Virgin Atlantic has introduced a range of new benefits for its Flying Club members. Recently they have been gradually improving the program with the new credit card benefits and points that don’t expire. Plus new ways to redeem points from sausage rolls to a concert in Virgin’s exclusive box at Manchester Arena.
Here are the changes:
In this post:
Making it easier to move up the tiers
It’s now easier to move up within the membership tiers. A reduction in the tier points thresholds will mean quicker tier rises are more accessible, with customers requiring fewer points to achieve Gold or Silver status upgrades. I think this is a great idea given that its still tricky to fly long haul to many destinations. It is similar to the BA 25% reduction for their executive Club members until next summer, although not quite as generous as BA’s temporary reduction.
From April 2022 until March 2023 the tier points you will need are:
- 300 Tier Points instead of 400 to upgrade from Red to Silver status,
- 800 Tier points for Gold Status, instead of the usual 1,000.
You can see the tier benefits here.
Earn more tier points on Virgin Holidays
In addition to receiving more Virgin Points, members will now be able to earn tier points through every booking with Virgin Atlantic Holidays. BA currently have a double tier points on holidays offer, but you don’t normally get any additional tier points for booking a holiday. Virgin definitely wins on this one so it will be interesting to see if BA follows.
For bookings made from 9 November, customers will earn 20 Tier Points for every £500 they spend on a getaway with Virgin Holidays – up to a maximum of 400 Tier Points. This is on top of the points earned through flights. Members will also earn more Virgin Points for their holiday, as the airline is upping the earn rate for every pound spent across all tiers.
- Red: 2 points per £1 spent
- Silver: 3 points per £1 spent
- Gold: 4 points per £1 spent
Silver bonus
As a thank you for their continued loyalty, every Silver cardholder will receive a one-off Clubhouse pass for themselves and a guest. Virgin Atlantic’s Clubhouse at Heathrow is one of my favourite lounges in the world and definitely one of the best business classes lounges that there is.
From today, Silver status also means members can pool their Virgin Points with up to nine other members in their household, allowing them to reach their next reward flight even faster. That’s also a great idea and allows more pooling of points than BA’s Executive Club. When going away with friends it’s often complicated when using points, so this is a definite improvement.
20,000 Points bonus
Finally, to celebrate the much-anticipated reopening of the Transatlantic corridor, Virgin Atlantic is offering all Flying Club members a bonus of 20,000 Virgin Points when they take two return Premium or Upper Class flights between 9th November 2021 and 31st March 2022.
Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Virgin Atlantic, commented,
“We know our Flying Club is the best in the business and the raft of new measures we’ve announced today brings fresh benefits to our existing members and new customers who are looking for something more rewarding. All customers can now maintain or improve their tier status’ in the most accessible way possible – something they’ve told us is important to them, as they plan their future journeys with Virgin Atlantic.
“Following the successful reopening of the Transatlantic corridor on Monday, we’re ready to welcome customers back on board to all of our destinations, as we fly them safely around the world once more.”
