Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: A Guide to Earning & Redeeming Virgin Points

Looking for a flight to Europe? Not just London, but almost anywhere in Europe? Or even Japan or New Zealand? Virgin points can probably get you there for less.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is the frequent flyer program for the United Kingdom-based airline Virgin Atlantic, but you can use Virgin points to fly all over the world on partner airlines like Delta, ITA Airways, Air France and KLM, or even Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA). And since Virgin officially joined the SkyTeam alliance, you can now book flights on many more partner airlines, such as Aeromexico and Korean Air.

It's not all good news. Some of the best ways to fly business or even first class to Japan have taken a hit with award rate increases – though they're still solid deals. And after gutting other sweet spots to book Delta flights for less, Virgin finally killed off the best of all: the days of flying Delta One to Europe for 50,000 points are over.

But the upside is still tremendous. There are still significant savings when booking many Delta flights, near or far. Virgin Atlantic offers some of the cheapest ways to fly first or business class to Japan, Italy, or even Air New Zealand. And even some economy deals within the U.S., to Mexico, and even over to Europe are unbeatable.

Luckily, these points are pretty easy to earn since you can transfer from all the major banks. So if you're earning points with cards like the *chase sapphire preferred*, *venture x*, or the *amex gold*, you can easily transfer those points to Virgin – often with a big bonus, making these great deals even better.

While its website and booking process has a few quirks, you'll want to become familiar with how Virgin Atlantic Flying Club works and all the amazing places you can go for as few points as possible. Here's how.

Sign Up for a Virgin Account

First things first, you'll need to sign up for a free Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account. And you'll want to do it ASAP.

If you're hoping to put any of the great sweet spots we get into later to use, you'll want to sign up sooner rather than later. That's because it can take 24 to 72 hours for Virgin to verify your account, which is required before you can book a flight with Virgin points.

Read more: Points Stuck in Limbo? Here's Why

Fortunately, it's a pretty straightforward process. If you're just opening a new account, you'll also be asked to activate and link a Virgin Red account.

Basically, Flying Club is Virgin Atlantic's frequent flyer program while Virgin Red is Virgin's wider rewards program, which includes other Virgin companies such as Virgin Hotels, Virgin Voyages, and more. It's important to open and link both accounts ahead of time so you are ready to book when a deal comes your way.

Already have a Flying Club account but don't have Virgin Red? If you're hoping to transfer Bilt Rewards or Capital One Venture Miles to Virgin, you'll need a Virgin Red account, too.

Just head to the Virgin Red homepage and choose the option “Join Virgin Red.” After a quick email verification and some personal details, finalize your enrollment. Immediately, you should be prompted to link your Virgin Red account with your airline account, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Flying Virgin Atlantic with Virgin Points: High Fees!

If you're hoping to fly Virgin Atlantic flights using your Virgin points, be prepared to shell out a lot of money in fees.

Not only does Virgin's hub in London-Heathrow (LHR) have some of the highest departure taxes in the world, but Virgin also tacks on hefty fuel surcharges on award tickets when flying Virgin Atlantic itself. This means you'll often be better off booking Virgin Atlantic flights with partner airline miles, such as Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles, which have lower fees.

Virgin Atlantic's award chart lists reward rates for a roundtrip flight, but flights can be booked one-way for half price. The lowest rates are for travel during what it calls “standard season.” You can find a list of dates for the standard and peak seasons on Virgin's website.

While 47,500 points one-way to fly Virgin Atlantic business class from the Northeastern United States to London sounds amazing, keep in mind that the fees on top of that come to $875. Booking a roundtrip? It's 95,000 points plus over $2,000 in fees. Ouch.

However, the fees are much lower if you're flying economy – around $150 one-way or $475 roundtrip. If you're flying roundtrip, you'll almost always be better off booking a cash ticket rather than using points. But the one case where you can actually get a good value when redeeming Virgin points for flights on Virgin Atlantic is if you're just looking for a cheap one-way flight from the U.S. to London – especially from the East Coast.

This won't be for everyone, but it could be useful if you're looking to explore more of Europe and don't know exactly when you want to fly back … or if you plan to return from elsewhere in Europe using a different airline's miles.

