Snapshot Guide To Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Key Features of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Simple Three-Tier Membership Structure

1. • Red: Basic tier offering points earning, discounts, and basic access to partner benefits.
   • Silver (SkyTeam Elite ): Mid-tier with priority check-in, seat selection, and bonus points.
   • Gold (SkyTeam Elite Plus) : Top-tier with full priority benefits, including lounge access, priority boarding, extra baggage, and higher points accrual rates.

Earning and Redeeming Points:

• Points can be earned from flights, co-branded credit cards (like the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard), and partners such as hotels, car rentals, and Virgin Holidays.

• • Redemption options include Virgin Atlantic flights, upgrades, and unique experiences. The points requirements are often favourable, especially for premium cabins on routes to the U.S., Caribbean, and Asia.

Tier Points:

• • Flying Club uses Tier Points to help members progress to higher status levels. Tier Points are earned based on the class of service and distance flown. Business and first-class flights, especially on Virgin Atlantic, provide accelerated Tier Points accumulation, helping members achieve and maintain status faster.

Moving Up The Status Ladder

Whereas you can rack up Virgin points in all manner of spending/rewards, the only way you can achieve status is via flying.

Silver

Silver can be unlocked once you achieve 400* Tier Points within a year. This can be as simple as two roundtrip discounted fare ( G, Z ) Upper Class or 1 full fare Upper Class ( J, C, D, I ) roundtrip

Benefits Include:

• 30% more Virgin Points on flights
• 1 extra piece of checked baggage
• Premium Check in
• Free seat assignment in Economy Light
• Earn and Spend your points with Virgin Red

Gold

Reaching Gold status can require more considerable amounts of flying or flying those more expensive Premium and Upper Class fare buckets.

You will need to hit 1000 Tier Points within your Tier year.

This can be relatively easy if you fly for work and able to get booked onto 2 full fare Upper Class round-trips and then you can simply book 1 roundtrip Upper Class redemption or 2 roundtrip Premium redemptions.

Benefits Include:

• 60% more Virgin Points on flights
• Upper Class Check In
• Access to Clubhouse lounges and London Heathrow Revivals
• Extra luggage allowance, no matter which cabin you fly
• Gold Reward Seats – turn any seat into a Reward Seat for double the usual points price
• Earn and Spend your points with Virgin Red
• 2,000 bonus birthday points
• Complimentary companion ticket upon yearly renewal of Gold tier*
• Clubhouse passes for you to keep or share when you earn 1,500 Tier Points within your membership year
• Cabin Upgrade Reward when you earn 2,000 Tier Points within your membership year
• Complimentary Silver membership for a friend

The way to value elite status with Virgin Atlantic is to ask yourself if you fly Virgin Atlantic or its partner airlines in Economy or Premium Economy frequently enough to utilize the benefits?

For me, the answer will almost always be categorically NO. However that did not stop me from attaining Flying Blue Gold via KLM, which also maps to SkyTeam Elite Plus Status – the level where you gain lounge access. Virgin does offer some intriguing benefits, which could make me consider switching..

Perks of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Reward flights earn Tier miles and thus count towards Status !

This is perhaps the most unique amongst flyer programmes, that Virgin let’s you achieve status via essentially not having to spend cash directly with the airline! Strictly speaking, this is not true off-course, since like British Airways, Virgin charges an almost extortionate amount of cash as “taxes and surcharges” !

Still, this is certainly one up on British Airways Executive Club.

High-Value Reward Redemptions:

1. • Virgin Atlantic offers excellent points redemption opportunities, especially on long-haul flights in Upper Class, often providing greater value than other SkyTeam programs like Air France–KLM Flying Blue.

Companion and Upgrade Vouchers:

1. • Gold members earn vouchers for companion tickets or upgrades, which can be used on Virgin Atlantic flights. This is a distinctive benefit of Flying Club that adds significant value for frequent flyers.
   • You can also earn upgrade/companion vouchers from Virgin’s Reward Credit Cards

No Fuel Surcharges on some Redemptions:

• On select partner flights, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club does not charge high fuel surcharges, a common drawback in other SkyTeam programs. This can make redemption on certain routes, particularly within Europe, more economical.

SkyTeam Alliance Benefits:

• Flying Club members enjoy standard alliance-wide benefits across all 19 SkyTeam airlines according to the Tiers of status. These include priority boarding, lounge access, and extra baggage for elite members. Virgin Gold members, for instance, get SkyTeam Elite Plus status, offering perks like lounge access across the network.

Flexible Points Transfer and Usage:

1. • Virgin points can be transferred to or from other loyalty programs, including Amex Membership Rewards, Marriot Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and IHG Rewards.
   • Those based in the USA frequently enjoy transfer bonuses on top, to make redemptions even more attractive.

Virgin Atlantic Holidays:

• • Flying Club members can earn and redeem points on Virgin Holidays packages. This offers flexibility for leisure travellers who book flight and hotel packages through Virgin Atlantic.
  • You can earn extra Tier miles set on a value scale – 20 Tier Points for every £500 you spend on your Virgin Holidays booking, up to a maximum of 400 tier points per trip

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Partners

Virgin Atlantic has some interesting airline partners. Historically Virgin has long had a strong relationships with Delta (which owns a big stake in Virgin) and Air France-KLM but now this is far more expansive given it has joined the 19 other airlines as part of SkyTeam.

Virgin still however maintains codeshare with airlines outside of SkyTeam including:

– Air New Zealand
– Singapore Airlines
– West Jet
– IndiGo
– LATAM
– Middle East Airlines
– Virgin Australia
– South African Airways
– ANA
– Hawaiian Airlines

Not All Partners Are Created Equal

When it comes to earning or redeeming, Virgin does not treat all partner airlines equally. And this is largely reflected in earning rates and the award charts for individual carriers.

For example, it’s core partnership with Delta/Air France and KLM long predates it’s recent membership of the SkyTeam alliance. So things have not changed much when it comes to partnership with these airlines.

For example, earning miles and Tier points, largely resembles or closely follows earnings from it’s own flight. That is for a long haul full fare Business Class ticket, you will also earn 200 Tier points for each sector with Air France/Delta or KLM.