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Virgin Atlantic’s has brought back the best points sale that we see it run, and that means that for the next few weeks, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members can buy points from 0.89 pence each (UK accounts) or from 1.48 cents each (US accounts).
Given, however, that Virgin Atlantic has now moved to a dynamic pricing system for reward flight bookings (meaning that the cost of an award booking is now linked to the cost of the cash fare), it’s now more important than ever for readers to check what awards are available and what they cost before deciding to buy points in this (or any other) Virgin Atlantic points sale.
The sale
There are 5 tiers to the latest Virgin Atlantic points sale and this is what they look like:
- Buy 1,000 – 4,000 points and get no bonus
- Buy 5,000 – 24,000 points and get a 20% bonus
- Buy 25,000 – 69,000 points and get a 40% bonus
- Buy 70,000 – 124,000 points and get a 60% bonus
- Buy 125,000 – 300,000 points and get a 70% bonus
This appears to be a near-replica of the last 70% sale that we saw (which I think was back in September 2025), although this time around the maximum number of points you can buy has been raised from 200,000 to 300,000.
Key terms
- Buy and Gift Virgin Points purchases made by 23:59 BST 31st March 2026 will be eligible to receive bonus points.
- The bonus points will be credited at the point of purchase and will appear on the members account within 24 hours.
- A member can purchase a total of 200,000 points each calendar year, in increments of 1,000 points. Between 00:00 GMT 25th February and 23:59 BST 31st March 2026, the limit has been increased to 300,000. A member can purchase a total of 300,000 points each, in increments of 1,000 points.
- Bonus points do not count towards the annual limits.
- Members will have the right to cancel any purchases of points for up to 14 days after the date of purchase provided that none of the purchased points have been redeemed. If any of the purchased points have been redeemed, the member will not be entitled to a refund for any of the purchased points including those that have not been redeemed.
- Once the 14 day cooling off period has expired any points purchased and received by members are non-refundable and non-transferable, except as expressly permitted under the terms and conditions of Flying Club.
- Points cost £15/$25 for every 1,000 points plus every transaction comes with a one-off £15/$22 transaction fee. So, if you buy 1,000 points you will pay £30/$47, if you buy 5,000 points you will pay £90/$147 and if you buy 10,000 points you will pay £165/$272.
- You won’t be able to buy, gift (or transfer) points if your points balance is zero.
Full terms and conditions can be found via this link.
The numbers
UK-based accounts
As far as UK Virgin Atlantic Flying Club accounts go this is what you’ll need to know:
Because Virgin Atlantic adds a £15 ‘handling fee’ to every transaction the cost per point will vary depending on the bonus on offer and the number of points that you’re buying, but the key thing here is that the cost/point when you buy 125,000 points is the same as the cost/point when you buy the full 300,000 points so there’s no need to buy the maximum number of points on offer to get a great deal.
If you were to buy the maximum number of points this sale allows you to buy it would cost £4,515 and you would net 510,000 points:
510,000 points at a cost of £4,515 comes out to a cost/point of ~0.89 pence (approx. 1.20 cents).
And if you choose to just buy 125,000 points, it would cost you £1,890 and you would net 212,500 points.
212,500 points at a cost of £1,890 comes out to a cost/point of ~0.89 pence (approx. 1.20 cents).
US-based accounts
Based on what we have seen historically and what we’ve seen elsewhere (my UK account doesn’t show US pricing), Flying Club members whose accounts are registered to a US address should be able to buy points from approximately 1.48 cents each (300,000 points + 70% bonus should get you 510,000 Flying Club points for $7,525).
As you can see, buying Virgin points from a UK-based account is considerably cheaper than buying them from a US-based account (that’s why I keep my account based in the UK), but even at 1.48 cents/point, this sale offers the best cost/point that we see Virgin Atlantic offer to US members.
Is it worth buying points in this sale?
If you don’t have a plan for how to use the points you shouldn’t be buying points at all and as mentioned earlier, with Virgin Atlantic now using dynamic award pricing, its especially important to do your due diligence before diving into the sale.
