Where can you fly with Virgin Points, given the 30,000 points credit card bonus?

UPDATE – APRIL 2025:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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.

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.

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Today I wanted to take a look at a regularly asked question – “Where can you fly using Virgin Points?”

This is especially pertinent as you can – until 6th June – get a substantially higher bonus on the Virgin Atlantic / Virgin Money Reward+ credit card. 

As you can read here, the the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card currently comes with a huge 30,000 Virgin Points bonus.

You can apply for the card here.

Click for an article which will help you decide which of the two Virgin Atlantic credit cards is best for you.

You can find out more about the benefits of the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card in this article.  The free Virgin Atlantic credit card, with no sign-up bonus, is examined here.

Before covid hit, Virgin Atlantic had emerged from a major period of flux.  Delta Air Lines of the US had acquired a 49% stake in the business, and a new transatlantic joint venture was formed with Air France and KLM.

Whilst ‘never say never’, I would hope that the reopening of the US market will now put to rest any concerns about the financial stability of Virgin Atlantic.

As far as mileage earning and redeeming, and status earning, goes, you now have the full Virgin Atlantic, Delta, Air France and KLM networks to choose from.

Where does Virgin Atlantic fly?

Virgin Atlantic has now rebuilt its US network, and will even launch a brand new route – Austin – next month.

This is the current route network as per the Virgin Atlantic website, which was last updated in January 2022:

USA:  Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington

Caribbean:  Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Havana, Montego Bay, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines, Tobago

Africa, India and Middle East:  Cape Town (seasonal), Delhi, Islamabad, Johannesburg, Lagos, Lahore, Mumbai, Tel Aviv

Asia:  Hong Kong, Shanghai

From Manchester, Virgin flies to Atlanta, Las Vegas (still suspended post-covid), Los Angeles (seasonal), New York, Orlando, Islamabad, Barbados and Montego Bay.

From Edinburgh, Virgin flies to Barbados and Orlando (seasonal).

From Belfast, Virgin flies to Orlando (seasonal).

Missing from that list are numerous axed destinations – Sydney, Dubai, Cancun, Vancouver, Tokyo, Varadero, Detroit.  Go back further and you can add Accra, Athens, Mauritius, Nairobi, Nassau, Port Harcourt and Toronto.

Virgin also has a close partnership with Delta Air Lines, its 49% shareholder.  This added – pre-covid – Detroit, Minneapolis, Portland, Salt Lake City and Philadelphia to the ex-Heathrow options.  Delta has also historically run Summer services from the US East Coast to UK cities outside London.

If you’re tempted to redeem on Virgin Atlantic in business class, here is our review of the new Upper Class Suite which is rolling out on the new A350 aircraft.  Our article from the re-opening of the Clubhouse Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 is here.

Virgin Atlantic will be revealing its brand new A330 fleet to the world in the next few weeks ….

Redeeming on Virgin Atlantic partners

Virgin has a number of airline partners – ANA, Air New Zealand, Hawaiian Airlines, SAS (earning only), Singapore Airlines, South African Airways and Virgin Australia, plus of course Delta, Air France and KLM.

Spending your points on these partners is not easy.  I wrote an article on the subject here although the exceptional Air China deal discussed is no longer available.

Redeeming to Japan on ANA is, undoubtedly, the best option available from London.  This costs 95,000 Virgin Points return in Business and 120,000 points return in First Class – and you will get the fantastic new ANA seat which I covered here.  You will struggle to find more than one seat per flight in either class, however.

This HfP articles explains everything you need to know about redeeming Virgin Points on ANA.

I would also flag these ideas:

for New Zealand, using Air New Zealand to book redemptions from Asian capital cities to Auckland, which you could tag on to a Virgin Points or Avios redemption between the UK and Asia (Air New Zealand no longer flies from the UK)

using Singapore Airlines for regional flights in Asia (you will struggle to get redemptions from Europe to Singapore as most long-haul flights are blocked)

There are two issues to bear in mind:

some partners only allow redemptions via Virgin Atlantic on certain routes

availability, in general, is NOT the same as that airline offers to its own frequent flyer members or alliance partners

One improvement in recent years is the ability to book one-way redemptions with most partners.  Virgin Atlantic previously insisted on a return flight.

Redeeming Virgin Points on Air France and KLM

By far, the biggest change to Flying Club has been the recent addition of Air France and KLM as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club earning and spending partners.

Virgin, Delta and Air France / KLM have formed a joint venture to cover their combined transatlantic routes, sharing revenues and profits.

From a points point of view, this has some serious repercussions:

You can redeem Virgin Points on Air France and KLM. This opens up a huge new range of redemption possibilities.  Virgin Atlantic has become very USA-centric in the last few years but this new partnership will open up pretty much the entire world.  Choosing Virgin over BA is more attractive when you have such a wide choice of redemptions.

UK flyers who travel with Air France or KLM (which I know is a lot of HfP readers) can now credit their flights to Virgin Flying Club instead of Flying Blue and they will count towards earning Virgin Atlantic status.

We wrote a very detailed two part feature on how to redeem Virgin Points on Air France and KLM which is here and here.

Conclusion

These are a few of your options if you decide to take advantage of the current special credit card sign-up bonus to diversify away from Avios.

Remember that the Reward+ card offers a huge 30,000 Virgin Points (usually 15,000 points), subject to hitting spending targets.  Full details are on the Virgin Money website here.

The 30,000 bonus points offer will end on 6th June.

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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.