Forget Free Flights, In Britain They Redeem Miles For Sausage Rolls

The introduction of ‘Virgin Red’ branding and add-ons to Virgin Flying Club means that Virgin’s miles can be used in new ways – like spending 200 miles for a sausage roll. At least they admit it’s not a good deal,

I love a food product. We all have our sausage rolls. So I think, I think that’s your entry level, rewards are 200 Virgin points. Am I right?

You’re absolutely right. So you’ve got a partner with them with Greggs and it’s, yeah, you can get a sausage roll or a vegan sausage roll of you. So rich from 200 points.

Greggs is actually a national treasure. People often think Virgin, Virgin and Gregg’s partnering together. But actually they, when, when we research people’s customers across all of the Virgin group, Greggs stands out as it stands out to them and get value from the currency in whatever way suits them best.

Now that is very much in the eye of the beholder, as far as I’m concerned, because we all know that flights are going to be the best value, sausage roll. If you would work out the, you know, the price point and all of that stuff, wouldn’t, wouldn’t represent, you know, from a monetary value the best, but for a bunch of consumers who don’t have large amount of points and they want to get instant gratification, it’s a great reward.

Then again outside of 5 specific flight redemptions plus restored Delta transatlantic award pricing for non-stop flights Virgin’s miles aren’t actually that valuable to begin with.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I take it you’ve never had Greggs before Gary, because that is an absolutely phenomenal redemption!

  2. Here’s the thing: this is REALLY good redemption.

    A Greggs sausage roll, which is a cult food item in Britain, costs £1.75. At 200 Virgin Points, you’re getting 0.875p per point.

    This is FAR better than virtually every other redemption via Virgin Red – most of which get you exactly 0.5p per point – and indeed you will struggle to 0.875p on a Virgin Atlantic flight redemption.

  3. @Raffles there are many opportunities to redeem on partners as you well know doing far better.

    If you consider this a good redemption then you have already given up, “the soft bigotry of low expectations”

  4. Gregg’s vegan sausage rolls are wonderful. Next time you’re over this side of the pond, have one. Their shops are everywhere.

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