Deal expired for now: Book business class on Delta or Virgin Atlantic to Europe for 50,000 points one-way

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

There's a fairly remarkable deal right now to fly on Delta Air Lines for as little as 50,000 points one-way in business class, including during the busy summer travel months.

You'll need to act fast, however, as we don't expect this deal to last long. The 'trick' to this deal is that you'll need to use Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points to book these tickets to fly on Virgin's partner Delta Air Lines or on a Virgin Atlantic-operated flight.

Many options from the U.S. are available, including flights to Barcelona, Dublin, Munich, Paris and more, as first seen by us on View From the Wing. and originally spotted by our friends at Thrifty Traveler for their premium subscribers.

Remember that you can transfer rewards to Virgin from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. In some cases, transfers to Virgin are instant, though I found when I tested a transfer from American Express, it said it could take up to two days to go through, so there is never a guarantee of an instant transfer.

After about an hour, those 50,000 miles became available in my Virgin Atlantic account, and I was able to book a one-way flight during the peak summer season for just 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles.

Deal basics

Airlines: Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines.
Routes: Boston, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and New York City to Munich, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Frankfurt and more.
How to book: Book directly with Virgin Atlantic.
Travel dates: Now through the end of the schedule.
Book by: ASAP

Sample flights

New York to Paris

I found, for example, a flight between New York-JFK and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) for as little as 100,000 points round trip.

In this example, I could fly from New York to Paris on a Delta-operated flight with just $149 in taxes and fees.

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Germany in the summer

I was also able to find flights to Germany in business class for as little as 50,000 miles each way, plus (higher) taxes and fees.

New York to Munich in the spring

How about Germany in the spring? We found flights as low as 100,000 miles round trip in April with only $126 in taxes and fees.

Munich in the summer

This evening after an hour or so, the American Express Membership Rewards points I transferred became available for use and I was able to book a one-way flight from Munich to New York for just 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles. Unfortunately, the taxes and fees are higher on one-way redemptions, so I also had to pay about $283 in addition to the miles.

Still, this is an amazing deal, especially since I was planning to use Flying Blue miles to get home from a previously booked open-jaw ticket I had on American Airlines for this summer. That would have cost me 133,000 Flying Blue miles plus $383 in taxes and fees.

Maximize your purchase

Don't forget to use a credit card that earns bonus points on the taxes and fees portion of your trip.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 2 points per dollar spent on travel
• American Express® Gold Card: 3 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly through the airline or American Express Travel
• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 5 points per dollar spent on airfare when booked directly through the airline or American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve 8 points per dollar spent on purchases through Chase Travel℠, and 4 points per dollar spent on flights booked direct
• Citi Strata Premier® Card (see rates and fees): 3 points per dollar spent on air travel

Bottom line

Finding business-class flights for just 50,000 points each way to Europe on various routes and during busy travel months is increasingly unusual, especially on Delta Air Lines-operated flights. If you are sitting on a stash of Virgin Atlantic points, now is the time to use them.

It lasted long enough for my American Express Membership Rewards transfer to fully process, so that may work for you, too. I doubt this availability will last very long, so act quickly if you want to book.

Related reading:

• When is the best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare?
• The best airline credit cards
• What exactly are airline miles, anyway?
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• What are points and miles worth? TPG's monthly valuations