The Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard® is a card that's often overlooked, but that can definitely be worth considering. The card has an excellent new cardmember bonus, there are some great uses of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, and the card even has some unique benefits. You can read a full review of the Virgin…
Continue reading: Last Chance: Virgin Atlantic Mastercard 80K Bonus
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@ Ben -- So, really this is a 60k miles for $2k spend and paying a $90 fee. Decent deal. Two AUs is not worth the effort since that goes beyond one's spouse, and 15k for $40,000 spend is a complete joke.
I believe it would be 15K for a total of $25k spend, not $40K, plus if it’s all none airline spending 37.5k points for a total of 117.5k on top of that you'd get a companion award and 250 tier points. So not quite enough for two round trip transatlantic upperclass tickets which I’ve still found occasionally for 150k.
On its face this seems like a great card if you can spend exactly $25k/year to maximize the perks.
My problem with Virgin Atlantic (like BA) is that all of their awards out of the US come with really high taxes and fees. It comes down to whether you would rather spend 120,000-225,000 sky pesos and <$50 in taxes and fees or 95,000-115,000 Virgin Atlantic points and $1,405 in taxes and fees. I guess if I think about the BOGO ticket It's more like 47,500-57,500 and $702.50 pp it starts to close the gap somewhat.
@DLPTATL that brings up a question on the Virgin companion award ticket do you an additional set of taxes and fees like BA's companion tickets. So it would be 115k plus $2,810 for two upperclass round trips.
The 250 tier points are nice that’s 150, 3 premium tickets, shy of Silver status.
This is the world's worst credit card. You run up a bill and then pay it off, and they hold your cash for ten business days without re releasing the credit limit due to 'fraud concerns.'
Bank of America are complete amateurs when it comes to premium credit cards. They should stick to the 0% savings accounts where their talents are more suited.
Unlike some other issuers, BoA has no minimum age on AUs. I got the bonus on this card by adding my two-year-old daughter as an AU...
The companion ticket sounds great... but there are significant restrictions, the worst being that the companion ticket class available is based on your status with Virgin.
Red status can redeem miles but only get a companion ticket for economy, silver can redeem and only get a companion up to premium economy. Only gold can redeem miles for Upper Class and get an Upper Class companion ticket
Further to my post above... and that means you can only get to Gold and the possibility of a companion ticket in Upper Class thru flying multiple times on Virgin. You're 400 tier points short just using card spend. On anything other than fully flexible tickets, that means at least 8 one-ways in Premium Ec or 4 in Upper Class
I had this card a few years ago -- any idea what the "churning restrictions" are?
Has anyone else had trouble getting approved for this card? I got denied and don’t recall that ever happening for other cards.
@khatl - I had no idea that they limited redemption of your BOGO class of service to your status.
Hard pass on this one.
@khatl thank you for pointing that out. I was thinking possibly applying but me or my partner isn’t interested in sitting in economy or premium economy. This is definitely a pass for me. Back to BA I go. Lol.
@Gene, absolutely correct! It is misleading when people put that in the headline. It is a 60k bonus. Those extra miles you get temporarily if you put huge spend on the card actually may amount to less than what you can get with ordinary spend on other readily available cards, it is certainly not part of a welcome bonus; just a mild incentive to keep using the card.
Personally I feel I have all the miles I need in British based massive surcharge programs.
Does the companion reward apply to partners (esp., ANA)? Or does “for a Virgin Atlantic award ticket” mean that it has to be Virgin Atlantic metal?
Surprisingly stingy with the approvals. My FICO is over 850 but I got denied b/c of too many new cards(4) in the last year.
Did you ever get approved for this card? I feel like you've had 2-3 posts on your initial application and then the status of the application, but never clarified whether you ever got it.