Virgin Atlantic’s new A350 Upper Class Suite is now bookable

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Virgin Atlantic has opened booking for its first A350 flights, featuring the brand new Upper Class Suite.

As promised, the first aircraft will be heading to New York JFK. As will the second, third and fourth. As well as being its most lucrative route, Virgin Atlantic wants to capitalise on the fact that British Airways cannot put its new Club Suite on New York yet as the A350 fleet does not have First Class.

Services start on 10th September.

From 10th September to 24th September, the A350 will be operating:

VS153 – Heathrow T3 to New York JFK – departing 13.30, arriving arriving 16.25
VS138 – New York JFK to Heathrow T3 – departing 19.00, arriving 07.20 (+1)

From 25th September it moves to:

VS137 – Heathrow T3 to New York JFK – departing 11.50, arriving 14.50
VS138 – New York JFK to Heathrow T3 – departing 19.00, arriving 07.20 (+1)

Times may vary slightly on some days.

Virgin Atlantic The Loft A350

This is a six day service:

Until 26th October, the A350 will not operate on Thursdays

From 27th October to 28th March (the end of the Winter season), the A350 will not operate on Tuesdays

There are Flying Club redemption seats available for many of the A350 services if you want to be among the first to give the new suite a go.

Virgin’s official website for the A350 is here if you want to find out more.

To maximise your miles when paying, your best bet is one of the two Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cards. These earn double miles (3 per £1 on the paid card or 1.5 per £1 on the free card) when you book at virginatlantic.com or via Virgin Holidays. Another option is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers double points – 2 per £1 – when you book flight tickets directly with an airline.

Our main article on the new Upper Class Suite is here. Our report from the launch party, which also looks at the other seat classes, is 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: