Virgin Atlantic launching flights to Barbados and Florida from Edinburgh

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Virgin Atlantic has just announced that it will be launching its first-ever international flights from Edinburgh Airport this winter.

(You may remember that Virgin briefly operated ‘Little Red’ domestic services between London and Edinburgh, which is why it can’t call the new flights its debut at the Scottish airport.)

Where will Virgin Atlantic fly from Edinburgh?

Virgin will launch direct flights to Barbados and offer the only direct flights between Scotland and the Caribbean. The flights will launch on the 5th December and will operate twice weekly. We don’t know the timings yet but they will depart on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Flights will be bookable from the 18th August and lead-in prices start at £419 return in economy.

The flights will be operated by the A330 fleet, so you won’t be getting the newest Upper Class Suite currently found on the A350s. These aircraft have 31 seats in Upper Class, 48 Premium and 185 economy and are the smallest aircraft in Virgin’s fleet. (The ex-Air Berlin A330-200s are due to be retired by early 2022).

In the Spring the route will be joined by flights to Orlando, Florida, also from Edinburgh. These are due to begin in April.

Virgin A330 interior — The Upper Class cabin on the A330s.

Further Caribbean expansion

Edinburgh isn’t the only airport getting a boost. Virgin Atlantic is also launching flights from Manchester to Montego Bay (Jamaica) from 6th November and is returning to St Lucia from Heathrow on 18th December.

As previously announced Virgin will also increase flights to Barbados by 70% across the board, with eleven weekly flights from Heathrow and five from Manchester this winter. It will also launch flights to The Bahamas – tickets for which are now on sale.

What will flights cost in Virgin Points?

The Virgin Points flight redemption chart is here.

All of the Caribbean routes have the same pricing. You will pay, plus taxes and charges:

Economy: 40,000 points peak / 20,000 points off-peak
Premium: 55,000 points peak / 35,000 points off-peak
Upper Class: 135,000 points peak / 115,000 points off-peak

The peak dates for 2021/2 are:

14 July – 5 September 2021
15 – 26 October 2021
11 – 31 December 2021
1 January – 6 March 2022
7 – 26 April 2022
30 May – 5 June 2022
16 June – 4 September 2022

Remember that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards come with a 2-4-1 voucher if you hit an annual spend target. Unlike the British Airways American Express cards, the Virgin credit card voucher can be used for a 2-4-1 or upgrade on cash or points tickets – see 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: