Uh oh: Virgin Atlantic makes sweeping changes to Flying Club, including dynamic pricing

Virgin Atlantic has just announced it is changing the way you can earn and redeem points from 30th October.

This is what Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, had to say:

“Our customers mean the world to us. We are flying because of them and for forty years we have existed to make their journeys safe and special. Our aim is always to do right by them and to make them smile. In our special Ruby anniversary year, we are making every single seat available for purchase with points, becoming even more rewarding for our millions of loyal Flying Club members.”

Chief Experience Officer Siobhan Fitzpatrick says these changes will offer customers “as much choice, value and flexibility as possible.”

Do you believe them? Let’s take a look.

There is a lot happening at once, particularly when it comes to redemptions, so I will outline the changes one-by-one below.

In many cases we don’t have all the details yet, making it difficult to determine whether you will benefit from these changes or whether this is the devaluation to end all devaluations.

Virgin Atlantic has now published guidance on its own website here, as well.

You can now redeem points on ALL seats

One of the biggest changes is that Virgin Atlantic will (from 30th October) open up all seats for redemption. If a seat is available for cash, you can use your points.

The catch, of course, is that these will be dynamically priced and “vary in line with demand” in the same way that cash ticket pricing fluctuates.

I am told that “pricing won’t work on a points per £ basis,” only that “we expect the large majority of seats available today to be at the same prices or lower in the future,” but Virgin Atlantic was unable to provide any further detail into the pricing model nor representative examples.

Whilst Virgin claims it won’t be based on a fixed points per £ basis, it’s hard to see how dynamic pricing could work without some sort of link between the points price and the cash price.

If pegged anywhere close to 2 points per 1p (as Virgin Red redemptions are) that would be BAD news, reducing the value to 0.5p per point. It would put a New York Upper Class flight, even in a sale, at 200,000 points plus £995 of taxes and charges. Outside sale periods you would be looking at ….. well, who knows.

Virgin have confirmed that there will be no minimum or maximum cap on pricing, simply that the price will be determined algorithmically, based on supply and demand, as cash tickets are.

Based on what we saw when Delta (which owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, remember) moved to dynamic award pricing, redemptions could get toppy indeed and extend into the hundreds of thousands of points for some flights. Delta’s standard reward price for return transatlantic flights is 750,000 SkyMiles in business class.

Introducing Saver Seats

Under the current system, Virgin Atlantic guaranteed 12 seats available for fixed-price redemption on every flight: two in Upper Class, two in Premium and eight in economy.

This will be scrapped in favour of so-called ‘Saver’ pricing. Whilst these will also be dynamically priced, they will be offered “at or below today’s prices.”

It’s hard to know how this compares to the current offering without a pricing chart and representative taxes and charges, but Virgin Atlantic says flights to New York will be available from as few as 6,000 points. One-way standard season economy tickets are currently 10,000 points although there are regular seat sales.

Saver pricing will be available in all classes, but there is no guaranteed minimum number of Saver seats per flight, as these will be dynamically priced. What this means is that on popupular, busy flights where the cash price is high you should expect to pay high points prices, whilst quieter, cheaper flights for cash will also be correspondingly cheaper for points.

The removal of guaranteed low-price redemption availability is disappointing and means you are unlikely to be able to get good reward deals when cash prices are sky-high.

Virgin Atlantic could theoretically – and most likely will in reality – never release Saver seats on its most popular routes, forcing you to redeem for higher-cost, dynamically priced seats.

Changes to credit card and Gold tier vouchers

Changes are also being made if you’ve got a Virgin Atlantic credit card voucher or a voucher for renewing Flying Club Gold.

All current vouchers will be converted to the new Flying Club reward voucher on the 30th October.

You can continue to use the new voucher as a companion voucher or upgrade voucher, but it will now be redeemable on any seat in any cabin, in line with the move to universal redemptions.

A new, fixed points cap now applies to vouchers, in order to accommodate the new dynamic pricing being introduced:

• Flying Club Red members can redeem their voucher up to a maximum of 75,000 points
• Flying Club Silver or Gold members can redeem their voucher up to a maximum value of 150,000 points

The value of your voucher will be calculated at the time of redemption, not when you fly.

Here’s an example. A standard Upper Class redemption to New York is currently 95,000 points, return. If you are Flying Club Silver or Gold, you have no problem using your voucher to unlock a ‘free’ companion ticket, as it’s below the maximum 150,000 threshold.

A Flying Club Red member would be 20,000 points short, as the voucher only covers a maximum of 75,000 points. However ….

You will still be able to use your voucher even if it doesn’t cover the full amount of the companion ticket or upgrade, as Virgin Atlantic will now let you top it up. In other words:

• Flying Club Silver/Gold members would pay 95,000 points + taxes for two Upper Class tickets to New York
• Flying Club Red members would pay 115,000 points + taxes for two: 95,000 points for the first ticket, plus the voucher (worth 75,000 points) and the difference of 20,000 points.

This is not hugely different from the old system where Flying Club Red members could only redeem 50% of the points required for the second Upper Class ticket, although it does make cheaper Upper Class redemptions more attractive.

You’ll earn more points on Premium and Upper Class flights

The way you earn points will change as well, with Virgin Atlantic bumping up the number of points you earn. Upper Class tickets will earn ‘up to’ 50% more whilst points earned on Premium tickets will rise as much as 75%.

The exact rise will likely depend on your exact fare bucket – eg. a flexible Upper Class fare vs a standard Upper Class fare may change differently.

However, increasing the number of points you earn when flying is rarely a good thing as it suggests a devaluation is happening elsewhere (eg. at the point of redemption, assuming redemption prices go up.)

Not changing …. taxes and fees?

One thing glaringly absent from the press release was any mention of taxes and fees.

One of the biggest issues with the current state of Flying Club redemptions are the ludicrously high fees, which can easily hover around the £1,000 mark for an Upper Class redemption to New York.

This is the #1 biggest complaint we receive every time we write about Virgin Atlantic Flying Club …. not the desire to redeem points for any seat available. (Which, of course, you can already do via ‘points and cash’ redemptions.)

If Virgin Atlantic continues to charge the same ludicrous fees whilst also increasing the cost of points required under the dynamic pricing model then that would be a clear devaluation.

Conclusion

Virgin Atlantic is making a raft of changes to the way Flying Club redemptions work. All these changes will come into effect on 30th October, so you still have a month to redeem points under the current system.

At the moment, it’s hard to know the exact impact these will have as Virgin Atlantic has given very little detail.

In theory, being able to redeem points on any seat is a good thing, but as always it will depend on how these are price. The cynic in me wonders just how these dynamic rewards will be priced and how many Saver Seats will be offered per flight in each cabin. The lack of detail suggests it is worse than it might appear.

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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):

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.

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.

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

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