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I thought I’d found an Upper Class sweet spot for Virgin Points, but I was wrong

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As regular readers will know, the move to ‘dynamic pricing’ for Virgin Flying Club flight rewards seems to have been cover for slashing the number of reward seats available – if you use the definition of ‘available’ as ‘priced at a level you would want to pay’.

We published a lengthy analysis of dynamic pricing here.

Based on Heathrow departures, the ONLY routes where you have a fair chance of finding Upper Class Saver seats (ie sensibly priced ones) are New York, Washington, Bangalore, Boston, Mumbai and Riyadh.

Virgin Points best redemption

Even then, the need to find a return date at Saver level which matches your outbound means that you still have no guarantee of being able to book.

The situation has actually got worse since we did our analysis. As of yesterday lunchtime, the number of days with Upper Class Saver seats to Las Vegas for the whole of 2025 is five, for example.

And, of course, even if you book one of those five outbound dates, the chance of finding an inbound seat is equally slim.

However, I thought I had found a sweet spot

A reader flagged that there is a huge amount of Upper Class Saver availability between Manchester and Atlanta.

We didn’t look at Manchester departures when doing our initial analysis – scraping the pricing data for the Heathrow routes took long enough – so this one slipped through.

The key thing about Atlanta is that it is the base of Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic’s 49% shareholder. Even if you don’t want to go to Atlanta itself, you will have no problem picking up a connection to pretty much anywhere in North America on Delta for cash or Virgin Points.

The reader was correct. Here are the number of dates with Upper Class Saver seats priced at 29,000 to 39,000 Virgin Points outbound:

  • January – 8
  • February – 15
  • March – 10
  • April – 7
  • May – 13
  • June – 6
  • July – 0
  • August – 10
  • September – 13
  • October – 13

Seats for the latter half of November and December 2025 are not yet bookable.

For most of the year, it’s looking pretty good. There are actually MORE Saver dates than indicated above, because I have only flagged dates priced at the lowest levels of Saver pricing. The majority of the dates indicated above are at the lowest 29,000 points level and if you are willing to pay 47,000 points each way there are LOTS more dates.

Virgin Points best redemption

And yet, and yet ….

It seemed too good to be true, and of course it was.

It is VERY easy to get from Manchester to Atlanta for 29,000 Virgin Points in Upper Class, one way.

Tough luck trying to get home though.

Perhaps foolishly, I assumed that if availability was relatively open flying TO Atlanta, it should be relatively open in the opposite direction.

More fool me.

These are the number of dates with Upper Class Saver seats priced between 29,000 and 39,000 Virgin Points flying from Atlanta TO Manchester:

  • January – 2
  • February – 2
  • March – 0
  • April – 0
  • May – 0
  • June – 0
  • July – 0
  • August – 0
  • September – 0
  • October – 0

It’s makes no sense

How can demand from Manchester TO Atlanta in Upper Class be so low that there are almost 100 days next year when you can fly at the ‘lowest of the low’ price of 29,000 to 39,000 Virgin Points one way, but only FOUR days in the entire year when you can fly back?

Obviously the fact that it’s a day flight outbound and a night flight inbound accounts for part of this – some travellers may only want to pay for Upper overnight – but is the difference so huge to effectively wipe out the lowest level of Saver availability?

To be fair, there are a handful of dates (25) where the return flight from Atlanta to Manchester is priced at 40,000 to 50,000 Virgin Points – it’s just that you never see them at the lowest price level. This means that, combined with a 29,000 to 39,000 points outbound flight, you can still do the return trip for under 90,000 points. This isn’t a bargain compared to the pre-changes pricing though.

Conclusion

I thought we’d finally found a small chink of daylight in the new Virgin Atlantic reward pricing chart. I was wrong.

We will keep digging on your behalf though. And, of course, there are a fair number of Upper Class Saver seats on Heathrow to New York, Washington, Bangalore, Boston, Mumbai and Riyadh – at least outbound.

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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

Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (86)

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

  • ChasP says:
    15 Dec15 December 05:21

    The lowest level Reward Saver seats also trigger lower level of charges even if the other leg isnt a saver eg a 100k LHR-SFO & 43k saver SFO-LHR results in £870 While a 67.5k Saver return still attracts £1040 same as a 68k return leg which is no longer classified as a saver
    So for SFO 67.5k is the trigger for a saver
    1) do we know what the trigger for lower fees is
    2) If you get the 1 in a billion lower level saver both ways do the fees reduce further ?

  • Jon Roberts says:
    15 Dec15 December 05:52

    I can guarantee that they add materially fewer saver seats for the return due to the expected popularity of the overnight return in Upper Class. Their dynamic pricing will suggest to them is doesn’t make sense, I’d imagine, sadly.

