Time running out for bumper Flying Miles offer

There's just a few days left to take advantage of the bumper Flying Miles bonus on offer with the Virgin Atlantic credit cards.

Time is running out to take advantage of the bumper bonus miles on offer with the Virgin Atlantic credit cards.

The miles can be used to drastically cut the cost of flights, but you need to apply for them before 14th July to benefit.

Let’s take a look at the Virgin deals and how they compare to other travel credit cards.

Virgin Atlantic White Card

Apply for the Virgin Atlantic White Card before 14th July and spend £1,000 within 90 days of opening your account and you’ll benefit from 10,000 bonus miles. That’s 3,000 bonus miles for your first purchase, bumped up with a further 7,000 miles if you spend a total of £1,000 within your first three months of having the card, so long as you apply before 14th July.

There’s no annual fee with the White Card, and you can also take advantage of a six-month 0% period on balance transfers (with a 2% transfer fee).

As is common with these sorts of reward cards, the White Card actually consists of two separate cards, an American Express and a Visa. You earn miles for every £1 you spend, so even if you want to shop somewhere that doesn’t accept American Express, you can still rack up some miles.

With the American Express card you earn one mile for every £1 you spend on everyday purchases, and two miles for every £1 spent direct with Virgin Atlantic and over the phone with Virgin Holidays. Meanwhile with the Visa you earn one mile for every £2 spent on everyday purchases and for every £1 spent with Virgin.

Spend £10,000 in a year and you can upgrade from economy to premium economy, while if you spend £15,000 you can get a free companion ticket when you buy a flight ticket.

Virgin Atlantic Black Card

With the Virgin Atlantic Black Card you get 18,500 bonus miles on your first card purchase, bumped up with a further 11,500 miles if you spend a total of £3,000 within the first 90 days if you apply by 14th July.

Again the Black Card consists of two cards, an American Express and a Visa. With the American Express you get two miles for every £1 spent on everyday purchases and four miles for every £1 spent with Virgin, while on the Visa you get one mile for every £1 spent on everyday purchases and two miles for every £1 spent with Virgin.

You can upgrade from economy to premium economy when you spend £5,000 in a year, and get a free companion ticket when you spend £7,500 on the card in a year.

However, this card will cost you a whopping £140 a year so it’s only for big spenders. It also comes with a 0% period on balance transfers for six months.

Where will my miles get me?

With Virgin Atlantic, you need an awful lot of miles to actually get very far. For example those 10,000 bonus miles with the White card are only enough to fly you to Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Manchester (each destination costs 7,500).

If you want to fly to the US you’ll need 38,500 miles to fly to places like Boston and New York, 45,000 to get to Florida or 47,500 miles to get to places like Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Destinations in the Caribbean would cost you 47,500 miles, while Hong Kong will set you back 60,000 miles. These are all for economy seats too – the miles required jump significantly for premium economy and upper class. And remember that there will be some fees and taxes on top.

In other words, the bonus is lovely but you need to fair bit on the cards too.

Other travel cards worth a look

If you want to spend Avios (what used to be Airmiles) with British Airways, there are a number of credit cards to consider.

Lloyds Bank has the Duo Avios credit cards, made up of an American Express and a MasterCard. You earn one Avios for every £1 spent on the American Express and every £5 on the MasterCard. TSB offers identical deals on its TSB Avios Credit Card Account.

There’s also the British Airways American Express credit card. You get a bonus 3,000 Avios when you spend £500 in your first three months, and then one Avios for virtually every £1 you spend.

There’s not a huge difference in the cost of similar flights between Avios and Virgin Flying Miles – flights to Boston cost 40000 Avios for example, compared to 38,500 Flying Miles. However one advantage of Avios is that it also covers European flights, so you have far more short-haul options.

For example, with just 9,000 Avios you can get to places like Munich, Copenhagen, Milan or Paris. Again there will be added fees and taxes to pay on top.

More on travel:

Driving in Europe: how to find the cheapest places for petrol and diesel

Should you pay to secure a ‘buy back rate’ when exchanging currency?

How to avoid blowing your holiday budget

How to claim compensation for delayed and cancelled flights

The best and worst travel companies