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British Airways adds new routes whilst Virgin Atlantic expands at Manchester

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British Airways has added two new services for the Summer 2020 timetable, which starts at the end of March.

These services are now available for Avios redemption, so if you previously struggled to find seats to these destinations you may want to take another look.

New Orleans – a new Tuesday flight has been added, taking the service to six per week

Nassau and Grand Cayman (the same flight serves both destinations) – a new Tuesday flight has been added, taking the service to five per week

Virgin Atlantic adds more flights from Manchester and Gatwick

Virgin Atlantic has added more services from Manchester and London Gatwick for Summer 2020.  This is in response to the failure of Thomas Cook which served many of the same routes.

Here are the changes:

An additional flight from Manchester to Barbados will run for the entire Summer season (late March to late October), taking the service from two per week to three per week

An additional two flights per week will be added between Manchester and Las Vegas over the peak Summer period

An additional one to two flights per week will be added between Manchester and Orlando over the peak Summer period (Virgin will be running 14 weekly flights between Manchester and Orlando at times!)

An additional two flights per week will be added between London Gatwick and Orlando over the peak Summer period, meaning that Virgin will be running 18 weekly flights at times

These flights do not go on sale until tomorrow, Saturday 9th.  Virgin Atlantic does not have a policy over releasing guaranteed reward seats at the same time as booking opens, although it is certainly worth checking tomorrow to see if anything is available.

You can book via the Virgin Atlantic site here.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

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. 

Category

British Airways and Avios, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (222)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Jonathan says:
    8 Nov8 November 19:48

    Quick question on infant redemption booking as part of an adult 2 for 1 voucher where I’m hoping to book ~355 days out.

    At the point of booking has anyone got round the fact that said infant under 2 may not have been born yet so isn’t an avios household member, doesn’t have a name 100% fixed, etc? Can you add a fictitious infant as a placeholder for example and update name and add passport nearer the time?

    Struggling to book 355 days out if this is an issue!

    Thanks

    • Nate1309 says:
      8 Nov8 November 20:00

      How popular are we talking for this flight? Could it wait for a phone call in the morning? We have booked for an infant that didn’t exist yet but we rang up on the morning T-355.
      The other option would be to just book yourself and your partner on the 241 booking and then ring up to add an infant at a later date? that must be possible as you could book a flight and in the 355 days get pregnant and have a baby that wasn’t even a glint of the eye at T-355 days.

    • Nadeshka says:
      8 Nov8 November 21:27

      We’ve done this for two holidays – just book for the two adults and you can add the baby once it arrives, it doesn’t need additional award availability (because it doesn’t get a seat!)
      Once you have the name and DOB for the baby call up saying you want to add an infant. They will charge 10% of the avios and taxes for one adult to add the child.
      Plus side, you get free seat selection so can grab the bassinet seat.
      Minus side, make sure you double check the bookings as they put the name incorrectly into one of the flights and I had to call again to correct.

      • Jonathan says:
        9 Nov9 November 00:24

        Thanks all very helpful.

        Destination is Mauritius which looks very popular.

      • Jonathan says:
        9 Nov9 November 10:23

        Thank you. Have you faced an issue where a gold card holder has nipped in and reserved the bassinet seat?

        We’re due Mid-february so likelihood is that it might have been taken pre birth. Or is the bassinet seat unavailable to golds?

        Thanks again.

        • Lady London says:
          9 Nov9 November 19:26

          I am certain I got booted out of those seats as a Gold more than once for people who used the bassinet. It’s something to learn – never choose those seats unless with infant. Because of high chance of being booted if an infant appears.

          But when it’s done there will only he highly undesirable seats they will move you to. So if you’re not in need of a bassinet stay away from reserving bulkhead seats at least on BA. Obviously higher risk on some routes than others.

    • Jonathan says:
      8 Nov8 November 21:47

      Book just the couple, once baby is born call and add them to the booking via the call centre.

  • Sloth says:
    8 Nov8 November 21:31

    Assuming you can find the John Lewis gift cards in Morrison’s of course…I’ve just got back from Wimbledon where they have all been cleared out. As well as the amazon ones… 🙁

  • DaveL says:
    8 Nov8 November 23:13

    Sadly not appearing for me

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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