Last fall, Virgin Atlantic moved to dynamic pricing for award travel.
- Instead of one fixed award price, and guaranteed minimum award availability, seats would always be available – sometimes as low as 29,000 points each way between the U.S. and London, sometimes as high as 350,000 points.
- What made many members excited by what could otherwise be seen as a devaluation was that they significantly cut fuel surcharges on many of these awards. The cash portion of a redemption became dynamic too but went from around $1,000 to as low as $250.
- Meanwhile they doubled change fees from $50 to $100 per passenger with cancellations within 24 hours losing all points.
Virgin has already devalued this new proposition, as pointed out by Thrifty Traveler: they’ve doubled the cash surcharges you’ll pay on these cheapest bookings.
Business class redemptions that previously got hit with as low as just $255 or so in taxes and fees will now cost you a flat $586 each way. Taxes and fees for Premium Economy redemptions also doubled, while the cash cost to book economy only went up slightly.
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse New York JFK
$586 is still less than the surcharges used to be, but overnight doubling (without notice or comment – the price is just higher) is egregious. Meanwhile premium economy surcharges are up to $240 (from ~ $100) and coach up to $111 (from ~ $75).
Higher surcharges make miles far less useful, as the lowest miles price tends to correlate with the lowest cash prices as well.
During true off-peak periods you’re still finding the cheapest business class points prices across the Atlantic, but you’ll now come out of pocket significantly – over $1,100 roundtrip – for the privilege.
you can book CASH fares originating in Europe RT for about the same as the miles plus copay. STOP TRYING TO USE MILES FOR EVERYTHING!
What in late-stage capitalism is this?!
Somebody call in Mamdani. I want my free bus (to London!)
Oddly I’ve been tracking some dates on VS for next spring and all of a sudden there is some saver availability where there wasn’t before…
I have a different take on this. I am a Million Miler UA flyer and fly to Europe often on personal travel. I have millions of point on AMEX as use them to fly Virgin. Even with the large out of pocket cost, paying $1,000 R/T for their Upper Class is totally a no-brainer compared to United Polaris. Their new pods on the A330NEO and A350’s blow away the old worn Polaris seats on their dated planes. And the Virgin Lounge at LHR is a total delight. Plus you check in a dedicated line, never a wait, and go up a dedicated elevator to their own security. Longest I have taken to check in, and go thru security is like 5 minutes tops, which by Heathrow standards is amazing.
Out of many trips, we only had one bad flight, most of the FA’s are a delight, but one trip was on the older A330’s which the FA’s hate to work and we had a terrible experience with the grouchy FA’s that didn’t want to work that leg.
My concern is whether VA will survive this Trump-induced drop in travel. We found plenty of Save award availability this summer, which is a bad sign for business.
Let’s just call this what it is: The Delta Effect. That’s where get charged more or get less for your miles or money. Or both. Preferably (from Delta’s viewpoint) both.
It’s been a number of years now but Delta didn’t use to be so rabid about this mentality. They used to pride themselves on having a quality loyalty program that represented value and respect. Now their efforts have been redirected to finding innovative ways to screw over customers.
@JeffW after reading your post I want to reach out to Virgin and thank them for charging us more.
Don’t get me started with delta ruining all FF program by teaching all others you can gouge and rip off customers left and right.Then they fly you in antiquated aircraft
As for Virgin I thank you for your post as I will just take my miles and transfer to alternative programs now.They run a crap show with customer service
when a problem arises they turn the issue back on the customer rather than rebook the canceled flight of their partner
Imagine rebooking you into an airport 3 hours from your original departure airport and not even telling you by email text phone etc
Simply writing them off
Gary, which is a better deal, booking BA as an American Award or VS using Amex points?
Lax-LHR one way.
I guess with dynamic pricing , can’t tell without checking but seems like fees are about the same, AA no cancellation penalty, VA not subject to the equivalent of EU261, anything else to be aware of?
Who las the better hard and soft product on the flight.?
@Beachfan — Ideally, whichever flights you chose, everything is timely. However… if not…
UK261, Article 3, scope says that it applies to ‘passengers departing from an airport located in a country other than the United Kingdom to an airport situated in—(i)the United Kingdom if the operating air carrier of the flight concerned is a Community carrier or a UK air carrier.’
So, if the LAX-LHR route is *operated* by BA or VS, you should be eligible for compensation if facing significant delays (3+ hours) or cancellations under the airlines’ control, even if purchased via Amex, or using points, even AA points. Then again, expect airlines to attempt to deny claims, regardless. Appeal. Fight the good fight. Get paid.
As I often advocate on here, man, do I wish we had a ‘US’261 equivalent… c’mon Congress!
Thanks! Thought Virgin was us airline.
Well, on my selected day, Virgin is 100k miles per person more than BA booked through AA, same fees.
I can leave two days earlier and then it’s on 20k miles earlier. Is VS worth the difference (fees about the same).
Still leaning towards BA since if I cancel VS, the miles aren’t that useful.and there might be last minute availability in AA metal saving a grand.
@Beachfan — There used to be a domestic-US airline, called Virgin America (until 2018, bought by Alaska), it was good (could order beverages from your seat!).
These days, it’s just Virgin Atlantic, SkyTeam partner (part owned by Delta, but a separate airline), based in UK, operating international flights (and there’s also a separate airline, Virgin Australia, but it’s mostly regional in Oceania).
All three originally founded by Sir. Richard Branson, naturally. As for VS, it’s been a while but Upper Class (their business class) is nice (preferably on their a350 or 787).
With BA, for Business, it really depends on aircraft (newer business class with the suites is best). The older planes with the rear-facing seats aren’t my favorite.
There should be some law that points tickets can only include taxes as the cash component. To make the cash variable with “carrier surcharges” is close to fraud.
Christian — just wanted to thank you for being one of about 12 people across the entire Internet who properly use the negative of “used to.”