Often buying points strategically can be a good value, especially for luxury travel experiences where you can get the most outsized value. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club doesn’t sell points often, but when the program does, it’s typically a good deal. The latest such promotion has just been launched, and could be worth considering.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
Through Friday, March 31, 2023, the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program is offering a bonus on purchased points. The program is offering a tiered bonus of up to 70%, as follows:
- Buy 5,000-20,000 points, get a 20% bonus
- Buy 25,000-60,000 points, get a 30% bonus
- Buy 70,000-100,000 points, get a 50% bonus
- Buy 125,000-200,000 points, get a 70% bonus
How much does it cost to buy Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points?
The cost to purchase Virgin Atlantic points varies based on where your account is registered:
- If your account is registered in the United States, you’ll pay $25 per 1,000 points, pre-tax before any discounts or bonuses
- If your account is registered in the United Kingdom, you’ll pay £15 per 1,000 points, pre-tax before any discounts or bonuses
- On top of that, there’s a transaction fee of £15 or $22
The pricing is much better for those with accounts registered in the UK rather than the US. Assuming you’re eligible for a 70% bonus:
- Those with accounts in the US can purchase 340,000 Flying Club points for $5,022, which is a rate of $0.0148 per Flying Club point
- Those with accounts in the UK can purchase 340,000 Flying Club points for £3,015, which is a rate of £0.0089 per Flying Club point ($0.0106)
It’s interesting how much both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic penalize those in the United States when it comes to buying points. Then again, when it comes to overall points earning opportunities, we can’t really complain in the United States, given the amazing credit card offers we have.
We typically only see a bonus on Flying Club points a few times per year, and this is in line with the best offers we’ve seen.
How many Flying Club points can you purchase?
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club ordinarily lets members purchase up to 100,000 points per account per calendar year, before any bonuses. However, during this promotion that cap has been doubled, to 200,000 points.
Which credit card should you buy Flying Club points with?
Flying Club points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending. Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spending, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending.
In this case the best option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (review) or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (review), which offer 2x miles and have no foreign transaction fees.
Usually the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review) or Citi® Double Cash Card (review) would also be good options for maximizing everyday spending, but the cards have foreign transaction fees, so wouldn’t necessarily be a good option in this case.
- Earn 1% cash back when you make a purchase, earn 1% cash back when you pay for that purchase
- $0
- Earn 3% Cash Back on Dining
- Earn 3% Cash Back at Drugstores
- Earn 1.5% Cash Back On All Other Purchases
- $0
- Earn 2x Venture miles on every purchase
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary
- $395
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit
- $95
- 2x points on purchases up to $50k then 1x
- Access to Amex Offers
- No annual fee
Is buying Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points worth it?
Virgin Atlantic is a fantastic niche frequent flyer program, and there are some potentially great redemption opportunities.
Of course you can redeem Virgin Atlantic points for travel on Virgin Atlantic (including for travel in Upper Class). The catch is that the carrier imposed surcharges are significant, and that’s in addition to the UK’s hefty air passenger duty, which applies to itineraries originating in the UK.
What really makes Flying Club great is the partner redemption opportunities, including a couple of sweet spots:
- Redeeming Flying Club points on All Nippon Airways is an amazing value, including for first class and business class for flights to Japan; the catch is that award availability can be tough to come by
- Redeeming Flying Club points on Delta is a potentially good value, including for transatlantic business class, as well as for domestic flights within the United States
The catch of course is that both of these are really niche redemptions, and award availability can be tough to come by. So I’d only buy points with a specific use in mind, because it’s anyone’s guess how long current redemption values will stick around.
How much are Flying Club points worth?
Everyone will value points currencies differently, but personally I value Flying Club points at ~1.2 cents each. However, I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get way more value from Flying Club points than that.
Do Flying Club points expire?
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points don’t expire. There’s no requirement to even have any account activity, as the points will never expire regardless.
What other ways can you earn Flying Club points?
While buying Virgin Atlantic points could represent a great deal, keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to earn Flying Club points. Most significantly, Virgin Atlantic is partners with major transferable points currencies, including American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou. There are several ways to earn these points aside from outright buying them.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is offering members a 70% bonus on purchased points, which is an opportunity to buy the points for 1.06-1.48 cents each, depending on where your account is registered.
There are plenty of circumstances where this could be a great deal. The only major consideration is that there are lots of other ways to earn Virgin Atlantic points with transferable points currencies, so some may prefer to earn rewards that way. With a specific use in mind, there could definitely be huge value in buying Flying Club points.
Do you plan on buying Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points with a bonus?
I always thought VA had good awards on DL (even US domestic) but when I checked it was basically the same as DL miles and many days no flight options were available at all (even though DL had multiple flights that day). Maybe only saver awards and select days or flights are offered but frankly doesn't seem to make sense any more to use non US airline points to book US flight (like VA w...
I always thought VA had good awards on DL (even US domestic) but when I checked it was basically the same as DL miles and many days no flight options were available at all (even though DL had multiple flights that day). Maybe only saver awards and select days or flights are offered but frankly doesn't seem to make sense any more to use non US airline points to book US flight (like VA w Delta or Aeroplan w United) since I just don't see the flights being offered and the price is essentially the same as what US programs charge. Oh well certainly simplifies things!
You can also link Virgin Atlantic to Virgin Rec which gives you access to Virgin Voyages on points and other offers. 5-nt Virgin Caribbean is 80,000 for a balcony for 2 incl tax ($1,184 w/promo) 7-8 nt Europe is 100,00 pts ($1,480).
Wouldn’t it be better for US customers to use the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard with the various sign up bonuses?
30,000 bonus Virgin Points after spending $1,000 or more on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening
*Up to 5,000 bonus Virgin Points when you add additional cardholders to your account
*3 points per dollar spent directly on Virgin Atlantic purchases
*1.5 points per dollar spent on all other purchases
Wouldn’t it be better for US customers to use the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard with the various sign up bonuses?
30,000 bonus Virgin Points after spending $1,000 or more on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening
*Up to 5,000 bonus Virgin Points when you add additional cardholders to your account
*3 points per dollar spent directly on Virgin Atlantic purchases
*1.5 points per dollar spent on all other purchases
*Earn 25 tier points per $2,500 in purchases (maximum 50 per month)
*No foreign transaction fees†
*Low $90 Annual Fee†
https://www.virginatlantic.com/us/en/flying-club/credit-card.html