You can currently purchase points at the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with a bonus of 70% if you purchase at least 125,000 points (i.e. 212,500 points including the bonus). This promotion is valid until June 23, 2025, after which the bonus drops to 60% until July 18. While there are many good uses for Flying Club points within the SkyTeam alliance, many of them are only in theory, as availability for many sweet spots is terrible. However, there’s good availability for some nice sweet spots with Virgin Atlantic itself.
Virgin Atlantic charges £15 (~€17) per 1,000 points. Thanks to the bonus, you’re now paying £15 for each 1,700 points, bringing the cost per mile down to €12.94 per 1,000 points.
Here are a few interesting redemptions that you could make with those purchased points, flying with Virgin Atlantic:
- Business class: Riyadh – London for 23,000 points + SAR 809 (~€184) o/w = €487 (e.g. February 4)
- Business class: Bangalore – London for 23,000 points + £162 (~€186) o/w = €490 (e.g. January 27)
- Business class: Paris – Boston for 40,000 points + €469 o/w = €987 (e.g. January 26)
- Business class: Lagos – London for 57,500 points + US$476 (~€406) o/w = €1,162 (e.g. January 24)
- Premium economy: Delhi – London for 10,500 points + £86 (~€99) o/w = €238 (e.g. January 27)
- Premium economy: Atlanta – London for 18,500 points + US$151 (~€129) o/w = €373 (e.g. January 28)
- Premium economy: Boston – London for 20,000 points + US$191 (~€163) = €427 (e.g. January 28)
- Economy, incl. luggage: San Francisco – London for 9,000 points + US$83 (~€71) o/w = €190 (e.g. October 14)
We’ve mostly listed flights to London and not from London. This is no coincidence. Fees are higher from London. This means that if you wish to fly in the opposite direction, this is usually possible, but roughly €300 more expensive than what’s in our list. E.g. a round-trip from London to Riyadh would not cost 2×487=€974 but actually effectively costs €1,279.
Conclusion
Virgin Atlantic points are worth quite a bit and can open the doors to cheap business class tickets. The only downside of this deal is that a minimum purchase volume of 125,000 points (plus the bonus) is quite a lot of points, especially considering the mostly low redemption prices. If you’re planning a trip with the entire family, that’s fine. But otherwise, you’ll need some time to spend the points, and Virgin could devalue them anytime.