Virgin Atlantic Partners: The Best Way to Use Virgin Points

Rather than using Virgin points to fly Virgin Atlantic itself, you'll get a much better value when redeeming Virgin points to fly one of its partner airlines.

And after joining the SkyTeam alliance, you can now redeem Virgin points for travel on nearly 24 different partner airlines, including a few non-SkyTeam partner airlines as well.

• Aerolineas Argentinas
• Aeromexico
• Air Europa
• Air France
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways (ANA)
• China Airlines
• China Eastern
• Czech Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Garuda Indonesia
• Hawaiian Airlines
• ITA Airways
• Kenya Airways
• KLM
• Korean Air
• LATAM
• Middle East Airlines
• Saudia Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• TAROM
• Vietnam Airlines
• Virgin Australia
• XiamenAir

Virgin also partners with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and IndiGo, but only for earning Virgin points when you fly those airlines – you won't be able to redeem Virgin points to book them.

Unlike most other airlines, Virgin Atlantic has separate award charts for each and every partner airline, meaning the number of points you'll need to book varies from carrier to carrier. For the majority of its newer SkyTeam partners, Virgin has a standard award chart based on flight distance. Here's what it looks like.

You'll need to call Virgin in order to book flights on most of the new SkyTeam partner airlines. While it was once possible to book Aeromexico and China Airlines flights online, Virgin seems to have pulled this functionality. Hopefully, the option to book more partner airlines online will be possible in the future.

That said, you'll still find the best deals flying Virgin's long-time partners Air France-KLM, ANA, ITA Airways, and Delta. And, with the exception of ANA, all of these can be booked online.

Let's have a closer look.

Aeromexico

Aeromexico is one of the latest additions to Virgin Atlantic's portfolio of partners thanks to its place in the SkyTeam alliance.

In early December 2023, Virgin Atlantic added the option to book Aeromexico flights online – booking Aeromexico tickets previously required a phone call so this made it easier to book for a brief period. However, sometime during the summer of 2024, Virgin pulled the ability to book these flights online and it now requires a phone call to book again. But it can be a fantastic deal and worth the call.

Like others on this list, Virgin Atlantic uses a distance-based award chart for Aeromexico redemptions. That opens up some stellar deals to book nonstop flights between Mexico City (MEX) and the dozen-plus U.S. cities Aeromexico operates.

Air France-KLM

Whether you redeem Virgin points to fly Air France or KLM, the award charts are the same as the airlines are practically one and the same. To find out how many points you need, you'll want to have a look at the “Long haul spending levels” section and expand the different charts for each class of service.

It can be a bit hard to read but take note that Eastern U.S. states fall under Zone 6 and Western states are considered Zone 7, which means starting your trip in New York versus Los Angeles, for example, will save you some miles. Western Europe is Zone 1, while Eastern Europe and North Africa are Zone 2. The full breakdown of each zone can be found on Virgin's website.

Some of the best deals you can get are economy flights during off-peak travel dates. It's just 12,000 to 15,000 Virgin points each way to most of Western Europe – even if you need an onward connection. That bumps up to 20,000 to 23,000 one-way if you're looking to fly to Eastern Europe or North Africa.

These rates are the same whether you're flying nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG), or flying with a connection to another city in Europe … or beyond. The rates are pretty amazing, but you'll get hit with higher-than-average fees when departing from most U.S. cities. The one exception is departures from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), which for some reason doesn't get hit with fuel surcharges.

That means you can book roundtrip flights to Europe for as low as 30,000 miles and minimal taxes and fees. We'll take it.

Just beware that, as of publication, Virgin Atlantic has been temporarily blocking many Air France/KLM award bookings. The airline says to expect them back online “at the start of August” 2024.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)

Possibly the single best way to use Virgin points – and easily one of the best deals in the world of points and miles, period – is to redeem them for flights on ANA.

As we covered earlier, this sweet spot took a hit a year or so ago with some sudden award rate increases to book ANA First Class. Then, this year, Virgin came back to finish the job with some hike for ANA business class, too.

Even so, Virgin Atlantic remains best way to book these flights by far.

Looking at the Virgin points award chart for ANA flights, you can see that it's possible to fly roundtrip from the West Coast to Japan for as little as 105,000 points in business class or 145,000 in first. Better yet, you can book one-way for half price – ANA doesn't even let you do that with its own ANA Mileage Club miles.

