The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program reinvention is now live. The biggest change in the program’s history is a new concept of dynamically priced redemptions for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights.
Every seat on every Virgin Atlantic flight is now bookable with Virgin points, a significant departure from the previous model of strictly limited and capacity-controlled award seats.
While some award seats are now much cheaper, others are significantly more expensive; plus, there are changes to those pesky surcharges, too.
Here’s what you need to know about the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program changes.
Related: Is Virgin Atlantic premium economy worth it on the A330-900neo?
Introducing Saver seats with Fewer points and reduced surcharges on off-peak dates
With all seats bookable with Virgin points, look out for new Saver seats marked with a red tag when searching. These are now the cheapest options, though they will not be offered on every flight.
On dates with low demand, such as transatlantic flights on certain days over the northern winter period, these flights will now start from as low as 6,000 Virgin points from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Heathrow Airport (LHR) in economy, 10,500 Virgin points in premium economy and just 29,000 Virgin points in business class.
If you’re lucky enough to snag this redemption you’ll be booking the lowest redemption rate for business-class flights to Europe of any major airline loyalty program.
While the Flying Club program has previously discounted the points required during periods of low demand through its regular network-wide redemption sales, the fees, taxes and surcharges have not been reduced.
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However, great news for Flying Club members: Carrier-imposed surcharges will be reduced for low-demand flights, starting from just $45 in economy, $78 in Premium and $227 in Upper Class on a flight from New York to London. Minor additional government taxes and airport fees are also payable, which differ from route to route. Remember that the taxes for flights departing London will be more expensive than those to London because of the U.K. APD Tax.
If you travel on dates or flights with the lowest demand, the new pricing system means you will need far fewer Virgin points and cash under the new system, an undeniable program improvement.
According to a press release from the carrier, Flying Club estimates that 75% of Virgin Atlantic-operated flights will have Saver seats available — and we have seen plenty in our initial searches.
Related: Virgin Atlantic to fly to Canada for first time in 10 years in broader 3-route expansion
While Flying Club previously guaranteed a minimum number of award seats at fixed award chart rates in each cabin on every flight (two in business class, two in premium economy and eight economy class seats), this guarantee will no longer be offered.
Therefore, if you want to travel during peak periods, such as summer break, saver seats may not be available, even if you try to book an award flight as soon as the schedules are loaded 12 months in advance.
Higher award prices, lower fees: redeeming Flying Club points during peak season
The changes to the loyalty program are not all good news for Flying Club members.
The dynamic pricing model means that during peak periods, such as school holidays and festive periods, the Virgin points required to book seats on Virgin Atlantic-operated flights will increase sharply. Every seat on every flight might now be available to book with Virgin points, but you can expect to pay up to 700,000 Virgin points round-trip in business class to the United Kingdom for the most in-demand flights during super-peak periods.
From our initial searches with the new pricing, the surcharges have been reduced from $2,000 to $908, which is good news.
Still, redeeming 700,000 Virgin points plus $1,349 in fees, taxes and surcharges will cost you more than $10,000 worth of points and cash, per TPG’s October 2024 valuation of Virgin points of 1.4 cents each. You should be able to find a cash fare on the same flights for a fraction of this price.
While some Flying Club members may consider this a devaluation of their Virgin points, these seats would not have been made available for fixed-price redemptions under the previous model, so they are additional award seats, albeit at much higher rates.
From our initial searches, the new dynamic pricing model has shown some odd pricing, in which we’ve found economy seats significantly more expensive than premium economy. Therefore, it pays to play around with dates, routes and classes.
Related: How much will your vacation really cost? The scourge of dynamic pricing is spreading like wildfire
Increased change and cancellation fees for Virgin flights
Change and cancellation fees for flights booked with Virgin points have now doubled from $50 to $100 per person (or local currency equivalent) from flights originating outside the United Kingdom. Routes, dates and flight times can be changed online using the red web chat icon in the Manage My Booking section of the Virgin website.
If you cancel your redemption more than 24 hours in advance, all points, fees, taxes and surcharges will be refunded minus the cancellation fee. If you cancel your flight less than 24 hours before departure, only government fees will be refunded (minus the cancellation fee).
Related: 10 things to know about flying Virgin Atlantic’s super business class, the Retreat Suite
Upgrade any seat on Virgin-operated flights
With all Virgin-operated seats now available for redemption, you can upgrade any existing booking with Virgin points, whether it was originally booked with points or cash.
To upgrade an existing redemption, you must pay any difference in Virgin points plus fees, taxes and surcharges. As the seat you are upgrading to is priced dynamically, this price can change regularly.
To upgrade a cash fare, you’ll need to pay the points price of the upgraded seat, less than the maximum Saver reward seat price for the cabin you are upgrading from, plus any difference in the fees and taxes. Virgin Atlantic has advised TPG that the maximum Saver rates follow the previous award chart prices, depending on whether the flight is operating on a standard season date or a peak season date. Here are the previous award charts:
No changes to partner redemption rates
There are no changes to flights booked with Virgin points operated by their 26 partner airlines, including Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and ITA Airways.
These will continue to be priced using fixed award charts with limited availability on each flight.
Related: How to book Delta award flights with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
How to earn Virgin points
Virgin points are easy to earn with Flying Club being a transfer partner of every major program with a transferable currency:
It’s worth noting that Capital One miles transfer to Virgin Red, not directly to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. However, you can easily use your Virgin Red account points with Flying Club.
Additionally, some of the above programs offer regular transfer bonuses to Flying Club, meaning you might need even fewer points than you first thought.
That means you’ve got plenty of card options for earning rewards to transfer to Flying Club, many of which feature terrific welcome bonuses. Here’s just a sample of the travel rewards credit cards that earn transferable points that can be converted to Virgin points:
Bottom line
The Flying Club changes are mixed, benefiting some members while disadvantaging others. If you traditionally travel during off-peak periods, the changes are terrific news, with reduced points and surcharges across all classes. Paying just 6,000 points plus minimum fees, taxes and surcharges for a flight to Europe on a full-service airline is a spectacular value.
For those who traditionally booked a year in advance as soon as flights were loaded on popular dates, the new program is likely to be less appealing. There is now no guaranteed minimum number of Saver rate seats, and flights across the Atlantic may require far more Virgin points than before. Fortunately, the steep surcharges have been reduced even on the most in-demand dates.
For those gasping at 350,000+ point flight prices for travel next summer, remember that Virgin would not have offered these seats for redemptions beyond their previous guaranteed minimum which would have been snapped up within days of being loaded. It’s worth checking cash fares on these dates as they will likely be a much better deal.
Virgin is now offering additional seats at higher prices instead, and more choice is always a good idea, especially if you are sitting on a large balance on Virgin points you may have struggled to redeem.