Virgin news: extra Havana flight added, buy cheap points with ‘Points Booster’

There are three pieces of Virgin Atlantic news today:

Virgin Atlantic adds a third weekly Havana service

Havana appears to be playing an increasingly important part in the Virgin Atlantic route network.

The service was moved from Gatwick to Heathrow in 2019.  The airline has now decided to increase the frequency of Havana from two to three flights per week.

The extra flight will be added from the start of the Winter timetable on 25th October.  It will operate on a Sunday, using a Boeing 787-9.

The existing Saturday service will now operate on a Friday, with flights now on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

You book on virginatlantic.com here.

Flybe appears to be fully bookable on the Virgin Atlantic site

A few weeks ago we reported that certain Flybe routes were available to book on the Virgin Atlantic website. This was limited to flights to and from Heathrow or Manchester.

It now looks like the entire Flybe route network has been loaded into the system.  A reader got in contact to say his commute from Southampton was now showing.  A few quick searches from a variety of Flybe destinations suggest that the Virgin website now mirrors what is available on flybe.com.

Crucially, the price variations between the Flybe and Virgin Atlantic websites appear to have disappeared.  Whilst Flybe flights were slightly cheaper in some cases via the Virgin website last month, pricing now appears to be identical regardless of where you book.

Your Flybe flight will have a VS flight number if you book via Virgin.  This may make a difference when it comes to earning Flying Club miles or tier points, but we have no idea because the ‘earn and burn’ rates on Flybe are yet to be published.

If anyone books a Flybe flight via Virgin Atlantic with a VS flight number and receives tier points and miles, please let us know!

Buy VERY cheap Virgin Atlantic points as ‘Points Booster’ returns

Virgin Atlantic is currently running its semi-regular bonus on ‘Points Booster’.

If you are not familiar with ‘Points Booster’, it is a feature which allows you to buy additional Virgin Flying Club points at a very favourable price.

Points Booster only works if you have a Virgin Atlantic cash or reward flight booked for the future or have taken one in the last six months.  With this offer, you are able to buy an additional 300% of the base points you will earn from the flight for just 0.71p each.

Click here for the official details of how it works.

The bonus is staggered:

• buy an extra 100% of points flown and you get a 20% bonus
• buy an extra 200% of points flown and you get a 30% bonus
• buy an extra 300% of points flown and you get a 40% bonus

Here is an example.  An economy flight to New York would earn you 6,916 base points.

If you maximised the Points Booster option for this flight, you would be able to buy up to a total of 29,047 Virgin Flying Club points.  This is calculated as (6,916 x 3) + 40% = 29,047.

The price would be just £207.48 (1p x 6,916 x 3).  This works out at 0.71p per Virgin Flying Club point, which is well worth considering.

The ‘Points Booster’ offer runs until 8th March.  You can read more 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:

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.)