Air France launches new direct service to Nice – book on Virgin Points

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Air France is launching direct flights from London Heathrow to Nice this Summer.

The service will start on 28th June and operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

The reason we mention this is that, as a Virgin Flying Club partner, this flight should be bookable with Virgin Points.

I say ‘should’ because, at the moment, it isn’t. This is despite the fact that cash tickets are available.

Assuming it turns up, it offers a good opportunity to use your Virgin Points. The 10.55 departure time from Heathrow is very civilised, as is the 15.20 return time.

The picture above is the Hyatt Regency Palais de la Mediterranee on the sea front, where I stayed many years ago and liked.

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

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Andrew says:

14 Apr14 April 04:52

And if you’re Virgin Flying Club Gold, you get SkyTeam Priority Access when flying Air France including extra luggage allowance and lounge access.
DJ says:

14 Apr14 April 06:58

Do you still get Marriott Elite benefits when you book your stay with the travelzoo voucher?
- Harry T says:
  
  14 Apr14 April 07:21
  
  No
- Rob says:
  
  14 Apr14 April 08:40
  
  No, unless hotel feeling kind.
Oh! Matron! says:

14 Apr14 April 08:32

Grrrrrrrrr. It’s 37nm short of being 600 miles, and, therefore, 200 VS tier points in business. Would have made for a great tier point run!

http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=LHR-NCE
- Kai says:
  
  14 Apr14 April 08:41
  
  Only if it’s VS codeshared, otherwise just 40 tier points.
- Andrew Lee says:
  
  14 Apr14 April 10:25
  
  I read this as nano meters at first and was surprised at how precisely they measure the distances. Obviously is nautical miles…
  - RussellH says:
    
    14 Apr14 April 16:00
    
    Definitely nanometers.
Doog1000 says:

14 Apr14 April 08:34

Bizarrely no Air France flights have been recently showing on the Virgin website for points in my experience, despite low level award availability showing in other programmes – may have to call unless others can see availability on Air France flights
- Mr. AC says:
  
  15 Apr15 April 00:21
  
  Opposite for me. Virgin shows phantom availability on Air France – lets you book, charges the card, doesn’t actually issue the ticket. Call center says availability not actually there and it’s a website glitch… Glitch going on for at least a month.
James says:

14 Apr14 April 08:52

How many virgin points needed for the nice trip?
- DP says:
  
  14 Apr14 April 09:49
  
  Same as the not so nice trip.
  - Rob says:
    
    14 Apr14 April 10:51
    
    Should be 4000 each-way in economy.
    - Sandgrounder says:
      
      14 Apr14 April 11:08
      
      I have found it on the app, Weds 18 August one way LHR-NCE 8.5k and £39.67 for Economy Standard.
      - Sandgrounder says:
        
        14 Apr14 April 11:10
        
        Or 17k return plus £70.97
      - Rob says:
        
        14 Apr14 April 12:48
        
        Are you sure that’s not a KLM connecting flight? London to Paris on Air France is 4,000 one way so I would expect Nice to be the same.
      - Sandgrounder says:
        
        14 Apr14 April 14:00
        
        It’s gone now (sold? pulled?), but was direct, AF7381. I have emailed you a screenshot.
      - Sandgrounder says:
        
        14 Apr14 April 14:01
        
        I can see 2 seats again now. Don’t know what is going on!
ChrisW says:

14 Apr14 April 09:50

Love Nice.
Sandgrounder says:

14 Apr14 April 14:27

I’ve got it now, band 1 is up to 600 miles, not 650 like BA. I thought it was 650 because I initially tried LIN on GC mapper as a comparison which is just over 600, but that must just be a Brucie bonus.
Munch says:

14 Apr14 April 19:44

Has anyone completed a KLM/AF tier point run to earn Virgin status. I’m 150 Tier points from Gold but still don’t understand how to ensure the flight is a codeshare to earn the higher tier points.
Does the flight have to connect to a Virgin flight to ensure it’s a codeshare? If this flight is over 600miles how do I earn the 100 tier points for a business ticket in class I or Z?