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Update: This offer ends today!
Get A 30% Bonus When You Transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points To Virgin Atlantic
This offer expires 11/30/17. Virgin Atlantic miles never expire as long as you redeem or earn at least 1 mile every 36 months.
Need AMEX points? You can view credit card offers by hovering over the “Credit Cards” tab. You can click on “Top Credit Card Offers“ and then hover over “Card Type” to find card offers from the bank you’re looking for.
In general, Virgin Atlantic charges high fuel surcharges that kill the value of many of their awards. For example a round-trip coach ticket from JFK to London is just 20K miles (under 16K AMEX points), but the taxes and fuel surcharges add $461. Business class is 95K miles and you’ll also owe $1,266 in taxes and fuel surcharges. Ouch.
If you only need a one-way ticket from NYC to London it’s not as bad. 10K miles+$148 in coach or 47.5K miles+$500 in business class. You may save some money by booking a ticket as a one-way to and from London rather than a round-trip.
However there are some notable sweet spots on partner airlines:
Flying on Delta:
Virgin Atlantic miles can be a bargain for flying on Delta. They often have saver award space, even when there’s none available on Delta.com!
You can even book Delta awards on Virgin Atlantic’s website, but they don’t make it easy.
Step 1: Click here to access the Virgin Atlantic award booking page.
Step 2: When entering your departure airport, be sure to choose the region and not an individual airport. For example you need to search for New York Area Airports to Los Angeles instead of JFK to Los Angeles as it won’t allow you to search for miles if you type in JFK.
Step 3: It probably won’t let you type in your desired destination airport. If it says “no matches found” you will need to click the location icon as shown below and manually search for your destination by country and state. If your destination still isn’t available you will have to call Virgin Atlantic to book award travel to that destination.
On the search page you can select one-way or round-trip, exact dates, flexible within 1 week, or within 5 weeks. You can also change the class of service by clicking on “Show advanced options.”
Here’s what’s fascinating. In general, partner airlines can only book saver awards.
If you search for JFK to LAX on 11/15 on Delta.com you’ll see that the award costs 21.5K miles, which is not a saver award:
However on Virgin Atlantic you can book that flight for just 12.5K miles! Thanks to the 30% bonus from AMEX that’s like paying under 10K points:
Want to fly business class nonstop from Newark to Paris?
It’s 70K miles on Delta (I want to meet the person selecting Comfort+ for 90K miles 😀 )
But you can book it with Virgin Atlantic for just 50K miles. That’s under 39K AMEX points thanks to the 30% bonus!
Unfortunately, there are fuel surcharges to fly on Delta to London, but other destinations should have no fuel surcharges.
Note that the website charges extra for flights with connections. You may want to call Virgin Atlantic at 800-365-9500 to get them to price the award without the extra pricing for taking a connecting flight.
Flying on ANA:
ANA is an incredible Japanese airline with great first class suites that have very comfortable beds and amazing service. I reviewed them here towards the end of the 4th part of my Island Hopper adventure.
You only need 110K miles to fly round-trip from the west coast to Japan or 120K miles to fly round-trip from the east coast to Japan in first class. That’s under 85K AMEX points or under 93K AMEX points respectively, thanks to the 30% bonus.
Best off all there are no fuel surcharges on ANA!
Here is the Virgin Atlantic award chart for travel on ANA:
Unfortunately, you do need to call Virgin Atlantic to book travel on ANA at 800-365-9500. You can search for ANA award space on United.com.
United charges a whopping 220K miles to fly round-trip from the US to Japan in ANA first class, but you can call Virgin Atlantic to book travel for under 93K AMEX points!
Will you transfer points from AMEX to Virgin Atlantic to take advantage of this bonus? What other award sweet spots do you take advantage of?
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23 Comments On "Ends Today: Should You Transfer AMEX Points To Virgin Atlantic With A 30% Bonus? Expanded Delta Award Space, Cheap First Class Redemptions, And More!"
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On the mobile version of virginatlantics website, it’s much simpler to chose the cities in US.
Does anyone know how many miles do they charge to TLV on delta?
There is NEVER saver award space on Delta to TLV available with partner airlines
Thanks Dan awesome way to book Delta flights! and don’t forget to mention no transfer fee from Amex to Virgin Atlantic!
also what about booking nonstop delta flights from NYC-TLV you did not mention that?
You can also type in the code in brackets like this: (LAX), and it will search just fine if it’s a city that they have inn their list. (it does not fill in the entire city name right away, but when you click on the search button it works).
Dan,
Is it an instant transfer ?
What is the reward cancellation or change fee?
When I did it last year the transfer was instant and change fee was $50 (at the airport counter they charged me $100 but I got $50 refunded online).
Virgin Atlantic from London to NYC is 10k + $254 (£192). United wants 30k + $170. Buying 20k miles for $84 is a bargain at .0042.
NYC to London is 10k +$148 on Virgin vs 30k +$5.60 on United. Here you pay $143 for 20k miles at a cost of .00715.
As always NYC to London on Virgin is cheaper when buying two one ways. In this case it’s $402 RT vs $461 when buying RT outright.
can be helpful for flights from NYC to Johannesburg? Can’t seem to get the rewards search to find anything on virgin
Can you book tlv-nyc on Delta with Virgin points? If so online or only in phone?
Pretty sure can’t be done online (at least I did not succeed), BUMP on the second option.
If you book a Delta flight using VA miles, can you still get a free checked bag if you have the amex Delta card (gold or platinum)?
I know when you book AA flights using BA, you can do it but it takes re-entering your info on Turkish Airlines or other AA partners
Do other partners also have the same thing with Delta flights, the ability to book ‘non-saver’ awards?
Hey Dan,
Can you assist me in picking a credit card. I’m new to the game. Thanks
Need to book NYC to LAX for thanksgiving . Worth it?
Can VS miles be used for NYC-TLV, if yes for how many miles +YQ?
When I try booking on Virgin, I get a message: warning We’re sorry there aren’t enough seats available on this flight. Please change your flight date/times or the number of passengers and try again. #101767A
Any idea what to do?
Call them.
I called VS for NYC-ROM and hey said that Delta does not allow them to book that route as a partner. Is this a HUCA situation or if the city pair doesnt show on the website then its not bookable even over the phone???
Thanks in advance for all your help, And thank you for the new Stove!!!! 🙂
HUCA
dan, if don’t use VS or other flying partners, can we still xfer to IHG for hotel pts & spire status?
If you book a Delta flight using VA miles, can you still get a free checked bag if you have the amex Delta card (gold or platinum)?
(I know when you book AA flights using BA, you can do it but it takes re-entering your info on Turkish Airlines or other AA partners.)
I’ve tried checking DD forms but haven’t found an answer. Any info is appreciated.
time for another amex>>>virgin transfer bonus