Fast Track Yourself To 169000 Virgin Points

Ever wish you could jet away premium economy or business class rather than economy? Especially on long-haul flights? Well, it’s not quite as far out of your reach as you might think. You can utilise American Express & Virgin credit card sign-up bonuses and referral bonuses to reach a cool 169000 Virgin points reasonably easily!

It’s worth noting this is not a ‘free’ way of making points as your outlay will be roughly £645 depending on how long you keep each card and it would also require you to have a friend/partner willing to follow the guide too. You’d also need to utilise £14000 worth of existing spend (between you) over 12 months (or quicker depending on how quick you meet targets) BUT I think £645 is a good result considering where you can go with the points…

Whilst officially you can’t merge points or share points over a household account like with British Airways if you ring the Virgin Atlantic Call Centre they will often allow you to make a booking using points from 2 accounts so as long as both account holders are present and travelling.

If you have held or hold a personal card from American Express in the past 24 months you aren’t eligible for a sign-up bonus from an American Express card. The major exception that is relevant here is…

The Platinum Card

You cannot of held or currently hold a Membership Reward points earning card in the last 24 months to be eligible for a sign up bonus. You can hold another personal American Express card and still be eligible for the sign-up bonus.

You aren’t eligible for a sign-up bonus on the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card if you currently hold and have held a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card in the past 6 months.

This is my experience using the points system and is not a recommendation of any financial product. There are other credit cards that can earn you travel points including IHG credit card, Nectar Credit Cards (by exchanging Nectar points for Avios,) Tesco Credit Cards (by exchanging Clubcard points for Virgin Points, hotel stays and more)

Virgin Points

Virgin Points are the ‘currency’ of Virgin Red which is the loyalty scheme for Virgin Group companies in the UK. As well as being able to earn/spend points on flights you can also earn/spend points on a variety of Virgin Group companies and other partners. Although Virgin Atlantic is a long-haul airline you can also redeem your points on their partners Air France & KLM for short-haul (and long-haul trips.) Virgin has other Airline partners too but the examples included will be most of interest to UK residents. To calculate how many points you will need for redemption you can use Virgin’s booking tool here – https://www.virginatlantic.com/flight-search/book-a-flight – don’t be alarmed if you are searching for short-haul trips as it doesn’t normally recognise your destination airport when typing it in, just click full airport list and browse for your destination there. Before searching make sure you select show price in points.

What will 169000 Virgin Points get me?

Upper Class

Love to be treated like a VIP & have a bed to sleep in? Upper class is for you (Virgin’s equivalent of Business Class)

Flying upper class you could get to places such as the Caribbean for 135000 Virgin points return (plus taxes and fees.) or places such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco for 155000 Virgin points return (plus taxes and fees.) For these flights I’ve chosen peak Virgin point pricing, off-peak is slightly cheaper.

Taxes and charges on Virgin Atlantic long-haul redemptions in Upper Class are just under £600 per person.

Read more about the Upper-Class cabin here – https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/us/en/on-the-flight/cabin-and-seats/upper-class-cabin-and-seats.html

Premium Economy

Flying Premium Economy you could get 3 tickets to places such as the Caribbean for 55000 Virgin points per person return (plus taxes and fees.) or 2 tickets to places such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco for 75000 Virgin points per person return (plus taxes and fees.) For these flights I’ve chosen peak Virgin point pricing, off-peak is slightly cheaper.

Taxes and charges on Virgin Atlantic long-haul redemptions in Premium Economy are just under £500 per person.

Read more about the premium economy cabin here – https://flywith.virginatlantic.com/us/en/on-the-flight/cabin-and-seats/premium-cabin-and-seats.html

Short Haul Business/Economy

As you probably already know Virgin Atlantic is a long-haul airline but you can redeem on their partners KLM & Air France for short-haul trips.

Up to 20 return economy seats on Air France or KLM for destinations under 600 miles e.g. London – Paris for 8000 points a return (off-peak, 9000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due). You could also fly up to 10 Business Class returns for 16000 points a return (off-peak, 18000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due).