  • Elemy says:
    15 Dec15 December 05:58

    I tried to book a one way yesterday, the Rewards seat checker showed it was 145,000 as part of a return but when I asked them to price it as a one-way it was 350,000 points!

    Do they realise that they’ve completely destroyed their flying club? I can’t see any reason to persevere with these sorts of numbers in particular when I know or suspect they won’t change it because the Americans with their credit cards won’t actually see the same problem that we do.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    15 Dec15 December 06:06

    If i remember rightly, the guaranteed seats thing came in during the covid recovery period. Also, some virgin redemptions were a lot cheaper than BA under the old system. A readjustment was due, although I think they have gone a bit too far I am not surprised this has happened.

    • Rob says:
      15 Dec15 December 08:18

      They weren’t cheaper – it’s just BA introduced ‘most Avios, less cash’ options. Both were roughly 100k plus £1k to New York but BA let you do 180k plus £350 if you wanted. Same total cost if you value a mile at 1p.

  • Nick says:
    15 Dec15 December 06:51

    With a substandard business class product on the majority of their aircraft and after British Airways had tied up with Barclays to enable collection of Avios on non-Amex cards, Virgin’s changes to Flying Club are unbelievable. It’s as if senior management had said “what can we do to try to lose as many of our premium and most loyal passengers to our main rival as possible?” I shan’t be renewing my Virgin Premium+ card when it comes up for renewal and I’ve also stopped using the Virgin Trains Ticketing app as a result of the Flying Club changes. This really is a great lesson in how to trash a brand.

    • Littlefish says:
      15 Dec15 December 09:24

      Yes – I had looked at the Barclays voucher offer previously and found it had too many downsides. However, these recent Virgin changes have made me rethink, re-assess and I’ve now signed up for the Barclay’s avios offer.

      Part of it is the total lack of availability on my previous six main Virgin routes at anything under twice the previous points levels (and its mostly higher than 2 times).
      But a good part of it is the sheer lack of integrity and the re-writing my Rewards+ voucher terms, after I earned it.
      What’s to say they don’t pull more fast ones?
      I’d rather deal with BA, even with their downsides, than the current way Virgin is being run.

  • Matt B says:
    15 Dec15 December 07:05

    With the amount of points dished out by American credit cards that can be easily redeemed on VA maybe VA should stop calling itself our 2nd national carrier.

    • Stuart says:
      15 Dec15 December 08:20

      Although DL has a 49% stake in VS, it seems DL is the boss in this relationship and VS is only a small UK offshoot. Perhaps using VS is handy to DL to feed in India traffic (as USA to India is a long, uneconomical use of the DL A359s).

      • Bagoly says:
        15 Dec15 December 09:22

        I think this is indeed the point, and why I fear it is not likely to be reversed.

      • Jonathan says:
        15 Dec15 December 09:41

        I think that’s the primary reason the Tel Aviv route was born.
        It’ll be interesting to see how that prices when it properly relaunches, especially given that when BA’s aircraft return they’ll be offering a far worse overall experience for a 5 hour flight.

        Hopefully VS might come back with some better flight times though !

  • Bob says:
    15 Dec15 December 07:13

    You’re trying to sense of the change from Virgin? Just pick up a dictionary and look up the definition of “greed” and “price gouging”.

    • Charles Martel says:
      16 Dec16 December 00:03

      Or possibly desperation? Virgin no longer feels like a brand on the rise, or even with a clear position. It’s too long in the tooth to be the young challenger but also too desperate to be cool to be corporate and prestige.

      It feels more like an airline struggling to survive rather than exploiting a dominant position.

      • Throwawayname says:
        16 Dec16 December 15:54

        Exactly, they are getting less relevant by the day and I don’t think they’re capable of stopping that trajectory. I recently flew them for the first time and almost all of the cabin crew looked miserable (that’s not to say that they were hostile to pax or anything- service was fine, if a bit slow, though load factors were low and it did make me wonder about whether they could cope with a full cabin).

        I am just hoping to maximise my use of their points to fly on AF before the inevitable (serious partner award devaluation or winding up of the airline) happens.

  • Andrew says:
    15 Dec15 December 07:14

    I’ve booked a Lhr to Las Vegas flight in upper for 41k one way and about £450 in taxes which was a bargain. The return however is with BA as virgin was £200k plus one way home.

    • Steve S says:
      15 Dec15 December 09:11

      Hope that’s 200k Avios not £

      • Skywalker says:
        15 Dec15 December 12:23

        Maybe VS is hoping that people win big at Las Vegas and pay the £200k flight price back to London without batting an eyelid.

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