Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club has moved from fixed-price to dynamically priced redemptions, and this is fantastic news if you are a flexible traveler.
With all Virgin Atlantic-operated seats now available to book with Virgin points, look for the fares with a red “Saver” tag, which are the cheapest prices. While they are not available on every day or on every flight, if you are looking to fly to the United Kingdom or beyond on low-demand dates, there are terrific deals to be had.
Saver fares across the Atlantic now start at 6,000 points in economy class, 10,500 points in Premium (premium economy) and just 28,000 points in Upper Class (business class), the lowest long-haul redemption rates of any major airline program.
Flying Club previously had some of the highest carrier-imposed surcharges in the industry, which made me hesitate to redeem Virgin points for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights. But, in another huge program improvement, these surcharges have been reduced across all flights, especially for Saver seats. This means your total fees, taxes and surcharges for a Saver flight to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) are now as low as $73 in economy class, $105 in premium economy and $254 in business class.
The good news continues, with multiple transfer bonuses available for Flying Club right now. If you have Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can convert them to Virgin points with a 40% bonus until Nov. 30. If you have Citi ThankYou Rewards points, you can enjoy a 30% bonus until Nov. 16.
This means you only need as few as 21,000 Chase points or 23,000 Citi points plus $254 for a lie-flat seat to London or Manchester Airport (MAN), if you can find Saver seat availability.
The changes aren’t all good news, though. If you want to travel during peak periods like major holidays or the summer, the dynamic pricing means some seats are now much more expensive, and you might want to consider booking through other programs.
However, if you are flexible and can travel during off-peak periods, these new Saver seats are a game changer for flying to Europe.
Here are some more resources to help you decide on your next European redemption:
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