Up to 11 return economy seats on Air France or KLM for destinations under 1249 miles e.g. London – Rome for 15000 points a return (off-peak, 17000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due). You could also fly up to 3 Business Class returns for 50000 points a return (off-peak, 52000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due).

Up to 9 economy seats on Air France or KLM for destinations under 1749 miles e.g. London – Athens for 18000 points a return(off-peak, 22000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due). You could also fly up to 2 Business Class returns for 60000 points a return (off-peak, 64000 points peak)(taxes & fees will be due).

Remember these redemptions require a change of aircraft unless you are heading to Paris or Amsterdam. A further benefit of redeeming with Virgin Points is there is no charge for connections, you are charged one price for the distance flown. Don’t forget ‘taxes & fees’ will be higher on Air France or KLM redemptions compared to BA as there is no tax cap.

‘Taxes & fees’ examples

Below are some examples of the ‘taxes & fees’ we’ve seen when searching in the above short-haul ‘zones’…

London – Paris – Economy – £68 – £92 – Business – £96 – £120
London – Rome – Economy – £91 – Business – £104

For comparison with British Airways Reward Flight Saver the ‘taxes and fees’ are capped at £35 economy return and £50 business return in Europe.

How do I earn the 169000 Virgin Points?

Now the moment you’ve been waiting for! Here is how you can earn those points step by step….

The key thing here is NOT to spend more than you would normally, it’s about utilising existing spend to reap rewards. If you can not pay the balance off your card in full every month I wouldn’t follow this guide. It’s worthwhile noting also that some people wait until they have a big expenditure coming up to help them meet their targets e.g. Christmas.

If you haven’t already, sign up and get your friend/partner/family member etc to sign up to Virgin Atlantic here – https://www.virginatlantic.com/

Also, do the same for Marriott Bonvoy – https://www.marriott.com/

As soon as you get your American Express Platinum cards below set up the link between your Virgin account and them here – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rewards/partner/Virgin-Atlantic-Flying-Club/VS

Following these steps will make the process a lot quicker and perhaps save you some money with the pro-rata refund of the membership fee.

The points earned will be over 2 different persons accounts. Whilst officially you can’t merge points or share points over a household account like with British Airways if you ring the Virgin Atlantic Call Centre they will often allow you to make a booking using points from 2 accounts so as long as both account holders are present and travelling.

Lets get started!