These rates only work for nonstop flights on ANA so you'll need to depart from one of its North American gateways in Chicago (ORD), Honolulu (HNL), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), New York City (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Vancouver (YVR), or Washington D.C.-Dulles (IAD).

Want to take a connecting flight beyond Japan? You'll need to add the two separate redemption rates together. This means you'll want to stick to nonstop flights to Japan for the best deals.

The fuel surcharges to fly ANA are currently a little high (you'll pay about $400 total in taxes and fees roundtrip, as of publication). But they're always in flux – and that's what you'll always pay using Virgin Atlantic (or ANA Mileage Club, for that matter) to book these flights.

But with the low award rates Virgin charges, you'll often still come out way ahead.

Delta

One of the most common uses when redeeming Virgin points is to fly Delta. In fact, it's often our favorite way to book Delta flights using points and miles.

It used to be extremely lucrative for flights all around the world, but Virgin devalued awards on most Delta routes in early 2021. Then they did it again in December 2023. Finally, Virgin recently killed off one of the best redemptions of all: 50,000-point Delta One flights to Europe.

The good news is there are still some solid deals out there to book Delta flights for less. And even with the devaluation on many other routes, you can still often save a boatload of miles by booking through Virgin instead.

There are three award charts for booking Delta flights using Virgin Atlantic points.

For Delta flights to the U.K., Virgin basically mimics the award chart for its own flights but the caveat here is that Virgin charges ridiculous fees to fly Delta to or from the U.K. – even more than what it charges for its own flights: It'll cost around $185 one-way or over $540 roundtrip in economy, and much more for Delta One. This is on top of the points you'll have to shell out.

So while it may seem like a small number of points, the cash fees make this a bad deal.

Heading elsewhere in Europe? It's a bit better … unless you want to fly business class. It'll still cost 30,000 points in economy to book a Delta nonstop anywhere else in Europe. Best of all, there are no exorbitant fees when booking Delta economy flights to the rest of Europe.

But after Virgin's latest (and worst) devaluation, booking Delta One business class on these same routes is ugly. It'll now cost you between 47,500 points to as much as 77,500 points to book a Delta lie-flat seat to Europe, depending on the time of year and length of the flight. Worst of all, Virgin now tacks on a flat, $1032.30 fee on these redemptions. Gross.

For the rest of Delta's route map – think domestic flights, trips down to Mexico or the Caribbean, or long-hauls over to Asia – Virgin's award chart is based on the distance flown: The further you fly, the more it'll cost. And it charges on a per-segment basis – meaning you'll typically want to stick to nonstop flights for the best deals.

With increases to all but a handful of redemptions on this chart, some of these flights cost far more miles than under a year ago. Yet there are still savings to be had – especially compared to using Delta SkyMiles.

Need to calculate the distance of your flight? Use the Great Circle Mapper!

ITA Airways

Italy's ITA Airways is another fairly recent addition. And it's an incredibly lucrative one if you're looking to go to Rome – especially in a lie-flat seat.

Virgin Atlantic's award chart for ITA redemptions means that economy flights between the U.S. and Europe start at just 25,500 points each way. Better yet, it starts as low as just 75,000 miles to book the same routes in ITA Airways business class. But best of all, ITA doesn't pass on hefty fuel surcharges when booking these award tickets. That means a one-way to the U.S. will cost you under $6 in taxes and fees – or $60ish for the return flight home.

Here's the award chart.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Sweet Spots

Now that you know a bit about how Virgin Atlantic Flying Club prices its award flights, let's get into some details on the best ways to redeem Virgin points.

ANA Business or First Class to Japan from 52.5K Each Way

This is possibly the best deal in the world of points and miles. Flying ANA First Class to Japan is a real treat. Doing it for just 72,500 points one-way makes it even sweeter.

The lowest rates are for flights from the West Coast like Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO). The rate jumps up slightly to 85,000 points one-way for departures from the Central and Eastern U.S. like Chicago (ORD) or New York City (JFK). Just looking to fly ANA business class? Those seats can be booked starting from 52,500 points one-way.

