If you're one of 5.1 million passengers that travel with Virgin Atlantic every year, you’ll be familiar with its Flying Club program. This membership rewards frequent fliers with loyalty points, which can be redeemed against a number of gifts, ranging from spa treatments to Virgin companion flights.
However, using Flying Club points against travel is one of the most popular options, especially as you only need 3,000 points to get started. In this post, we’ll look at how you can use your points to take you on far-reaching travels.
Virgin Reward Flights
You can earn Flying Club points from the moment you register and fly. This starts at 1,729 points for an ‘economy light’ flight to New York, up to 37,732 for an Upper Class flight to Sao Paulo
Once you’ve racked up enough points, you’ll be able to book Virgin reward flights.
Redeemable flights are divided by standard and peak seasons. They start from 18,000 points for a return flight to Israel, or in contrast, 170,000 points for an Upper Class flight to Brazil.
Although Virgin Atlantic has a reward flight calculator, it can be a little complicated to uncover reward flights. A flight finder tool such as SeatSpy takes less time, and shows all available Virgin reward flights for up to 365 days in advance. Handy since most of us like to book travels in advance.
Miles and money
Prior to reward flight finder tools, using miles plus money was one of the quickest ways to use up Flight Club points. This circumnavigates the need to find available reward seats, since you just cash in points like you would with…. well, cash!
Since you just need 3,000 points to get started (roughly the equivalent of £18 or 0.06 per mile according to Headforpoints), it’s fairly straightforward to use.
If you’re not a frequent flier and not saving your points up towards a Virgin reward flight, this is a convenient way of cashing them in. There’s no limit to how many you use either, and you’ll get more bang for your buck spending them this way, versus using them with reward partners, so it’s an option to consider.
Upgrade yourself
Travel is sweeter with an upgrade, so why not cash in your hard-earned miles for next-level luxury?
Much like redeeming points against the cost of a flight, it will depend on the destination you’re flying to and the current cabin you’re in. Subject to availability, upgrades start from 16,000 Flying Club points through to 127,000 points per person.
The only drawback; bookings must be made via the Virgin Atlantic phone line, meaning that you’re unable to search in the same easy way as you would with a reward flight finder tool.
Book a companion flight
Last but not least, your Flying Club points can be used towards a Virgin companion flight. Terms and conditions require the member to have booked a full-fare adult seat in order to book a reward companion flight.
Since Virgin companion flights get snapped up quickly, it’s worth signing up to the alert function on SeatSpy which instantly informs you when new seats become available. Companion flights are some of the cheapest reward flights available, starting from 9,000 points up 85,000 points, depending on destination and flight class.