1. Get a referral – https://pointsuncovered.com/amex-referral-link-uk/ – for The Amex Platinum Card. The card has an annual fee of £575 but it’s pro-rata refunded on cancellation. Once you have met the spending target for this card (£4000 in 3 months) or just before follow the next step… (current total 39,000 Membership reward points – 30,000 spending bonus, 5,000 referral bonus, 4,000 from spending £4000.)
2. Refer your partner/family member/friend for the Amex Platinum Card for an additional 12,000 points. (current total 51,000 membership reward points.)
3. Meet the spending target on your partners/family member/friends card for an additional 39,000 points as per step 1 (current total 90,000 Membership reward points)
4. Refer your partner/family member/friend for the Marriott Bonvoy Amex from your Platinum Card for an additional 12,000 points. (current total 102,000 Membership reward points)
5. Transfer your membership reward points over to (Virgin Points) Virgin Atlantic Flying club. 63,000 membership reward points = 63,000 Virgin points. (current total 63,000 Virgin points & 39,000 membership reward points) You can do that here – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rewards/partner/Virgin-Atlantic-Flying-Club/VS
6. Close your American Express Platinum card for a pro-rata refund of the annual fee. Depending on how quickly you can do this depends on your refund amount. Each month costs £47.92 (£575 / 12), so if you kept the card for 3 months it would be £143.75. The annual fee is £575 – £143.75 would mean a refund of £431.25 on the annual fee. How to cancel? – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/how-do-i-cancel-my-amex-card-and-what-happens-with-the-points-perks-membership-fee/
7. Meet the spending target on your partners/family member/friends Marriott Bonvoy card for 29,000 Marriott points (20,000 spending bonus, 3,000 referral bonus & 6,000 from spending £3000) (current total 29,000 Marriott points, 63,000 Virgin points & 39,000 Membership reward points.)
8. From your partner/family member/friend’s Platinum Card refer yourself for the Marriott Bonvoy Amex for an additional 12,000 points. (current total 51,000 Membership reward points, 63,000 Virgin points & 29,000 Marriott points)
9. Transfer your membership reward points over to (Virgin Points) Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. 51,000 membership reward points = 51,000 Virgin points. (current total 114,000 Virgin points (63,000 in one account and 51,000 in the second) & 29,000 Marriott points) You can do that here – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/rewards/membership-rewards/partner/Virgin-Atlantic-Flying-Club/VS
10. Close your American Express Platinum card for a pro-rata refund of the annual fee. Depending on how quickly you can do this depends on your refund amount. Each month costs £47.92 (£575 / 12), so if you kept the card for 3 months it would be £143.75. The annual fee is £575 – £143.75 would mean a refund of £431.25 on the annual fee. How to cancel? – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/how-do-i-cancel-my-amex-card-and-what-happens-with-the-points-perks-membership-fee/
11. Meet the spending target on your Marriott Bonvoy card for 29,000 Marriott points (20,000 spending bonus, 3,000 referral bonus & 6,000 from spending £3000) (current total 58,000 Marriott points & 114,000 Virgin points.)
12. On one of the Marriott Bonvoy cards spend an additional £1000 for 2000 Marriott points to increase your total to 60,000 over both accounts. This is because Marriott offers an additional 5,000 bonus miles when converting 60,000. (current total 60,000 Marriott points & 114,000 Virgin points.)
13. Transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points into one account by following this guide – https://pointsuncovered.com/marriott/how-to-transfer-marriott-bonvoy-points-to-another-account/ – and then transfer into Virgin Points here – https://www.marriott.co.uk/loyalty/redeem/travel/points-to-miles.mi – 60,000 points will get you 25,000 Virgin Points. (139,000 Virgin points total, 63,000 in one account & 76,000 in the second account)
14. Close both your Marriott Bonvoy Amex Cards for a pro-rata refund of the annual fee. Depending on how quickly you can do this depends on your refund amount. Each month costs £6.25 (£75 / 12), so if you kept the card for 3 months it would be £18.75. The annual fee is £75 – £18.75 would mean a refund of £56.25 on the annual fee. Double this for both cards. How to cancel? – https://pointsuncovered.com/american-express/how-do-i-cancel-my-amex-card-and-what-happens-with-the-points-perks-membership-fee/
15. Sign up for the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card. The card has an annual fee of £160. Once you’ve triggered the sign-up bonus (on your first spend on the card) you will get 15,000 Virgin points (Final total in account one 78,000 Virgin Points)
16. Get your partner/family member/friend to sign up for the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card. The card has an annual fee of £160. Once you’ve triggered the sign-up bonus (on their first spend on the card) they will get 15,000 Virgin points (Final total in account two 91,000 Virgin Points)
17. Grand total across both accounts 169,000 Virgin Points

If you kept each Amex for 3 months your outlay would be £143.75 x 2 and £18.75 x 2 = £325 on American Express cards and £160 x 2 = £320 on your Virgin Cards (the annual fee isn’t pro-rata refunded on these.) Which gives you a grand total of £645 for your Virgin points. It would also require you to utilise £14000 worth of existing spend over 12 months (or quicker depending on how quick you meet targets)

There are also opportunities to add a supplementary card to each Platinum Card for 5,000 points on each one which will give you an extra 10,000 Virgin Points in total! Do this as soon as you have received the card and before you cancel!

Where would you go if you had 169000 Virgin points?