Time is running out to collect bonus Flying Club Miles with the Virgin Atlantic credit cards.
The bonus Flying Club miles offer with the Virgin Atlantic credit cards is coming to an end on Friday 31st October.
So if you fancy saving money on your next holiday, you’ll need to act quickly to take advantage.
The Virgin Atlantic White Credit Card
If you open the fee-free Virgin Atlantic White Credit Card before 31st October and spend £1,000 within the first 90 days you’ll get 7,000 bonus Flying Club Miles.
That’s on top of the 3,000 Flying Club Miles you automatically get with your first card purchase within 90 days of opening the account, meaning you rack up a total of 10,000 miles.
The account comes with two cards, one American Express and one Visa, that you can build up miles with.
With the American Express card you get one Flying Club Mile for every £1 spent on everyday purchases which increases to two Flying Club Miles for every £1 spent direct with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays.
With the Visa you get one Flying Club Mile for every £2 spent on everyday purchases or one Flying Club Mile for every £1 spent direct with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays.
When you spend £10,000 over a year on the American Express card you get a free upgrade from economy to premium economy, while spending £15,000 will bag you a free companion ticket when you purchase a qualifying fare.
The Virgin Atlantic Black Credit Card
The Virgin Atlantic Black Credit Card offers an even bigger bonus.
If you apply before 31st October and spend £2,000 within the first 90 days you’ll get an extra 6,500 Flying Club Miles.
That’s in addition to the 18,500 Flying Club Miles you get with your first card purchase made within 90 days of opening the account, meaning you get a total of 25,000 miles.
The Virgin Atlantic Black Credit Card also gives you an American Express and a Visa card to build up miles with.
This time you get two miles for every £1 spent on everyday purchases and four miles for every £1 spent with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays on the American Express.
Meanwhile with the Visa you get one mile for every £1 spent on everyday purchases and two miles for every £1 spent with Virgin.
You only have to spend £5,000 in a year on the American Express in order to qualify for a free upgrade from economy to premium economy, while you can get a companion flight if you spend £7,500 in a year.
However, this card attracts an annual fee of £140.
Where your miles can take you
The bonus miles can get you on your way to bagging a free flight (after taxes and charges).
You can use Virgin Atlantic’s calculator to check how many Flying Club Miles you’ll need to get to your dream destination.
But below is a breakdown of the number of miles needed to fly to a range of destinations across each cabin class (based on flights from London airports).
|
Destination |
Economy |
Premium economy |
Upper Class |
|
Edinburgh |
7,500 |
n/a |
n/a |
|
New York |
35,000 |
55,000 |
80,000 |
|
Dubai |
38,500 |
60,000 |
80,000 |
|
Delhi |
42,500 |
70,000 |
100,000 |
|
Barbados |
45,000 |
70,000 |
100,000 |
|
Cuba |
45,000 |
70,000 |
100,000 |
|
St Lucia |
45,000 |
70,000 |
100,000 |
|
Tokyo |
45,000 |
70,000 |
100,000 |
|
Cape Town |
50,000 |
75,000 |
100,000 |
|
Hong Kong |
50,000 |
80,000 |
120,000 |
Alternatively you can spend your miles upgrading your cabin class, which costs anything from 10,000 miles to 30,000 miles, depending on the destination and what class you want to upgrade to.
Other air mile credit cards
If don't fancy the Virgin deal there are still other cards that offer the chance to save on a future holiday.
The fee-free British Airways American Express Card offers a bonus of 9,000 Avios when you spend £500 in your first three months - enough for a return trip to European destinations like Paris or Amsterdam. The card allows you to earn one Avios for every £1 spent. If you manage to spend over £20,000 on the card in a year you’ll also get a free companion voucher.
The Lloyds Bank Avios Rewards and the TSB Avios credit cards also allow you to build up Avios.
With Lloyds Bank you earn 1.25 Avios for every £1 spent on the American Express and for every £5 spent on the MasterCard. You also get double Avios for the first six months on the American Express, as well as a flight upgrade voucher when you spend £7,000 in a year. The card comes with 0% on purchases for 16 months and no foreign transaction fees. There's also 0% on balance transfers for 18 months (3% fee) with the chance to collect 1.25 bonus Avios for every whole £5 you transfer from a single provider. However, the card attracts a £24 annual fee.
The fee-free TSB Avios pays one Avios for every £1 spent on the American Express and for every £5 spent on the MasterCard. You can also collect double Avios on eligible spend abroad. The card comes with 0% on balance transfers for six months (3% fee applies). You’ll collect 1,500 bonus Avios for every £1,000 you transfer from a single provider.
All three of the above cards come in premier versions which offer more Avios, but come with big annual fees. For more on these cards, and other airline credit cards, check out The best air mile credit cards.
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