it does not say if that is the last day to open the Etihad Guest account or the last day to book

it doesn’t say if the flight must be a return flight

it doesn’t say if the flight must depart from the UK

It is worth noting that a similar deal for Silver status (but not Gold) is freely available to everyone, all year round, if they take out the Etihad Guest credit cards. Full details are in my Etihad Guest credit card review.

Virgin America First Class reclined

Virgin America no longer a Flying Club partner from Monday

Finally, it has emerged that Virgin America will no longer be an earning or redeeming partner of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club from today.

Virgin America is in the process of being acquired by Alaska Airlines and all parties seem to have decided that the imminent relaunch of Flying Club was a good time to make the break.

My one experience of Virgin America domestic First Class was excellent as I reviewed here – see the seat photo above. That said, I paid cash for that flight because Flying Club did not allow one-way redemptions. For that reason, this change is not as big a loss as it could have been.

More details on this decision are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

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: