When Virgin Atlantic began rolling out its new dynamic award pricing last week, we were shocked: it was actually good news for travelers with points and miles. The change resulted in some incredible deals flying Virgin itself for just a fraction of the miles (and fees!) Virgin was previously charging.
We're talking economy flights to London-Heathrow (LHR) from just 6,000 points and $73 each way and even business class from the East Coast cities for as low as 29,000 points and $255 in taxes. The trouble is that actually finding flights at these dirt-cheap rates can be a chore.
The key? A little tool called the Reward Seat Checker.
Unfortunately, Virgin Atlantic seems to have finally killed off its powerful price calendar. That allowed you to look at more than a month's worth of flights to find the best deals when redeeming points was invaluable – and not just to book Virgin but even with partner airlines like Delta, Air France, KLM, Korean Air, and more.
It seems like Virgin's Reward Seat Checker is the replacement. While it's by no means new, it's now the only way to see a full month of flights through Virgin … and zero in on the best deals. Sadly, this tool no longer works for finding redemptions with Delta and other SkyTeam partner airlines.
But if you're hoping to book a flight on the British carrier itself, it's even better now: It specifically denotes the lowest-priced “saver” awards with a neat red label. For instance, you can see there are fairly widespread saver award fares – whether you fly economy, premium economy, or Upper Class – from New York City (JFK) to London in February. You can quickly tab from month to month in the upper right.
Since these awards are now dynamically priced, what's considered a “Saver” award depends on when you're flying. So while the lowest rate for a one-way economy flight in February might be 6,000 points, flip the calendar to summer (when travel demand is at its highest) and you'll see that same designation applied to higher, 12,000-point rates.
To use this tool, head to the dedicated Reward Seat Checker page on Virgin's website. Enter your departure airport, destination, and desired month of travel and hit “Find Reward Seats.”
Once you've zeroed in on the flights you want, note the dates, and click the “Find My Reward Seat” button in the bottom righthand corner of the screen.
You'll be taken back to Virgin's homepage, where you can plug in the dates you found using the Reward Seat Checker. When redeeming points, we recommend booking separate one-way flights rather than roundtrip – not just for maximum flexibility in case your plans change, but you'll also wind up saving some money on taxes and fees by booking one-ways separately, too.
Just note, you'll need to be logged into your (free-to-join) Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer account to actually search for flights bookable with award points.
When Virgin first launched this Reward Seat Checker last year, it was the best way to find Delta flights bookable with Virgin Atlantic. That helpful workaround is long gone – these days, you'll only be able to use this tool to search for award flights on Virgin itself.
Read our complete guide to earning and redeeming points with Virgin Atlantic!
Bottom Line
Virgin Atlantic's shift to dynamic pricing for its own award flights has led to some incredible deals whether you want to use points to fly economy or business class across the pond.
Those changes have made the airline's Reward Seat Checker tool more powerful than ever for finding dates with the cheapest rates. And it's gotten even better lately, too.
I have tried MSP To CUN and AUA multiple times without luck. I know there are direct flights to CUN. It just gives me error messages. This is a year out from flight….
doesnt work for me. Tried looking for HNL to HND and I know that their are seats but this hack does NOT work
same result as Dave, I don’t see ANYTHING available for whole year from Dulles (!) to Heathrow which is pretty odd. I don’t see much of anything from many major airports actually… really just JFK.
Unfortunately nothing from MSP – AMS or CDG for the whole year even though availability is showing up in the regular calendar for AMS. CDG I understand because of the AF summer pull out from MSP but expected to see some AMS. Maybe due to beta.
Bravo Virgin Atlantic. This tool is excellent. A little wonky, but still intuitive.