Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program tends to fly under the radar. Back in the day, the airline flew from London – Sydney via Hong Kong and provided a great alternative to Qantas & British Airways who fly the route via Singapore. Operating ultra-long-haul routes profitably is one of the hardest gig in the game and so after years of losses, Virgin Atlantic were forced to cancel the service in 2014.

When Covid-19 hit, the airline was impacted very badly and at one time there were fears it may go bust. It would take founder Richard Branson to liquidate tens of millions of dollars of personal wealth as well as sell shares in other Virgin group businesses such as Virgin Galactic to keep the airline afloat.

Fast forward to 2022, the worst seems to have passed which is great news.

Virgin Atlantic B-787 Upper Class Seats

And while the airline itself has had a bumpy ride over the years, it’s been clear skies for Virgin Atlantic’s Frequent Flyer Program, Flying Club which continues to offer very good value to members. There have been no significant changes to the program over the years, except for partner redemptions on Delta and the rebranding of airline’s currency from Miles to Points.

Let’s take a look at some of the top Business Class redemptions you can make with Virgin Points.

Earning Virgin Points

Before I get into the redemption sweet spots, I want to briefly talk about earning Virgin Points in Australia. There are no Virgin Atlantic Cards in Australia, and it is not possible to earn Virgin Points directly from credit card spend or welcome bonus.

The easiest and most efficient way to access Virgin Points is by signing-up for an American Express Card. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a partner of American Express Membership Rewards Program and you can transfer points in the ratio of 2:1 (2 Membership Rewards Points = 1 Virgin Point).

The only other way to earn Virgin Points is by converting points from Hotel Loyalty Programs. You can do this from programs such as Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards & Hilton Honors. Although this is an option, it is not something I will recommend as conversion rates are rather poor and you will get much better value redeeming hotel points for hotel stays. See this link for details on Virgin Atlantic Hotel partners and the respective conversion rate.

Redeeming Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic is not a member of any of 3 major global airline alliances. What it offers though, is a roster of airline partners with which it has struck bilateral partnerships. You can redeem Virgin Points on the following partner airlines:

• Delta
• Air France-KLM
• Air New Zealand
• Virgin Australia
• ANA
• Hawaii Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• Indigo
• SAS

Not every partner on the list is equal. For instance Indigo is a low cost carrier and does not offer Business Class on its planes, similarly Singapore Airlines do not generally release Business or First Class seats to partners. Air New Zealand can also be very stingy when it comes to offering premium-cabin seats for redemption. Lastly, it is very easy to earn Velocity points for redemptions on Virgin Australia, so unless you are based overseas, I wouldn’t recommend you eat into your Virgin Points balance to fly Virgin Australia.

Despite all of the above, there are some fantastic opportunities to redeem Virgin Points for high value redemptions.

Redemptions on Air New Zealand

Although long-haul redemptions are difficult to come by on Air NZ, the airline does open-up reward seats on flights to Australia from time to time.

You can fly Air New Zealand Business Premier (ie, Air NZ Business Class) between Australia and New Zealand one-way for just 15,000 Virgin Points. Talk about value 🤑 🤑

Air New Zealand B-787 Business Premier Cabin

As a comparison, you will need 41,500 Qantas points if you want to fly to Aotearoa with Qantas or 35,500 Velocity points with Virgin Australia when it starts flying to Queenstown later this year.

In the off-chance that you find reward seats on Air New Zealand flights to Hawaii or North America, a one-way Business Class flight from Auckland to Honolulu and Los Angeles is priced at 45,000 and 62,500 Virgin points respectively which again compares very favourably with what other carriers charge on this route.

Redemptions on ANA

ANA is Japan’s largest airline and offers non-stop flights between Tokyo (Haneda) and Sydney. Earlier in the year, the airline had announced plans to restart services to Perth which it operated pre-covid, but this ended up being suspended probably because International tourists cannot yet visit Japan freely.

Let’s hope this changes in not too distant future, because when it does;

You will be able to fly ANA Business Class between Sydney and Tokyo one-way for just 45,000 Virgin points. That is incredible value when you consider Qantas charges 82,000 points and Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Program will have you shelling-out 100,500 Miles for this route.

