Say goodbye to Virgin Atlantic’s 747s with dinner, champagne and aircraft tour for £50

Virgin Atlantic is putting on an exclusive farewell retirement event for its Boeing 747 fleet at Heathrow next Saturday.

With 747s disappearing from the skies, this could be your last opportunity to explore the aircraft. It includes areas not normally open to the public, including crew rest areas and the cargo hold under the passenger deck.

The experience also includes a champagne reception in the upper deck ‘bubble’ of the 747 as well as a three course meal in the comfort of your own Upper Class seat.

(For clarity, the aircraft is not flying anywhere – this is a hangar event!)

Tickets are £50 which is, frankly, unbelievably cheap, given you would struggle to get a champagne three course dinner in a West London pub for that price!

The event will be held on Saturday 12th December with several different time slots available. There are 50 tickets available in total at £50 each.

Tickets will be on sale from 9am on Monday 7th December from this Eventbrite page.

Due to Covid restrictions and social distancing measures there are only 50 tickets available in total, for several different slots during the day.

All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to the Trussel Trust, which supports a network of food banks.

What’s included?

The experience is a three hour event at Heathrow and includes:

• Champagne reception on the 747 upper deck
• Three course a la carte meal in Upper Class
• Full aircraft tour, including cockpit, crew rest areas, cargo hold etc
• Opportunity to speak to Virgin Atlantic pilots, cabin crew and engineers including Yvonne Kershaw, the first female pilot to Captain the Boeing 747
• Opportunity to get your photo taken sitting inside one of the jet engines!

For anyone who doesn’t get tickets, Rob and I will be attending a press event on Friday and are hoping to live-blog the event on our Instagram page. We will update you closer to the time when that will be happening!

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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.