Earning and Redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

There are lots of ways to earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and it’s actually one of the simpler frequent flier programmes available.

The fastest way to earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points is by flying with Virgin Atlantic or one of their partner airlines. 

You can also collect Virgin Points with their partner hotels, car rental and travel extras such as insurance or airport parking. Points can be collected when you purchase anything through one of the seven other Virgin brands such as Virgin Holidays or Virgin Experiences.

You can convert your Tesco Clubcard points into Virgin Points, collect extra points by using the Virgin Credit Card and get bonus points by switching to a Virgin bank account.

Virgin also has a rewards club for everyday spending and you can collect points with your online shopping with many of your favourite brands.

Virgin Atlantic currently has 10 flying partners. You can collect Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points when you fly with any of the following airlines:

• Delta
• AirFrance
• KLM
• SAS
• Singapore Airlines
• Air New Zealand
• Virgin Australia
• South African Airways
• Hawaiian Airlines
• All Nippon Airways

The number of points you earn for each flight will vary depending on which cabin you’re in, your ticket type and your membership tier.

To give you an example, if you had a return flight from London to New York in economy and you were a Red Member (that’s the basic membership) you’d earn 866 Virgin points. The cabin you’re in can have a huge impact on the number of points you earn.

Here’s a look at the same flight from London to New York in different cabins:

• Economy - 866 Virgin points
• Economy Classic - 1,732 Virgin points
• Economy Delight - 5,196 Virgin points
• Premium - 3,464 Virgin points
• Upper Class - 6,928 Virgin points

If you were a Gold Member then the points you collect on each flight are around double that of a Red Membership.

Once again, there are lots of variables that would influence the number of points you’d need for a flight. It would depend on your dates, if you’re travelling during peak times, the cabin you’ll sit in, your ticket type and the demand for your ticket.

If you wanted to fly to New York out of the peak season then it would cost 20,000 Virgin points to sit in economy. It would be 35,000 points for premium and 95,000 for upper class.

There are three membership tiers in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. These are Red, Silver and Gold.

The Red membership tier is for new members who are just starting to collect their points. This entry-level tier allows you to earn Virgin Points when you fly, use points plus money on flights, spend your Virgin Points on flights and have access to partner brands.

To move up a level to Silver or Gold you need to collect Tier points. Members collect Tier points each time they fly, earning around 25 tier points for a one-way economy flight all the way up to 200 points for a one-way Upper-Class flight. You can earn 20 around tier points for every £500 spent on flights or holidays. 

You will need 400 Tier points to reach Silver and 1,000 Tier points to reach Gold. You need to earn these Tier points each year to ensure you maintain your membership. (This was extended to 24 months in March 2020 following the Covid pandemic due to the travel restrictions. It may return to 12 months when all travel restrictions are permanently lifted.)

If you are a Silver Member you will get 30% more points for each flight, premium check-in and free seat assignment in Economy Light. 

When you reach the Gold Membership level you will get 60% more points for each flight, Upper-Class check-in, access to Clubhouses and London Heathrow Rivals which are Virgin’s very stylish airport lounges. Gold members also get extra luggage allowance, no matter which cabin they’re flying in, and exit row seat options when they fly in Economy Classic.

If you’re a Virgin Atlantic Silver or Gold Member and you’re having a baby, Virgin will cover any Tier points that are outstanding and needed to renew your status!

You can earn Virgin Flying Club points when you book through Virgin’s partner hotels. These hotels include:

• Marriott Bonvoy
• Best Western
• Hyatt
• IHG 
• Yotel
• Rocketmiles
• Kaligo
• Points Hound
• World Hotels Collection
• Hilton Hotels and Resorts

For most hotel bookings you can earn 1-2 points for every US dollar spent.

Yes, you can earn points if you book your car rental through the following brands:

• Avis
• Alamo
• Hertz
• National
• Enterprise
• Sixt

You can earn up to 1,000 points when you book your car hire.

