Virgin Atlantic is offering 25% off awards booked by October 3 for travel October 1 through December 31, 2023.
Chase, Capital One, Citibank, American Express and Bilt points all transfer to Virgin so it’s easy to access these points if you don’t already have them.
Pay attention to the aircraft you’re flying, for instance Airbus A350s have the 2019 seat and there’s a new seat for A330s while you’ll want to avoid 787s.
Retreat Suite, Credit: Virgin Atlantic
In the fall they offered a 50% rebate which meant you needed to have all the points in your account up front but gave you travel at a lower cost. That was better, and still not always worth it because of the surcharges. They made a similar offer to this one back in February and 30% off in June. So this is both a regular-ish offer, and less generous than the past three over the preceding year.
Virgin Atlantic’s miles are usually best used on partner redemptions that do not incur fuel surcharges which can be $1700 roundtrip on a Virgin Atlantic business class award.
Since you’re paying surcharges, and those can be a substantial portion of the paid fare when fares are lowest (which tends to coincide with when award space is available), the value of miles tends not to be outsized even when redeeming points at a discount.
Northeast – London is just 7,500 miles one way after discount. Business class starts at 35,600 miles. It’s definitely a nice offer for Virgin Atlantic credit card customers with upgrade and 2-for-1 vouchers.
Virgin Atlantic awards do count towards elite status. And this 25% discount is a lot better than paying full price for Virgin Atlantic award travel, of course!
Do you know if you would be able to get this discount if you’ve already booked an itinerary covering the dates of the sale? Would I have to call Virgin? Or is it only for new bookings? Thanks!
Afraid to hear what the taxes and fees are on the J fare. Virgin redemptions often seem like a good deal until you hear how much your “free” ticket will really cost, ultimately making it a nearly worthless program in my opinion.
The redemption miles needed are currently pricing wrong for certain weeks. For example, October to the UK is shown as a peak time per Virgin’s calendar. From, say, Atlanta or Orlando, the prices should therefor be Economy, 22,500, Premium, 32,500 etc.
However, the pricing on some weeks is showing as only 9,400 miles in Economy and only 16,900 in Premium i.e., ~50% discount for Premium and ~60% for Economy
@Mak – the taxes and fuel charges on a J fare during this promotion were running about $2,600 on flights from the major US East Coast Virgin cities. Those “free” tickets also cost around 70,000 points . Virgin redemptions are a great example of the juice not being worth the squeeze.
@Mak – not sure of your departure place, here’s my experience:
VA from ATL to Heathrow, early November: economy ticket was priced $1,600/pp in cash, or 25,400 pts + $490 fees/taxes. Bus Class was 38,500 Miles, plus additional $1,200+ fees/taxes.
Crazy, if you ask me!
Given their fees the point charged might as well be zero.
Say I book a flight to JNB, do I get the tax back on the flight since I’m not staying in the UK?