Virgin Atlantic award space to Tel Aviv, Israel is outstanding right now. And it can be booked for just 85,000 Delta SkyMiles. On routes like New York JFK – London – Tel Aviv it’s available for at least two passengers nearly every day through mid-December. But it’s also plentiful out of Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orlando.
You’ll find additional availability from other cities, especially those where Virgin flies but also cities where Delta offers connections (it’s the Delta domestic flight that can be hardest to get). This deal was first spotted by Thrifty Traveler‘s premium airfare deal alert service.
Delta devalued their partner awards twice during the pandemic. They’ll charge you 120,000 miles one way to fly Virgin from New York JFK to London (a 60% increase compared to September 2020) but they’re asking 35,000 fewer miles to fly New York JFK – London and then add the flight onward to Tel Aviv. The Mideast is a region they oddly forget to fully devalue.
Normally you need to book roundtrip awards to get the lowest prices from Delta SkyMiles, and avoid booking one ways originating outside the U.S. because Delta adds fuel surcharges to those. However that’s not the case here, with the 85,000 mile pricing applying in both directions and no fuel surcharges even for a one way Tel Aviv – U.S. award.
When picking flights it’s worth going out of your way to choose their Airbus A350 or A330-300 over the Boeing 787-9, since the former aircraft will see their new business class seats.
Credit: God Save the Points
And of course if you’re connecting in London you’ll have access to the Virgin Clubhouse there as well.
SkyPesos!
THANK YOU! GREAT timing! I just snapped up two seats from Tel Aviv to LAX for 85K each in April. We had flight already on British Air, but they changed flight schedules and it was going to force an unwanted overnight at LHR. I think and hope that Virgin a350-1000 will be at least as nice as BA 777 ER.
That’s 170,000 Skypesos RT, which is great for high season. Alternatively, OneWorld is running business class through mid-March at roughly $1500 RT from NYC,, as low as $1373 from Boston. Looks to be mostly Iberia and FinnAir.
Q – is it a fuel surcharge or a foreign origination fee that Skypesos adds to awards originating outside the US? Also, this is a big disincentive for non-US based Skymiles members. Why would DL do that – make Skymiles relatively less competitive than AA/UA for non-US based frequent fliers? (Obviously folks living outside the US can nest tickets to avoid the fee but most folks wont do that.)
An update on this award. Looks like it might just evaporate. Virgin Air changed their flight schedule.
They’ve left an unreasonable amount of time to make a connection. 20 minutes at LHR.
They have 2 other direct LHR to LAX flights in the afternoon that I see business class available, but they’re not making it available for award travel. Best they could offer is a
This is the 2nd time I feel like I’ve gotten baited and switched by Virgin Air. Changed schedule and not giving any alternatives that are nearly as good or on as good an aircraft.
Delta comes through. Virgin flights were unworkable. Delta offered one of their flights with delta one suites and delta one routing through JFK. They’re asking 400k points per seat so I feel fortunate that they honored what I paid for Virgin and provided an equivalent experience. Hats off to Delta on this one. Sharing, just in case anyone else has a bonvoyed experience with Virgin.