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Update, 3/1: Alive again for transfers from Capital One through 3/30/23!
Update: DEAD!
Originally posted 3/31/22.
You can login here get a 30% bonus when you transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to Virgin Atlantic until 12/29. The miles typically transfer instantly.
Virgin Atlantic miles never expire!
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 on Virgin Atlantic is just 20K miles (under 16K AMEX points), but the taxes and fuel surcharges add $476. Premium Economy is 35K miles+$876. Business class is 95K miles and you’ll also owe $1,756 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+$149 in coach, 17.5K miles+$284 in premium economy, or 47.5K miles+$724 in business class.
You can save money by booking travel on 2 one-way trips. A one-way ticket from London to NYC is 10K miles+$260 in coach, 17.5K miles+$470 in premium economy, or 47.5K miles+$596 in business class.
Or for example a round-trip coach ticket from JFK to Tel Aviv on Virgin Atlantic is just 38K miles (under 30K AMEX points), but the taxes and fuel surcharges add $527. Premium Economy is 67K miles+$777. Business class is 151K miles and you’ll also owe $1,377 in taxes and fuel surcharges.
If you originate in Tel Aviv then the round-trip coach ticket from Tel Aviv to JFK on Virgin Atlantic is 38K miles plus $407. Premium Economy is 67K miles+$355. Business class is 151K miles plus $449.
If you only need a one-way ticket from NYC to Tel Aviv you’ll pay 19K miles+$243 in coach, 33.5K miles+$368 in premium economy, or 75.5K miles+$668 in business class.
You can save money by booking travel on 2 one-way trips. A one-way ticket from Tel Aviv to NYC is 19K miles+$224 in coach, 33.5K miles+$198 in premium economy, or 75.5K miles+$245 in business class.
Flying on Delta:
There are some notable sweet spots on partner airlines:
Virgin Atlantic miles can be a bargain for flying on Delta. They also can book saver award space, even when there’s none available on Delta.com!
Click here to access the Virgin Atlantic award booking page.
If you have problems typing in your desired airport 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.
If the option to search for miles isn’t available you also may need to try selecting another airport, click on pay with miles, and then switch the airport. For example NYC to LAX didn’t work for me at first, but I switched the destination to San Francisco, clicked on pay with miles, and then switched back to Los Angeles.
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.” When you are viewing the award calendar you can toggle it to show direct flights only.
You generally won’t want to use Virgin miles for Delta flights to the UK, as they tack on fuel surcharges.
However you can fly on Delta to the rest of Europe for just 30K miles in coach or 50K miles in business class each way.
For the rest of the world besides Europe, Virgin has a distance based award chart for travel on Delta:
You can check what a ticket will cost by checking the distance between city pairs on GCmap.com.
For example a flight from Cleveland to NYC will be 7.5K Virgin miles in main cabin (under 6K AMEX points) or 17.5K in first class (under 14K AMEX points) with this is a zone 1 award as the flight distance between Cleveland and NYC is under 500 miles.
Vs 14K in main cabin with Delta miles or 22.5K in first class with Delta miles:
Detroit to NYC is also a zone 1 award.
JFK to Tel Aviv costs 35K miles each way in coach as a zone 8 award. That’s under 27K AMEX points!
Similar to BA Avios, you have to pay for each segment separately.
That means if I want to fly from Cleveland to Tel Aviv via JFK, it will cost 42.5K miles (35K for JFK-TLV+7.5K for CLE-JFK):
Infant lap child awards on international flights are a bargain. While Delta charges 10% of the paid fare, which can be astronomical on one-way flights, Virgin charges just 1,000 miles in coach or 5,000 miles in business class each way:
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 Virgin Atlantic 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.
Virgin Atlantic now allows for one-way travel for half the round-trip rate in the chart below!
That means you only need 55K Virgin miles to fly one-way from the west coast to Japan or 60K miles to fly one-way from the east coast to Japan in first class.
Compare that to 121K United miles for the one-way flight!
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.
You can fly in ANA first class to Tokyo/Narita from Chicago, Houston, JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington DC.
You can fly in ANA first class to Tokyo/Haneda from Chicago, JFK, or Los Angeles.