ANA B-787 Business Class Seat

Further afield, you can fly ANA Business Class between Tokyo and London or Tokyo and New York one-way for a slightly higher 47,500 Virgin Points. I can’t speak from personal experience but a lot of luxury travellers consider ANA’s B-777 Business Class which is regularly flown on these 2 routes as the best Business Class product in the world.

Redemptions on Delta

Delta is arguably Virgin Atlantic’s closest partner. Part of the reason being Delta’s 49% ownership stake in the airline. Delta operates an extensive network of flights to Europe and several cities in North Asia.

It also offers a single daily service between Los Angeles & Sydney. However, given the likelihood of finding award space (almost nil) and atrocious redemption rate, I won’t get into it. The best value Flying Club redemptions are on Delta’s flights between U.S. & Europe, excluding UK. For instance;

You can fly the gorgeous Delta One Suites between Amsterdam and Boston or Paris and Atlanta for 50,000 Virgin points.

Delta One Suites on A-350

Delta One Suites is Delta’s most luxurious product. It features sliding doors for privacy and 180-degree flat-bed seat which can be easily adjusted for dining, work or rest.

Redemption rates on flights between U.S. and UK depend on time of the year. During standard season, you can fly Delta One Suites between East Coast cities such as New York and Boston to London for just 47,500 Virgin points. Unfortunately, the award is ruined by the very high fees and taxes payable on these redemptions (expect upwards of US$725 one a one-way award).

The work-around to this situation would be to fly to somewhere close-by, such as Amsterdam and then catch a cheap flight to London. Doing this will save you over US$700 in fees and taxes as you can see below.

You can also redeem Virgin points on Delta’s domestic flights within U.S. although this wouldn’t get you into Delta One Suites as these are mostly offered on long-haul International routes. For instance, you can fly between Boston and San Francisco in Delta First Class for 52,500 Virgin points and minimal fees and taxes.

Flying Club applies a distance based award chart for Delta’s domestic flights and while this isn’t out-of-the-world value, I consider the pricing to be more than acceptable for a flight nudging best part of 7 hours.

Redemptions on Virgin Atlantic

If you are wondering why I have left Flying Club redemption’s on Virgin Atlantic’s own metal until the last, it is for a reason. Flying Club program applies very high fees, taxes and carrier charges on Virgin Atlantic flights.

Virgin Atlantic A-350 Upper Class

And while the redemption rates are quite attractive, this still doesn’t make up (in my opinion) the ludicrous amounts of Cash you have to fork out on these flights. Take for instance the pricing on flights between U.S. and UK;

You can fly from New York to London in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class for 47,500 Virgin Points, looks reasonable until you see that you will be on the hook for US$725 🙄

That is around A$ 1,070 in today’s money. I mean everyone have their own idea on what is a good redemption but I have a hard time accepting this is one of it.

It is the same story on Virgin Atlantic flights to places such as Delhi,

or Johannesburg,

or Hong Kong

The one exception to this rule is if you fly the Hong Kong route in the opposite direction, ie from Hong Kong to London where fees and taxes are about A$60.

Historically speaking, Hong Kong airport did not allow airlines to impose carrier charges on flights departing from the island-city. This was done to keep the Hong Kong airport at a competitive advantage from challengers such as Singapore’s Changi.

This rule was abolished a few years ago and airlines are able to levy carrier charges if they wish, for some reason however this hasn’t happened on Virgin Atlantic flights. Long this may continue 🙌🏽

In Conclusion

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club may not be the most valuable in the world, it definitely deserves a place in the comity of Frequent Flyer Programs. Used strategically for partner redemptions on select routes, it provides outstanding value.

The fact that Virgin Atlantic does not belong to any global alliance has allowed it to cobble together partnership’s with diverse partners such as ANA & Singapore Airlines (Star Alliance) to Delta and Air France-KLM (SkyTeam). Then there are non-allied partners such as Virgin Australia and Hawaii Airlines.

The program isn’t perfect though, besides very high carrier charges it collects on Virgin Atlantic flights, it is also let down by not partnering with any oneworld alliance members. This potentially prevents many oneworld flyers from actively engaging with the program.

Let’s hope this changes at some time in the future.

Do you redeem Virgin Points? Leave a comment below.