Virgin offering extra bonuses to Reward and Reward+ cardholders when booking flights

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Virgin Atlantic has launched a short-term promotion for holders of its Reward and Reward+ credit cards.

This offer runs to 31st October. If you are planning to book a Virgin Atlantic flight or Virgin Atlantic Holiday before 31st October, you may want to apply for a credit card before you do so.

You apply for the Virgin Atlantic credit cards here.

Extra bonuses for Virgin Atlantic credit cardholders

What is the deal?

It comes in two parts.

The first part is for all Virgin Atlantic Reward and Reward+ credit card holders.

All cardholders will receive double miles when bookings flights or Virgin Atlantic Holidays before 31st October.

Bookings must be made directly with the airline or via the Holidays website to qualify.

‘Double miles’ means 3 Virgin Flying Club miles per £1 spent on the free Reward card and a whopping 6 miles per £1 spent on the Reward+ card.

The second part is even more interesting.

Holders of the Reward+ card (the one with the £160 annual fee) with also receive a free Virgin Atlantic upgrade voucher.

There is a minimum spend of £500 required at either Virgin Atlantic or Virign Atlantic Holidays.

The upgrade voucher is valid for 24 months and allows the cardholder to upgrade either one return flight or (if two are travelling) one leg each of a return flight.

You can upgrade from either Economy to Premium or Premium to Upper Class. There must be reward seats available in the higher class and additional taxes and charges may be due.

This is a very attractive offer for Reward+ cardholders, especially as the upgrade could be worth more than the £500 minimum spend required to earn it. The two year validity period is also very useful.

The only problem, unless you want to take a punt on a US route for travel in 2021, is finding a route to book …..

Cardholders will receive an email from Virgin Atlantic very soon outlining the offer in detail. It runs until 31st October.

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.)

Category

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

paulm says:

14 Sep14 September 16:55

If only they could come up with a simple way of upgrading from the free card to the paid version!
- James says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 17:12
  
  +1 its both infuriating and farcical. They know people want to do this, and indeed do so in a very laborious and time costly way. You’d think they’d get a proper system sorted by now… or allow people to hold both cards as you were able to with MBNA.
KK says:

14 Sep14 September 17:00

No need to travel anytime soon so don’t really want to spend £500 on a VS flight on holiday but might in in the next 12-24 months hopefully. Wondering if you would still get the upgrade voucher on a cancelled flight? If so then what flights would be most likely to be cancelled?
Mo says:

14 Sep14 September 17:01

To clarify, do you have to pay with your Virgin Rewards + Credit Card to get the 6x miles and the upgrade voucher too? Or could you get one/both when paying with an Amex?

Also, do people know if paying the taxes on a reward booking would count as the £500 spend/would you earn 6x miles on this?
- Rob says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 17:21
  
  My gut feeling is that, yes, it would count.
Helen says:

14 Sep14 September 17:59

A couple of questions
1. Can I upgrade to the Reward+ Card? If I then cancel does the fee get pro-rated?
2. If I book a PE return ticket to JNB in March (c £1k) I will get a voucher which would enable me to upgrade to Upper Class?
- Rob says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 18:39
  
  1. Not easily. You need to (and I kid you not):
  
  * cancel the free card
  * make a fresh application for Reward+
  * wait for the rejection, as you’ve had a card in the previous 6 months
  * call them and get the rejection manually overridden because you’re upgrading
  
  No pro-rata refund.
  
  2. Yes, as long as there is an Upper Class reward seat showing, since the upgrade books into reward space
letBAgonesbe says:

14 Sep14 September 18:47

Honest question.
Is anybody booking VA trips these days?

I can see that VA is throwing in everything they have got to entice new bookings, but still, I don’t have the confidence that they will survive.
- Dezbez says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 19:31
  
  Yes, we’re looking at Seattle in Aug 21, mainly as positioning to get into Canada. I’m quite bullish about it, OH decidedly less so, but I think she’s happy to go along with us booking something on the basis it’s cancelleable. Excellent rewards availability and all these offers are making it enticing…
- GaryC says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 19:59
  
  I agree with you. I don’t think VA’s financial position is compatible with the timelines on possible vaccines. If (and it’s a big if) any of the promising candidates are proven to be effective in the next 3-6 months, mass production and immunisation will stretch well into 2021 and probably beyond, even in rich countries. Without a vaccine or at least a treatment (the Bradykinin Storm hypothesis and potential treatments is looking interesting), you have to ask yourself what is going to change to markedly improve sentiment w.r.t. longhaul flying.
  - callum says:
    
    14 Sep14 September 20:25
    
    “you have to ask yourself what is going to change to markedly improve sentiment w.r.t. longhaul flying.”
    
    Apathy. A significant number of people are already taking European holidays, as this goes on and becomes “boring”, people will be happier going to riskier and riskier destinations.
  - ChrisW says:
    
    14 Sep14 September 22:16
    
    I would agree with this. Surely it will be at least 12 months before the vast majority of people are vaccinated. I don’t think Virgin have enough cash to last 12 months
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      14 Sep14 September 22:39
      
      Mark my non medical words there will be no vaccine until winter 2021 and event then it’ll be the same 65+ / venerable just just like flu jab
      - GaryC says:
        
        15 Sep15 September 07:18
        
        You may well be right. The Oxford / Astra Zeneca vaccine is the only one that will be manufactured in any significant quantity this year. This Mckinsey report is extremely interesting, see exhibit 3 for potential timelines https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/on-pins-and-needles-will-covid-19-vaccines-save-the-world
ChasP says:

14 Sep14 September 19:56

Booked a UC trip to Los Angeles 2 weeks ago for next May
So suppose should cancel (£30 fee) and rebook

any reason why not ?
- Mo says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 20:33
  
  I’m not sure how it has been for reward bookings but I know Virgin haven’t been great with refunds so cash flow may be an issue?
  
  If not, I think it’s worth checking if there are other UC redemption seats available, as I don’t know if when you cancel they go back into redemption availability.
  - TripRep says:
    
    15 Sep15 September 07:58
    
    See my post below, at least 4 months for a redemption ££ refund, I got the miles back pretty quickly.
Ron says:

14 Sep14 September 22:39

Would the voucher be trigger if you spend over £500 directly with VS, but over the phone?
(e.g. trying to add a BA INV connection for a premium economy booking…)
- Ron says:
  
  14 Sep14 September 22:41
  
  I am asking since the email I received says the following: ‘If you spend more than £500 between 14 September 2020 and 31 October 2020 with either Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays directly via https://www.virginatlantic.com or https://www.virginholidays.co.uk , you’ll receive an Upgrade Reward voucher that can be used on any Virgin Atlantic operated flight for a round trip’
Sean says:

15 Sep15 September 07:54

No email received here. Is this a targeted offer?