Virgin is offering 30% off the number of miles required for upgrades and award travel on several routes.

• Eligible routes: London Heathrow and Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Washington Dulles; Manchester and Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York JFK, Orlando; Edinburgh and Orlando.

• Book June 23 – July 24 for flights departing by September 30.

• Cash cost (taxes, fees, and surcharges) are not discounted.

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.

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 7,000 miles one way after discount. Business class starts at 33,200 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 30% discount is a lot better than paying full price for Virgin Atlantic award travel, of course!