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Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Guide

Before you read this guide, review "Points and Miles 101" to learn the basics of how it all works!

 

Want to earn more points to redeem through Flying Club? Checkout our Recommended Cards!

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a very popular program due to the wide variety of credit card transfer partners, a solid network of flight partners, and some great rates for flights to and from Europe. A major drawback is the amount of fees that can be passed on - especially for their own flights to and from London and Delta One business class to and from Europe. However, frequent transfer bonuses and flash sales make it a very attractive program for all points enthusiasts.
What have we booked through Flying Club?​

Delta One JFK-Brussels - 50k + $5.60 each* (30% transfer bonus made it 39k each) 

Delta Main Cabin Panama City-ATL-Louisville - 20k + $76 each

Air France business ZRH-Paris-ATL - 58.5k + $380 each (30% transfer bonus made it 45k each)

Delta Main Cabin ATL-Louisville - 7.5k + $5.60 each

Virgin Atlantic Economy ATL-Manchester UK - 7.5k + $72 each (40% transfer bonus made it 5.5k)

*as of July 2, 2024, the rate for this flight is now 47.5k - 57.5k (seasonal) + $1032.30

The Basics
1:1 Transfer Partners:

AMEX Membership Reward

Capital One Venture Miles

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Citi ThankYou Points 

Bilt Rewards

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Best uses:
  • Delta (excluding Delta One), Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, and ITA Airways flights to Europe

  • Delta Main Cabin flights from the west coast to Asia

  • Short-haul Delta Main Cabin flights 

  • LATAM flights to South America

  • ANA flights to Japan

  • Korean Air flights to Korea

Book flights operated by:
  • SkyTeam member airlines

  • LATAM

  • ANA**

  • Air New Zealand**

**these airlines can't be booked online through Virgin Atlantic. You must first find the award availability through a Star Alliance airline like United or Air Canada (look for an "NH" flight number for ANA and "NZ" for Air New Zealand), and then call Virgin Atlantic to book. Points transfer instantly to Virgin Atlantic, so we suggest confirming the availability with the phone agent before initiating the transfer. Note that Virgin Atlantic can only book flights 330 days in advance.

Customer service:
  • Phone: +1 800 862 8621

  • Online live chat support available through the "My booking" page

Pricing structure:
  • Dynamic/variable/demand-based pricing for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights

  • Seasonal and zone-based rates for Delta-operated flights to/from Europe (warning: high surcharges/fees for Delta One as of July 2024)

  • Award chart for ANA-operated flights

  • Award chart for Air New Zealand flights

  • Pricing based on distance and segments for all other itineraries (click on each airline on this page to learn more)

Fees/surcharges:
  • Fuel surcharges passed on (significant surcharges for Delta-operated flights to/from the UK)

  • $1032.30 surcharge each way for Delta One to/from Europe (avoid!)

  • 100 USD for change/cancellation/redeposit^

  • Lap infants 5,000 points each way - bookable online for Virgin Atlantic and partners (Related guide: Lap Infant Booking Guide)

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    ^if the taxes and fees are less than 50 USD (i.e. $5.60 for a US domestic flight), the customer          service agents will often not charge a change fee and instead waive the refund of the taxes

How to search and book:​

NOTE: Virgin Atlantic recently rolled out a new user interface and site design, so what you see might look different than the screenshots below. However, the searching and booking process remains the same.

Step 1: Create a Flying Club account (it's free)
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Flying Club Sign-up Page

This is required to search, and you will need to have a Flying Club account setup to transfer points.

Step 2: Enter search details on homepage

Click on the "Reward Flights" option and enter your desired flight route, date, class of service, etc.

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"Premium" = premium economy

"Upper Class" = business class

Virgin Atlantic Search Form

Note: it's best to search and book one way at a time. The site also sometimes has issues putting together multiple segments on partner awards, so we recommend first searching for the long-haul/transatlantic segment to find the availability and then trying to search with connections. 

Virgin Atlantic-operated flights now have variable rates that can offer some amazing deals, but these rates only apply to routes flown by Virgin Atlantic. Adding segments will partners will increase the rate. 

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Virgin Atlantic flies the following routes to/from the US:

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London (LHR) to/from Boston (BOS), New York (JFK), Washington DC (IAD), Atlanta (ATL), Tampa (TPA), Orlando (MCO), Miami (MIA), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA)

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Manchester (MAN) to/from New York (JFK), Atlanta (ATL), Orlando (MCO), and Las Vegas (LAS)

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Edinburgh (EDI) to/from Orlando (MCO)

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Tip: use flightconnections.com to discover all routes worldwide by airline, city, alliance, etc. 

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The new Virgin Atlantic search interface is pretty straightforward and easy to use! Rates will be displayed as the total for the number of passengers selected. So if you search for two passengers and the results show 15k + $146, the rate per person is 7.5k + $73. The "Saver" tag generally indicates the lowest possible rate for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights on that route. Click on the "Flight Details" link to see more about the route and the fare classes. 

Step 3: Search and review results
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Virgin Atlantic results page

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Flight Details

If you receive an error (below) after searching, that means there is no award availability for your selected route and date. This generally occurs with partner flights, as all Virgin Atlantic-operated flights are now available to book with points, but with variable pricing (which is sometimes very high). The site also sometimes has issues with putting together mixed-carrier itineraries (I.e. Delta from Louisville to Atlanta and Virgin Atlantic from Atlanta to London), even if there is availability on both segments. In this case, you can book each segment separately (but be award of the risks of two separate bookings), since the rates are segment-based, or call Virgin Atlantic (+1(800) 862-8621) and asked if it can be booked together by providing the details of each flight with the reward availability. 
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No reward flight availability

Most partner itineraries booked through Virgin Atlantic (other than Delta-operated flights to Europe and ANA/Air New Zealand flights) are priced based on distance. A flight like ATL-MIA will be cheaper than a flight like ATL-DEN. The difference is even greater when searching for international flights - like Seattle-Tokyo vs Atlanta-Tokyo.
Step 5: Finalize booking

At this point, you have confirmed the flight availability and are ready to transfer your points to book. Transfers to Flying Club are instant in most cases, but you usually have to sign out and back in to see the updated points balance in your account. On a rare occasion, your bank or the airline might slow down the transfer to review it for fraud protection (usually if your airline account is brand new or if you're transferring a very large sum of points). Once the points post, search for the flight again and go through the booking process - it's pretty straightforward!​

To select seats, the Virgin Atlantic record locator (6 alphanumeric characters) will often be the same for partner flights like Delta and Air France. You can use this record locator on the partner site to manage your booking. For other airlines, you will need to contact Virgin Atlantic to receive the partner record locator to select seats and manage the booking on the partner site.

BONUS: Reward Seat Checker
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The Virgin Atlantic Reward Seat Checker might be one of the most useful tools in the points and miles world! It only applies to flights operated by Virgin Atlantic, but you can quickly see a monthly view of the lowest rates by date. Simply select the route and month in the search form and hit search! 

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Reward Seat Checker search form

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Reward Seat Checker results

Details are limited in the results, but after finding the date with the best rate, you can go to through the normal search process to book the flight. 
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