The Amex Membership Rewards program has just launched a lucrative new transfer bonus, which I think will interest many people. We haven’t seen one of these offers from Amex since late last year, so this is definitely worth considering.
In this post:
Big Amex to Virgin Atlantic transfer bonus available
Between November 20 and December 31, 2025, the American Express Membership Rewards program in the United States is offering a 40% bonus on points transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Ordinarily points transfer at a 1:1 ratio (in 1,000 point increments), while through this promotion you’d get 1,400 Flying Club points for every 1,000 Membership Rewards points transferred. Transfers are generally instant.
For context, Amex seems to offer a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club once or twice per year, though for this year, this is the first offer. The bonuses are typically in the range of 30-40%, so this is on the high side, and as good as these offers get.
Should you transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic?
Virgin Atlantic is definitely a frequent flyer program with more niche redemption opportunities. In addition to being able to redeem Flying Club points for travel on Virgin Atlantic, there’s also good value to be had for redemptions on Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, and Delta.
Last year we saw Flying Club introduce dynamic award pricing for travel on Virgin Atlantic. While the changes are a mixed bag, what’s exciting is that on the low end, redemptions are cheaper than ever before. It’s now possible to fly one-way Virgin Atlantic Upper Class between the United States and the UK for under 30,000 points, and that’s before a transfer bonus.
Beyond that, Virgin Atlantic has several airline partners, some of which are more lucrative than others. Probably the best use of Flying Club points is for travel in ANA first & business class. You can find the redemption rates below.
Paying 45,000-47,500 Flying Club points for a one-way business class ticket between the United States and Japan is a phenomenal value to start with. Then when you consider the 40% transfer bonus, that means you could be paying significantly fewer Amex points. First class can also be a good deal.
All Nippon Airways’ new first & business class are amazing products as well. The major catch is that availability can be really tough to come by.
Bottom line
At the moment, Amex is offering a 40% bonus when you transfer points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. This is definitely more of a niche program, but with a specific use in mind, there’s a lot of value to be had.
With the 40% bonus, award travel on Virgin Atlantic will be an even better value. There’s also lots of value to booking on partners, ranging from SkyTeam airlines, to Air New Zealand, to All Nippon Airways.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this Amex transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club?
yes, seems like some cardmembers got it but some didn't. I was offered the 40% bonus but my husband was not. wonder how they choose which member to offer it.
For once I’m actually thinking about doing a big speculative transfer. Context: I love London, and go there fairly often, I’d like to take my girlfriend there at some point when another 29k “upper class” deal shows up. Also, my main airline is United, so I don’t have any other really fantastic redemption for Amex points (I mostly end up using them in conjunction with FHR credit to get hotels that have favorable points rates...
For once I’m actually thinking about doing a big speculative transfer. Context: I love London, and go there fairly often, I’d like to take my girlfriend there at some point when another 29k “upper class” deal shows up. Also, my main airline is United, so I don’t have any other really fantastic redemption for Amex points (I mostly end up using them in conjunction with FHR credit to get hotels that have favorable points rates through Amex travel). So… worth just transferring say 90k Amex points out of my stash of 120k in anticipation of wanting to go some point in 2026?
Targeted offer, I was not offered.
Catch is awards can be difficult to come by! LOL! Reminds me of the Chinese diet. All the food you can eat but only one chop stick
Thanks for the notice, Ben, but you might want to update the "template" of this post to add more detail about ANA redemptions. We're at the point now where finding a saver fare that can be booked with VS is almost impossible, whether it be last-minute or +331 days.
Can this also be used for virgin red (the safaris, experienced etc)?
Is it targeted or valid for some specific AMEX cards? I only see 1:1 transfer for Virgin on AMEX MR redemption page
Looks like the app is still showing the standard transfer rate but the web version has the updated offer
Thank you for posting this SO early am! I found 42k biz NYC - LHR...25k points with bonus - in August. Thank you!!!!!
The story here is that Amex is trolling Chase. This gets announced the day that Chase drops its gimmicky "early bird" Virgin transfer bonus from 40% down to 30%.
Almost as if Amex knows exactly what it is doing these days, and Chase looks foolish at every turn.
Peter, It’s not that serious. You either work for Amex or are one of its drones. lol.
The "premium credit card story of the year" is how Chase screwed up the CSR (both the perception of the card as well as the card itself) and Amex took complete advantage with its Platinum relaunch. This is a microcosm of that story. It is "not as serious" as Chase screwing up the CSR, but it's pretty telling nonetheless. Don't work for a bank or an airline, just calling it as I see it.
But...
The "premium credit card story of the year" is how Chase screwed up the CSR (both the perception of the card as well as the card itself) and Amex took complete advantage with its Platinum relaunch. This is a microcosm of that story. It is "not as serious" as Chase screwing up the CSR, but it's pretty telling nonetheless. Don't work for a bank or an airline, just calling it as I see it.
But just to convince you, I'll throw more fuel on the fire - am I supposed to get excited that Chase just added a small handful of restaurants to its opentable benefit in NYC so now there's a grand total of 44 restaurants to choose from? Granted it's the generally excellent Joseph Leonard family of restaurants, but it's kind of hard to take that benefit seriously when compared to the Amex Resy credit, no? Even more so The Edit which is a complete joke compared to FHR.
Folks notice the small things and the big things. This is just another small thing. Chase thought it was being cute with its tiered 40% for 2 weeks and then 30%. Amex came in over the top and said here's 40% for the next 5-6 weeks through the end of the year, Happy Thanksgiving AND Merry Christmas. You don't think that continues to send a message?
So strange how they group nations! Australia… and the USA.
Hawaii…. And Indonesia.
Def not mileage based.
Either way 32k miles for biz class to the USA or aus isn’t bad. Although lifemiles has access to this space too (sometimes).
I have almost 500,000 Amex points and 95,000 pending. To transfer them all or not?
If you don't have a redemption in mind, certainly not.
This is Virgin we're talking about... we see these sorts of bonuses (at least 30%) at least twice per day, and across all banks.
*twice per year, lol