Effective February 6, transfers from Virgin Atlantic to Hilton HHonors will be at a rate of 1 mile to 1.5 points instead of the current 1 mile to 2 points.

Please note from 6 February 2014 the exchange miles to points rate is changing. Flying Club members will be able to exchange miles at the following rate: 2 Flying Club miles for 3 Hilton HHonors points.

You can currently exchange miles at a rate of (up until 5 February 2014): 1 Flying Club mile for 2 HHonors point.

Minimum Level: 10,000 miles and then in increments of 5,000. Just call the Flying Club Helpline with your HHonors account number.

*Please note your name on your Flying Club membership account must match exactly with the name on your Hilton HHonors account for a successful transfer. Your transfer will take up to 30 days and a booking cannot be made until the transfer is complete.

Ever since Hilton’s dramatic devaluation last March this option has interested me not at all. However, it’s still something that folks out there have considered since while Hilton may not be a great currency, Virgin’s miles aren’t either (and they add fuel surcharges to award tickets as well).

Hilton isn’t a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner — Marriott/Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt, and IHG Rewards are — but since Chase points transfer to Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Atlantic points to Hilton, it’s effectively been a ‘stealth’ transfer partner, and indeed the only partner where points transfer at better than 1:1.

American Express points transfer to Hilton, but transferring to Virgin Atlantic at 1:1 and Virgin to Hilton at 1:2 has meant a better ratio than Hilton would offer directly.

Some folks would get the 50,000 point bonus for the Virgin Atlantic card from Bank of America and transfer those points to Hilton. And with the 1000 miles per Avis rental (even a 1-day rental), that has also meant 2000 Hilton points.

The downside of the Virgin Atlantic transfer is that it takes several days to complete, and I wouldn’t expect that to change.

If you do want to clean out a Virgin account and have an interest in Hilton points, you have a few days left to do it at the more advantageous transfer rate.

(HT: Mommy Points)

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