Virgin Atlantic pilots vote for Christmas strike action

One of the Virgin Atlantic pilot unions, the Professional Pilots Union which represents around 1/3rd of Virgin pilots, has announced a series of one day strikes over the holiday period.

The strike is not, oddly, over money.  It is over the fact that Virgin Atlantic will not, for unspecified reasons, allow it to join the other main staff unions in discussions over employment issues.

The planned strike dates are:

• 22nd – 25th December
• 30th December – 2nd January
• 4th January – 7th January

Virgin Atlantic does not believe that the strikes will cause any significant disruption, although without knowing how the PPU pilots are dispersed across the fleet it is hard to get a clear view.

If all of the A330 pilots were PPU members, for example, then it would clearly be a major issue.  If the PPU members were equally split across all aircraft types then smart rostering should allow non-striking pilots to be allocated trips on the affected days.

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.)