Search for first class saver awards on United.com to TYO and then call Virgin Atlantic to book:
They have introduced new first class suites and business class suites that look amazing!
New ANA First, with a 43″ 4K LED, a door for privacy, windows, and more:
The middle seats have a partition for privacy that goes up and down so that companions can talk to each other:
New ANA business:
Business class is staggered with forward and rear facing seats that also have privacy doors and middle partitions and go up and down:
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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34 Comments On "Transfer Capital One Points To Virgin Atlantic And Get A 30% Bonus: Book Discounted Delta Awards, Incredible ANA First Class Bargains, And More!"
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Can you book a Virgin Australia flight with Virgin Atlantic points?
Can you book KLM flights with Virgin Atlantic miles?
is it worth it to transfer amex points now with no planned travel in mind?
I have the same question. I guess the real question is, do Virgin Atlantic miles devalue or expire?
I don’t know how u find space on delta I tried from JFK -Tlv and also from Dtw-TLV nothing doing
They very rarely have space on Delta JFK-TLV or the return trip. I’m sitting on a bunch of VA points that I got with some soon-to-expire Thank You points a couple of years ago. I was hoping to use them for flights to Israel. I’ve been unable to find flights on Delta, and the one on VA have very high fees.
Question : If I redeem Virgin Miles for a domestic Delta flight would I still get Delta Sky Club Access with my Amex Platinum ?
Yes, as long as you’re flying a (Operated by) Delta plane, with the Amex platinum you get Delta skyclub access.
Award tickets from anywhere in the states to TLV seem to be virtually non-existent on Delta flights from NYC in the coming months. Is there a trick to this?
Same issue
Any chance of me finding 8 tickets on one flight Delta JFK-TLV and back?
Dan, I have 150k Citi thank you points, want to book my kid a RT jfk-Tlv. Any suggestions on the best way to book?
Virgin Atlantic miles can be a bargain for flying on Delta. They also can book saver award space, even when there’s none available on Delta.com!
@dan can you please explain yourself? It who’d be a big help for lot’s of people that are trying to figure out your statement thanks!
Anyone find any First class ANA from JFK to Japan on United? Don’t know what i’m doing wrong on the search. Any date is fine, i just want to be able to see what i should be looking for
Dan do you have an idea what’s going on lately with award space? I litterly can’t Find anything on Delta thru virgin. Not Europe and not tlv. Not even economy . What’s going on ?
I think that because travel is being hyped up right now there isn’t much award space because airlines want to sell tickets cash
Any bonuses with chase transfers?
Did the link crash?
Transfer AMEX Points To Aer Lingus or British Airways
Get A 40% Bonus
Valid through 5/15/22
I don’t find an option to search for non stop from NYC to TLV.
I need to book an award trip LHR->AMS->CDG .. for March next year however the dates are not final, was wondering which program should I use to book that charges less miles and does not charge change/cancellation fee
Kinda pointless for ANA. No avail at all besides for Y
Hi Dan. I have a delta credit (held by Amex Platinum Travel which doesn’t show up for Delta agents but can be seen and verified by Amex Travel). The $1300+ credit must be used by 1/23/2023. Is there a way to book tickets NYC-TLV that will maximize value VS simply booking cash tix and using the credit? I would love to find a way to fly business w one stop even if it means using points also. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
How much in points From JFK to SIN on ANA First Class?
I’m seeing $900+ fees flying from SEA-LHR-TLV. Any way around that? Seems like NYC is much cheaper for some reason.
What are cancellation/change fees? They seem opaque.
$50
Can’t seem to find any first or business saver awards on ANA. Any tips on how to find those ?
Use united to find space then call Virgin Atlantic to book
How can I book delta direct to Israel on virgin? I’m not getting the option via the app
On AMEX portal. It says 1000 amex points is 1000 virgin atlantic points. I don’t see the 30% higher ?
Did you login to do a transfer?
Yes, I am logged in and it says: 1,000 points equals 1,000 Virgin points.
I started a transfer from Amex to virgin Atlantic. Amex said it would take up to 48 hours to process. I checked my account but didn’t see them. Is there a way to speed up the process? I thought they usually transfer instantly?