This first class deal is a bit of a unicorn. You'll have to get pretty lucky to find the award availability. But when it's there, don't hesitate to book one of the best flying experiences in the world.

Read our full review of ANA First Class from Chicago (ORD) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND)!

Unfortunately, you can't book ANA flights through Virgin's website. Instead, you'll need to seek out saver award availability using United's website and then call Virgin at 1-800-365-9500 to book.

When you call, give the booking agent the exact dates of where you found saver award availability on United's website. You can say something along the lines of “Can you check award availability for ANA flights from Chicago to Tokyo in business/first class for two passengers on Sept. 1?”

The Virgin agent will need your Virgin Flying Club account number and the names and date of birth for all passengers so have this information handy before calling. If they see the seats available, ask the agent to stay on the line while you transfer points to book. All transfers should be instant and Virgin agents are generally very friendly and happy to wait.

Read More: How to Book ANA Flights with Virgin Points

Minneapolis to Europe for 30K Roundtrip in Main Cabin

This is one of our favorite sweet spots in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club award chart. Flying Air France or KLM economy from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to just about anywhere in Western Europe for 30,000 points roundtrip and under $100 in fees.

This works whether you're flying nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG), or connections elsewhere such as Barcelona (BCN) or Rome (FCO).

It's one of the cheapest ways to fly to Europe with points and miles because it combines low rates with low fees. The odd thing about this sweet spot is that it really only works from Minneapolis. If you depart from other cities in the U.S. or Canada, you'll get hit with cash fees of around $350 or more.

But when flying out of Minneapolis, Virgin isn't charging the fuel surcharge it does from other cities – meaning cash fees are typically around $100 or so, and sometimes even less.

But hold up. As of publication, Virgin is blocking many of these awards. The airline says they should be available again sometime in early August.

Nonstop Domestic Flights from 7.5K Points Each Way in Delta Main Cabin

Looking to stay closer to home? Flying shorter nonstop flights on Delta is also a great sweet spot when redeeming Virgin points.

Delta flights that measure in under 500 miles are only 7,500 points one-way. Going a little further? it's 11,000 points one-way for flights between 501 – 1,000 miles. This can often be a much better deal than using SkyMiles if you're just looking for a quick flight to or from a major Delta hub – especially considering you'll always be booking a Main Cabin ticket on Delta when using Virgin points. That means you'll be able to make changes and get free advanced seat assignments, unlike Delta's cheapest basic economy award tickets.

Nonstops to Mexico & the Caribbean for Less

Whether you're looking to get to Mexico City (MEX), Cancún (CUN), Puerto Vallarta (PVR), or somewhere further, you might be able to save some serious SkyMiles by turning to your Virgin Atlantic points instead, thanks to the airline's distance-based pricing format for these relatively short flights. While these flights will cost more Virgin points than just a month ago, the savings can still be substantial compared to booking direct with Delta SkyMiles

For example, while Delta wants 52,000 SkyMiles for these flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Cancun and back in February…

… you can book those exact same flights for 37,000 Virgin Atlantic points. Time it right with one of the frequent 30% transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic, and you could book using just 29,000 credit card points apiece.

And that's just one example. So long as you can fly nonstop and your destination is less than 3,000 miles away, there can still be solid savings by looking and booking through Virgin Atlantic. In many cases, though, you're probably better off booking these Delta flights using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles instead.

Fly AeroMexico from Just 7K Each Way

Delta isn't your only option for getting south of the border using Virgin Atlantic miles. In fact, this one could be even better.

In early December 2023, Virgin Atlantic added the option to book Aeromexico flights online – the two are longtime partners, but booking Aeromexico tickets previously required a phone call so this made it easier to book for a brief period. However, Virgin has since pulled the ability to book these flights online and it now requires a phone call to book again.

Aeromexico flies nonstop to Mexico City (MEX) from 15 or so airports all across the country – plus, they've got nonstop routes from several airports to other cities like Guadalajara (GDL), Monterey (MTY), and others. Award space is fairly wide-open next year, and it won't take you many points to book them.

