Virgin Atlantic relaunch Dubai and new Manchester – Las Vegas service
I had been wondering whether Virgin would revive its Dubai route given the high demand, so I was pleased to Virgin Atlantic is relaunching services between London Heathrow and Dubai. The airline last operated flights to Dubai in March 2019. The four times a week service will operate seasonally from October through to March. Customers can book flights from 7 June 2023 from £505 return in economy. Tickets go on sale 7 June.
The relaunch of the popular route will complement Virgin Atlantic’s two other newly announced premium destinations – the Maldives and Turks and Caicos.
The route will commence on 28 October, operating on the airline’s 787-9 aircraft with 31 Upper Class, 35 Premium and 192 Economy Delight, Classic and Light seats.
Virgin Atlantic has also announced an expansion to services from Manchester Airport, with services to Las Vegas from Summer 2024.
The new Manchester service will operate on one of Virgin Atlantic’s newest aircraft, the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft with 16 Upper Class, 56 Premium, and 325 Economy Delight, Classic, and Light seats as well as the airline’s unique social space – The Booth. Fares start from £770 per person in Economy. Tickets go on sale from 7 July.
Virgin Atlantic is also launching inter-island flying from 14 June when they will be allowing travellers to easily hop from Barbados to Grenada or St Vincent and the Grenadines. The new inter-island service will allow you to book a twin island holiday through Virgin Atlantic Holidays. This will also be complemented by an increase in flights to St Vincent and the Grenadines, which will operate thrice weekly this winter, with seats to St Lucia increasing by 33% since last year.
Rikke Christensen, Vice President of Network & Alliances at Virgin Atlantic, commented;
“I’m thrilled to be returning to Dubai – a destination we know our customers and people love. Its inviting climate during the cold UK winter, combined with its first-class collection of hotels and experiences make Dubai a must visit destination for sunshine hungry Brits”.
“We’ve long wanted to return to this incredible city when the time was right, and this year presents the perfect opportunity. Dubai will complement our growing collection of winter sun destinations, bolstered by The Maldives and Turks and Caicos later this year alongside our new services between Manchester and Las Vegas in Summer 2024 and the soon to commence inter-Caribbean flights. I’m looking forward to welcoming our customers back to this vibrant, exciting destination once more.”
As yet I can’t see any prices for Upper Class or redemptions but I would expect the rewards flights to be around 75,000 points or less return in Upper Class.
You can check for redemptions and cash ticket prices on Virgin Atlantic here.
Limited time 30,000 sign up bonus for Virgin Atlantic Mastercard – no spend restriction for first 15k of bonus
For a limited time you can get up to 30,000 bonus Virgin Points when you sign up to the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card with an annual fee of £160. Your first spend will earn you 15,000 points – plus another 15,000 points if you spend £3,000 within the first 90 days and apply before 13 June. It’s pretty rare to get a bonus without having to spend a set amount so I view this as a decent deal for those that would struggle to make the target.
The offer ends on 13 June. You would also have to link your Flying Club number to your Reward+ Credit Card by 11 September 2023 to get the bonus points.
If you’re looking for other benefits without the fee, you could have a look at the Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card too.
I have the Virgin Reward+ card and like the benefits that it offers, which include a voucher to either upgrade or take a companion for no extra points with you (but you have to pay the extra fees and charges). You earn 1.5 Virgin points per £1 spent, which is a good rate and being Mastercard there are fewer issues with it being accepted.
You can read more about it in this article or this episode of This Week in Travel.
You can find out more and apply here.
