While Virgin Atlantic is on the verge of what could be a pretty steep devaluation, there is a potentially pretty terrific deal right now that might still make sense for some travelers.
Right now, Chase is offering a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, as first reported by View from the Wing. That’s a larger-than-normal transfer bonus, and you have until Nov. 30 to take advantage of the deal. In fact, Chase is calling it its biggest-ever offer to Virgin Atlantic.
You’ll likely want to act faster than that, though, as Virgin Atlantic is shifting to a dynamic pricing model for points redemptions beginning Oct. 30. We don’t yet know exactly what that will look like, but you still have about two weeks to lock in any awards you’ve had your eye on with the existing award chart (or be prepared to potentially pay more for those redemptions).
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Chase Ultimate Rewards points are among the best transferable rewards currencies because they transfer to so many airline and hotel loyalty programs. You can earn Ultimate Rewards points with cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which currently has an increased bonus of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening and offers a $300 statement credit on Chase Travel℠ purchases to use within the first year.
Among the Chase Ultimate Rewards partners is Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
The transfer process is easy. Just log into your Chase Ultimate Rewards account, hit the transfer button and then enter your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club details.
Despite the coming shift to dynamic pricing at Virgin Atlantic, there is some potential good news from the changes that go into effect Oct. 30. Beginning then, every seat on a Virgin Atlantic-operated flight will be bookable using Virgin points. You’ll also be able to use your Virgin points for upgrades. Additionally, there will be a new category of award seats via a new saver reward seat product, though we don’t yet have a lot of details.
Related: Dynamic airline award pricing is out of control — here are some ways to beat it
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Virgin says Flying Club members will see some of the carrier’s lowest-ever points prices. Among the samples it shared were flights from London to New York for as few as 6,000 points each way. TPG will share all the news about updated pricing once the changes go into effect at the end of the month.
In the meantime, it could make sense to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, especially if you’ve had your eye on a particular award at a good price. Transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic are more often in the 20% to 30% range, so this is pretty generous. I wouldn’t speculatively transfer points despite the 40% bonus, especially with the coming changes, but since the bonus will run into November, you’ll have time to decide even after the changes are announced.
Bottom line
Despite a pending move to dynamic pricing, Virgin Atlantic can still be a highly valuable program for international travel. Among the premium airlines you can book with Virgin points are All Nippon Airways, Air France and KLM. When you can find availability, there are some good deals out there.
Please don’t transfer points with this bonus without a specific booking in mind, as we don’t know what the new award charts will look like just yet.
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