Most flights from the U.S. cost just 11,500 Virgin points each way or less – 23,000 points roundtrip! Virgin tacks on about $137 in taxes and fees on these roundtrip redemptions, though those cash costs are unavoidable on these international trips. Some routes are even cheaper, like 14,000 Virgin points and $137 for this roundtrip flight from Dallas-Fort (DFW) to Mexico City (MEX).

Check out Virgin's dedicated award chart for Aeromexico and you'll see there are plenty of great ways to get to Mexico using Flying Club points.

ITA Airways Biz Class to Rome

One of the latest additions to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club's portfolio opened up one of the best ways to fly to Rome (FCO) in a lie-flat seat.

You can now book business class on Italy's flag carrier, ITA Airways, using Virgin points, with flights between the U.S. and Rome (FCO) starting at 75,000 points each way. Economy redemptions on ITA aren't half-bad either, with rates as low as 25,500 points each way.

Exactly how many miles you'll need to book these seats depends on which city you're flying from. Virgin Atlantic uses a distance-based award chart for these ITA flights, so longer flights from Miami (MIA) or the West Coast will cost you more than a nonstop from New York City (JFK). Here's a quick breakdown of the U.S. routes.

• Flights between Boston (BOS) and Rome (FCO): 75,000 points in business class or 25,500 in economy, each way
• Flights between New York City (JFK) and Rome (FCO): 75,000 points in business class or 25,500 in economy, each way
• Flights between Miami (MIA) and Rome (FCO): 85,000 points in business class or 31,000 in economy, each way
• Flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Rome (FCO): 100,000 points in business class or 37,000 in economy, each way
• Flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Rome (FCO): 100,000 points in business class or 37,000 in economy, each way

Plus, you won't pay a mountain of additional taxes and fees: Virgin Atlantic doesn't pass on fuel surcharges on these ITA awards, so you'll pay just $5.60 for a one-way to Rome and 56 euros (about $62 USD) for the return flights to the states.

Finding award availability to fly to Rome nonstop has gotten more challenging recently, but it can be done. Just a month ago, we sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members an alert with some wide-open ITA Airways business class award space – including for later this summer!

Time it right with one of the regular 30% transfer bonuses to Virgin from banks like Amex and Chase, and you can score a lie-flat seat to Italy next year using just 58,000 credit card points!

Air New Zealand Business Class for Under 63K Each Way

Looking to fly down under in style? Turn to your Virgin points to fly lie-flat and nonstop to New Zealand from several U.S. cities for just 62,500 points one-way – a fraction of what it'll cost with other programs.

This unique partnership between Virgin and Star Alliance member Air New Zealand has stuck around even after Virgin joined the SkyTeam alliance … and it's one of the best sweet spots of all. While Virgin's award chart for Air New Zealand flights says these can be booked for fewer points, it likely hasn't been updated. But whether you fly from Los Angeles (LAX) or Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) to Auckland (AKL), it costs just 62,500 points each way. 

With one of those transfer bonuses, your price drops to just 49,000 points. That is a steal!

Like ANA, you'll need to seek out saver award availability using United's website and then call Virgin at 1-800-365-9500 to book Air New Zealand flights. Finding that award availability is typically tricky as Air New Zealand is incredibly stingy … but not anymore: Over the last several months, we've sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members several alerts for wide-open business class award space to New Zealand.

Again, you'll need to ask the Virgin Atlantic booking agent to check the award availability. Give them the exact dates of where you found saver award availability on United's website, and have your Virgin account information and the names and date of birth for all passengers handy. If they see the seats available, ask the agent to stay on the line while you transfer points to book.

How to Book Flights with Virgin Points

The savings are undeniable when booking with Virgin points. Yet it's not always easy to book.

Virgin's website can be a bit wonky and tricky to use. But don't worry: We'll walk you through some of the quirks when booking flights with Virgin points.

First, start by using this link to search from Virgin's old-style booking page and expand the “Advanced search” settings, if necessary. It will be easiest to search one way at a time. Select “Show flexible dates”, choose to show the price in “Points”, and select the total number of passengers traveling. Looking for business class seats? Choose “Upper Class.”

Editor's note: If you are starting from Virgin's new homepage design, you'll need to select the “Reward Flights” tab to start but won't be able to search with flexible dates. Use this link to start your search from the older design with a flexible date search.

