How to earn Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles, and save £, with No1 Lounges

If you don’t have airport lounge access via your flight ticket, your elite status, via a Priority Pass card from American Express Platinum or via a Lounge Club card from American Express Gold, your best fall-back option is usually No1 Lounges.

No1 Lounges is the largest network of premium independent lounges in the UK.  We have reviewed all of them in the past (click for the review):

• No1 Lounge Heathrow Terminal 3
• No1 Lounge Gatwick North
• My Lounge Gatwick North and #2
• No1 Clubrooms Gatwick North
• No1 Lounge Gatwick South
• No1 Clubrooms Gatwick South
• No1 Lounge Birmingham
• No1 Lounge Edinburgh

All lounges include free hot food, free drinks (some premium food and drinks carries an extra charge), free newspapers and magazines and free wi-fi.

No1 Lounges has generous tie-ups with both avios.com and Virgin Flying Club.  This allows you to buy access to their lounges at a discount and earn points in avios.com or Virgin Flying Club at the same time.

Full details of the Avios deal can be found here.

Full details of the Virgin deal can be found here.

The Avios offer

If you pre-book lounge access, you will pay a flat fee of £22.50 per person in Birmingham and Edinburgh and £25 in London.  This saves up to £15 depending on airport.  You will also receive 750 Avios points in avios.com.

If you pay on the door – which means you run the very real risk at Gatwick of the lounge being full – you get a fixed discount of £5 on the walk-in price.  You will also receive 500 Avios points in avios.com.

I think this is a decent deal.  Stripping out the value of the Avios takes the net cost down to around £15 and they are definitely worth that if you have a couple of hours to kill.  Birmingham and Edinburgh packages also include fast track security.

Handy hint:  the Avios are awarded per booking.  If you are booking for multiple adult guests, make multiple bookings as long as each has their own Avios account.

The Virgin Flying Club offer

Virgin Flying Club is the only way to earn miles if you want to book the (funkier) My Lounge or  (premium) Clubrooms at London Gatwick.

There is a tiered earning structure, per booking:

• 400 miles at Clubrooms
• 350 miles at No1 Lounges
• 200 miles at My Lounge

The special Virgin Flying Club pricing is:

• £25 – No1 Lounges
• £12 – My Lounge
• £35 – Clubrooms

If you are looking at Birmingham or Edinburgh, you are clearly better off with the Avios deal which is £2.50 cheaper and gives you more miles.  For the No1 Lounges in London, the pricing is the same with both offers but you get more miles with Avios.   For My Lounge or Clubrooms, the Virgin deal is your only option.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.