After a very shaky start with customers during the early stages of the pandemic, Virgin are definitely working very hard to win back loyalty from their customers. Not long ago they improved the Virgin Flying Club scheme and credit cards in multiple ways which you can read about in this article.
There is now a further change. You will remember that Virgin have been trying to integrate their loyalty schemes across all their brands. This will eventually evolve into a new loyalty brand – Virgin Red. Today they are announcing the start of that with the launch of Virgin Points – a currency which has no use-by date and which never expires. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club will adopt Virgin Points instead of Flying Club miles accordingly. There is no difference in how you earn or spend them and the value does not change as they are converted. But the great news (especially now) is that you never have to worry about them expiring. I would also expect to see some new ways to earn and redeem miles/points when Virgin Red is launched.
Personally I think with Air France and KLM onboard and the latest improvements, the Virgin scheme can easily rival the BA Executive club in many ways except route network. However, for those outside London, the regional connections from Air France and KLM could make it worthwhile. Considering Virgin’s onboard offering in Upper Class which is streets ahead of the sandwich you get on long haul with BA, I’d say Virgin is definitely nudging ahead!
Kelly Best, Chief Marketing Officer for Virgin Red, says: “Virgin Points – the new reward currency for Virgin companies – has launched today. This is in preparation for the launch of Virgin Red, a new Virgin-wide rewards club which will be revealed soon. Unlike other loyalty programmes where points vanish, our points have no use-by-date – so no matter what life throws at our members, Virgin Points can be used whenever they want.
“Because Virgin Points will eventually be the currency used across all of the different Virgin companies, Flying Club miles have been rebranded to Virgin Points today. This rebrand doesn’t change how existing Flying Club members can collect or spend points around the globe – except that members can relax safe in the knowledge that Virgin Points will never expire.”
Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at Virgin Atlantic, said: “We’re committed to supporting our most loyal members and creating opportunities for them to enjoy their hard-earned rewards. Flying Club miles have now changed to Virgin Points, which unlike currencies in other loyalty programmes, will never expire. This means members can build up their Virgin Points balance, for as long as they want, and redeem at their leisure, now or in the future.
“Virgin Points have exactly the same value as miles and members can continue to earn and redeem these across Virgin Atlantic, Delta and other partners as they do today, as well as collect tier points. The change in currency provides greater peace of mind for our members and paves the way for an expanded range of ways to earn and spend Virgin Points. To mark this milestone and reward our members as they plot their future travel plans, we’re offering double Virgin Points on every Virgin Atlantic flight booked directly with us by 1st October 2020.”
Double points promotion
To celebrate, the airline will be offering double points (miles) on all Virgin Atlantic flights purchased directly (via virginatlantic.com or the Customer Centre) from 24 September up to and including 1 October 2020. This can be a flight in any cabin, to any destination, in any class. You don’t need to register for the promotion. Flights must be both operated by Virgin Atlantic and marketed by Virgin Atlantic (flight number starts with VS) to be applicable for the bonus points. Codeshare flights are excluded from this offer.
Reward tickets are excluded from the offer, but not Points Plus Money bookings which are applicable for bonus points. Gold members (60%) and Silver members (30%) will still earn tier bonus points.