It can be difficult to pull up the routes you want because the search engine frequently won’t recognize airports that aren’t in Virgin’s route network. Sometimes you’ll have to click “See full airport list” to choose your airport.

Other times, you may notice that the option to choose “Points” is greyed out when searching certain routes – and you're unable to select it.

Luckily, there are a few workarounds. The easiest is to choose the airport from the”full airport list” rather than typing in the code and selecting it from the results.

You'll then be able to select the airport from a large list of airports.

If you run into this issue, choosing your airport this way should make the “Points” option selectable on the search page.

After searching, if there is nothing available within three days before or after the exact date you're searching, you'll get an error message. That means you'll need to try searching for a different week. Unfortunately, this hit-or-miss game is what's required to find the award space you want.

Once you find a week where there is at least one date available, you'll get a one-week view of fares. Success!

From this screen, you can click “Price Calendar” next to the “Flexible Dates” text in order to view fares over a monthly calendar. This option disappeared for a few years … but now it's back!

Getting a month-long view like this is the key to ensure you book at the lowest rate.

If you end up navigating to a month where there is no availability throughout the entire month, you'll be brought back to the search page with an error message. This means you'll either need to adjust your search parameters or try different dates.

Once you do find availability that works, repeat the process for your return flight and then conduct a new search to book the flights roundtrip. This is important for some international flights because roundtrip bookings originating in the U.S. may have lower taxes than booking two separate one-way flights.

However, the opposite could also be true – as is the case when booking Virgin Atlantic flights to or from the U.K. In these cases, you may save on fees by booking two one-ways separately. When in doubt, price out both options to see what makes the most sense.

Flying into one city and back from another? Use the multi-city search tool to book once you've pinpointed available dates.

How to Earn Virgin Points

Virgin points are some of the easiest to earn since you can instantly transfer points to Virgin at a 1:1 ratio from all major transferrable points programs.

If you're earning Amex Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, and Citi ThankYou® Points, those can be transferred to Virgin. And if you're earning points on rent, you can also transfer Bilt Rewards. Just beware that with both Bilt and Capital One, you'll actually transfer points to your Virgin Red account – check out our walkthrough of how to do it!

If you're just starting out with points and miles, we consider the *chase sapphire preferred* the best travel rewards credit card for beginners. bonus_miles_full

And with 3x points per dollar spent for dining and 2x points for travel purchases, it's really easy to rack up a ton of Chase points that can be instantly transferred to Virgin points.

Learn more about the *csp*.
The *venture x* is loaded with benefits such as access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass lounges, a $300 annual travel credit for bookings via Capital One Travel, a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, great travel and rental car insurance protection, and more. The annual fee clocks in at $395 a year, but the benefits can easily outweigh that.

The best part is that you can currently earn 75,000 Venture Miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Considering you earn at least 2x for every dollar you spend on the Venture X Card, you’ll earn a total of at least 83,000 Venture Miles, which can be transferred instantly to 83,000 Virgin points. That alone is enough to fly Delta One business class to Europe from anywhere in the U.S.

Learn more about the *venture x*.
The *amex gold card* is currently offering a big welcome bonus offer: bonus_miles_full Better yet, you may be able to qualify for a whopping 75,000-point welcome bonus using CardMatch … or a massive, 100,000-point bonus (with up to $100 back) via personal referral links.

Beyond that bonus, this card is easily one of the best all-around travel cards on the market thanks largely to an unbeatable 4x return on spending at restaurants worldwide (up to $50,000 per year) and 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year) – and 1x points after that. The card charges an annual fee of $325 (see rates and fees).

Learn more about the *amex gold*
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is another great way to earn points that can be transferred to Virgin points. You’ll earn 3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and for travel booked with the card. Plus, there is a bonus of 75,000 ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 within the first three months.

Learn more about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (just so you know, this is not an affiliate link).

Bottom Line

It's taken a few hits over the years. But with several sweet spots and easy-to-earn points, the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club can still be one of the most valuable mileage programs out there.

The website may have its quirks but once you get the hang of it and know where the value lies, you'll unlock some incredible savings when booking flights with Virgin points … whether you're looking to fly Delta, Air France, KLM, All Nippon Airways, or other airlines, all across the globe.