Black Friday: Virgin Upper Class FROM £999

I’m finally breaking my break from getting excited about airline deals. Not only because Black Friday is well and truly here, but with 3 potential Covid-19 vaccines on the horizon, things are looking alot more optimistic for travel next year. We’ve started seeing some offers from a couple of airlines in the last few days. Virgin Atlantic has officially launched theirs this morning. And with fancy Upper Class from £999, it may be a good time as any to jump in on them!

The Deals

The headline 999 Upper rate is on offer for Barbados, Tabago, New York, Miami and Orlando. But actually these rates are available for more of West Coast

Full details on this page here

Premium Deals

Premium is also available from £538 to New York, £599 to Barbados.

For more, see listing page.

The Dates & Other Conditions

There appears to be 3 days minimum stay, and 3 month maximum.

For some destinations, its possible to route via AMS or Paris etc and fly Air France or KLM Business Class too.

Stopovers are charged at £70 in each direction.

Travel dates for the above deals are as follows:

OUTBOUND – PERMITTED 23NOV 20 THROUGH 30JUN 21 FOR EACH TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR.

INBOUND – PERMITTED 23NOV 20 THROUGH 30JUN 21 FOR EACH TRANSATLANTIC SECTOR.

Unfortunately, the this is quite limited, especially with all the uncertainty of border closures still. Virgin currently have a reasonable rebooking policy, where you can change your ticket up to two times with no fees (fare differences applies but that is mitigated to some extend (full conditions here)

Question is, what if borders are closed beyond June 2021, its not clear what flexibility to you have rebook after that on these fares?

Must book BEFORE 30NOV 2020.

Bottom Line

These really are some fantastic deals. Under £1 for 10+ hours of flying in luxury is a steal. Still there are several things you will need to weigh up, as there are still risks that anything booked may not go as planned. Would the USA open up to European’s? If not, then you are in a pickle trying to rebook and potentially forking out alot more money in the process, which will nullify any of this “deal” so to speak. It would have helped if the booking window extended until September 2021 at least?

Another factor to bare in mind, is that the Virgin Clubhouse lounge in Heathrow is also currently shut, with no dates on when it will reopen.

If you are a US citizen living in Europe or have US based spouse, this is certainly a deal you would jump at! But would be curios to see how many takers there will be otherwise. What do you think of these prices?