Virgin Atlantic Award Flights Just Got Better
Virgin Rewards Flying Club Members With Lower Status Thresholds
Virgin Atlantic has celebrated the reopening on flights between the UK and US, following the easing of coronavirus travel restrictions, by making some big improvements to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. The airline sees these improved perks as a reward for their loyal British customers, who have been unable to fly Virgin’s most popular routes for almost two years.
Certainly the changes are an incentive for Virgin Atlantic to get its most frequent flyers airborne again, since its traditional schedule is heavily oriented towards routes between Great Britain and the USA. However Covid-19 travel restrictions made it impossible to book Virgin Atlantic award flights on these routes. Whilst the US ban on visitors from the UK was in place it was also hard to earn loyalty rewards for a Virgin Atlantic points redemption.
Now, from April 2022, members can earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club elite status more easily, with reductions announced in the tier point requirements to achieve each level:
- Silver status can be achieved with just 300 tier points per rolling 12 months (reduced from the usual 400 points required)
- Gold status can be gained with only 800 tier points per rolling 12 months (reduced from the usual 800 points required)
Several airlines have reduced their elite status requirements and have extended dates for loyalty perks during the pandemic. Now Virgin Atlantic is reassuring its members that status is achievable in the post-pandemic world, where it may take some time for international travel to normalise. Higher status makes it easier to earn points and when you redeem them for award flights, your elite level membership gives you access to perks such as early seat-assignment, priority check-in, lounge access and priority boarding.
Virgin airlines rewards are often more generous than the competitors who fly in the markets which Virgin branded airlines operate within. However they are frequently overlooked when it comes to loyalty, since they typically have fewer destinations on their route maps and are not members of any of the major airline alliances. Virgin airlines rewards in the UK have been given broader appeal since the launch of the Virgin Red loyalty programme, that spans all Virgin brands operating in the United Kingdom as well as many retail and services partners. Virgin Atlantic is currently the only Virgin airline brand operating from the UK and they have replaced their Virgin Miles loyalty currency with Virgin Points that are interchangeable between its Flying Club frequent flyer programme and the wider Virgin Red scheme.
As part of the new package of announcements, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members will now earn additional Virgin points with every pound spent with Virgin Atlantic Holidays bookings at the following rates:
- Flying Club Red status members will earn 2 points per £1 spent
- Silver members will earn 3 points per £1 spent
- Gold members will earn 4 points per £1 spent
They will also now earn tier points from booking Virgin Atlantic Holidays at a rate of 20 tier points per £500 spent, up to a maximum of 400 tier points per booking. This means a new member of the frequent flyer programme could potentially earn silver status with just one Virgin Atlantic Holidays booking, depending on the cost of the vacation.
Virgin Atlantic will also issue one-time passes for their Clubhouse lounges to existing Flying Club Silver members as a reward for their loyalty through the pandemic. All Silver members will now be allowed to pool their Virgin Points into a household account, a handy feature that was previously reserved for Gold members only. This change also makes Flying Club more competitive with the British Airways Executive Club, which already allows all members to create household accounts for Avios.
One of the great things about these lower status thresholds is that Silver and Gold members, of the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club programme, earn more points on each flight. With Silver you earn 30% more points, everytime you fly Virgin Atlantic and with Gold it’s a huge 60% bonus. In turn that makes Virgin Atlantic award flights easier to earn and, unlike most other airlines, Virgin lets you earn more points on redemption flights too.
When it comes to Virgin Atlantic Points redemption, the reduction in travel restrictions from the UK means that there is now a great choice of destinations available. Virgin Atlantic operated flights from the UK currently go to destinations in the US, the Caribbean, Nigeria, South Africa, Israel, India, Pakistan and China.
All in all the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a very underrated frequent flyer programme and, as travel opens up, is definitely worth a closer look.
