Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Discounted Awards

Virgin Atlantic is out with another round of discounted award tickets. This time the discount is 20% which a bit lower than what we saw during four promos last year.

Important Terms

• Must book by January 31, 2024
• Must travel by December 31, 2024
• Only valid on flights operated by Virgin Atlantic
• Valid for all classes of service
• Valid for off-peak and peak dates
• Does not apply to flights to/from Delhi (DEL), Lagos (LOS), or Tel Aviv (TLV)
• Only the points cost is discounted by 20%, you still owe the full taxes/fees

Considering the excessively high carrier-imposed surcharges on Virgin's award tickets, this will only be useful in select circumstances. For example, if you need to travel on a specific date, award space is sparse to nonexistent on other airlines, and Virgin has made award space available to only its own members.

You can get Virgin points by transferring Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points.

Points Wire Note:

If you include a connection on a SkyTeam partner from a European city (outside the UK) to London, you seem to be able to get the discount on the Virgin Atlantic flight to the US. This also reduces the total taxes/fees since you avoid the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee flying out of the UK - $200+ on business class tickets.

For example: Amsterdam (AMS) to New York (JFK) via London (LHR). The KLM flight from AMS to LHR won't be discounted, but the Virgin Atlantic flight from LHR to JFK will be. Since you're not originating in the UK, you avoid the APD and some of the carrier-imposed surcharges. Rather than paying $900+ taxes/fees, you'll owe ~$430.