There are other ways to earn points with Virgin Flying Club and that’s through using their other travel partners. These include:

• VisaCentral - For simple visa applications
• eRewards - You can get points for completing online surveys
• Holiday Extras - For holiday add-ons such as airport parking, airport lounges and travel insurance
• Heathrow Rewards - A programme that allows you collect points on virtually everything you spend at Heathrow Airport
• Purple Parking - Airport parking
• Eurostar
• No1 Lounges - Airport lounges
• Business Traveller - Magazine
• Addison Lee - Chauffeur car services

Members can earn 1-2 points for every £1 spent with travel partners or get 10-20% discounts.

You can also earn and spend your points with the other Virgin brands. These brands include Virgin Holidays who specialise in transatlantic holidays and are best known for their Caribbean package holidays, cruises and Disney holidays to Orlando.  

You could book with Virgin Limited Edition for luxury holidays and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. 

There are Virgin Experience Days for activities like helicopter rides or racing car track days. 

Virgin Hotels for quirky and unique hotels across the US. 

There’s Virgin Games for an online casino, Virgin Balloon Flights and Virgin Wines for bottles straight to your doorstep. 

You can also redeem your Virgin Points with Virgin Galactic and enter a prize draw to go into space, or gift a Virgin Gift Card which can be used for any of the Virgin brands.

You can use your Virgin Points to purchase a gift card to be used with any Virgin brand. You will need the following points to purchase certain amounts:

• £10 voucher = 2,000 points
• £15 voucher = 3,000 points
• £25 voucher = 5,000 points
• £50 voucher = 10,000 points
• £75 voucher = 15,000 points
• £100 voucher = 20,000 points

If you’re looking for a way to boost your Virgin Points then the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card is the place to start! It’s like a regular credit card except you earn Virgin Points every time you use it. Not only that but you’ll earn double points if you use your credit card to book Virgin Atlantic flights or Virgin Holidays.

This is a good way to turn your everyday spending into Virgin Points, but don’t use it as an excuse to overspend as the fees will counteract any points you’ve earned. 

Another great way to earn extra Virgin Points is to switch bank accounts to Virgin Money’s ‘M Plus Account’. When you switch to this account you’ll be rewarded with 15,000 points! That’s almost enough for a return flight to New York!

Not only can you earn Virgin Flying Club points through flights and travel related bookings but you can earn with your everyday spending too when you use Virgin Red.

Virgin Red is a new rewards club linked to the Virgin Flying Club where points are earned with everyday spends. 

You can earn Virgin Red points by shopping online with popular brands like Boots, Apple, M&S, eBay, asos, Microsoft, Samsung, Halfords, Not on the High Street, Argos, B&Q, Currys and more. They can also be earned with food and beverage brands such as Dominos and Just Eat.

Points can then be spent on everyday items or saved and put towards flights. 

Examples of everyday spends include things such as a cinema ticket (1,350 points), a hot drink from Greggs (325 points), Greggs sausage roll (200 points) or a case of wine (15,500 points).

If you’re a Tesco shopper then you’ll be pleased to know you can exchange your Clubcard vouchers for Virgin Points. If you set up your account so that your Clubcard vouchers are automatically exchanged for Virgin Points then you’ll get a bonus 2,000 Virgin points! Tesco Clubcard vouchers can be collected in-store, online or at their petrol stations so those Clubcard vouchers can quickly add up.

Another way to boost your points is with Virgin Atlantic’s Points Booster system whereby members can pay for extra points. This only applies to flights with Virgin Atlantic but members have the option to pay for extra points.

For example, if you’re flying to New York you could pay £69.16 and get an extra 6,916 points. Or you could double it and get 13,832 points for £138.32.

If you’re happy to part with the cash then, pound for pound, it is good value for money, especially if you’re saving your points for a particular holiday.

Monica is a travel writer based in Wales and runs The Travel Hack, a blog sharing tips and advice to get out and explore the world.

Check out The Travel Hack.