Personally, I don’t often use Virgin Atlantic points for travel on Virgin Atlantic because of the high surcharges that the airline often adds to award bookings (although I did recently make the most of dynamic pricing to redeem just 21,000 points for a roundtrip Premium Economy booking between the UK and the East Coast), but I love using them for premium cabin awards on ANA when that’s actually possible.
ANA has a very popular Business Class product (the Room) and here at TFM, we consider it to be the best Business Class seat in the world. Yes, we think it’s better than the Qatar Airways Qsuite.
So how do you use Virgin Atlantic points to book such a great product?
Well, as things stand, the Virgin Atlantic ANA award chart is a region-based chart and looks like this:
Please note that the points costs shown are for one way travel, so you’ll need to multiply by two for round-trip pricing (open-jaw itineraries are permitted too).
These are the highlights in this award chart (one-way travel):
- Europe to Tokyo: 60,000 points/85,000 points (Business Class/First Class)
- New York to Tokyo: 60,000 points/85,000 points
- Los Angeles to Tokyo: 52,500 points/72,500 points
The number of points required for Business Class is now greater than it was not all the long ago, but these points prices are still impressive.
The current Virgin Atlantic sale allows you to buy enough points for any of these awards and this is how much they will cost, assuming you buy points in this sale at 0.89 pence each (UK) or $0.0148 (USA).
Business Class Fares (UK pricing/USA pricing – one-way travel)
- Europe to Tokyo: ~£534/$888 + taxes & fees
- New York to Tokyo: ~£534/$888 + taxes & fees
- Los Angeles to Tokyo: £467/$777 + taxes & fees
First Class Fares (UK pricing/USA pricing – one-way travel)
- Europe to Tokyo: £757/$1,258 + taxes & fees
- New York to Tokyo: £757/$1,258 + taxes & fees
- Los Angeles to Tokyo: £645/$1,073 + taxes & fees
If you’re buying Virgin Atlantic points in GBP, these Business Class fares are staggeringly good (even though the surcharges are higher now than they were a couple of years ago), and even if you’re forced to suffer the higher USD pricing, it’s hard to think of many better Business Class deals in the miles and points world.
Sadly, however, it’s not all good news.
Firstly, ANA Premium Cabin awards have gradually become a lot harder to find (especially if you can’t be flexible with dates or if you want more than one seat), so don’t buy any points before you’re 100% sure that the awards you’d like to book are actually available.
Secondly, there’s a downside to Virgin using a region-based award chart for ANA redemptions.
Per Virgin Atlantic:
What this means is that indirect routings cost a lot more because two awards are required.
Take New York – Japan – South Korea in Business Class as an example. To book this with Virgin Flying Club points will take two award bookings:
First, you have to book the New York – Japan segments for 60,000 points and then you have to book the Japan – South Korea segments for a further 17,500 points.
The total one-way cost is 77,500 points and that’s not such an amazing deal anymore. The best deals to be had are on non-stop routings.
Searching for & booking ANA awards
You can’t book or search for ANA awards via Virgin Atlantic’s website, so you have to look to other Star Alliance airline sites for help, but don’t buy any points until you’ve checked that awards are actually available for the dates you can fly.
I find ANA’s website a bit clunky, so my go-to sites are Aeroplan and United.com which are both easy to use and quite reliable when it comes to showing true award availability.
Once you’ve found an award you’d like to book you’ll have to call up your local Virgin Atlantic reservations line where the agents should be able to book your chosen itinerary.
Don’t forget
Virgin Atlantic sells its points through Points.com so there’s no scope to earn a travel/flight/airline bonus by using a credit card that offers bonus points for shopping in one of those categories.
What this means is that this is a good opportunity to use a credit card on which you’re working towards a welcome bonus or to use the excellent Chase Freedom Unlimited® card which will earn you 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points/dollar).
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic is now selling points with bonuses as high as 70%. This allows UK-based Flying Club accounts to buy points from 0.89 pence each and US-based Flying Club accounts to buy points from 1.48 cents each.
These are the best rates at which we see Virgin Atlantic sell its points, but you should still not be buying speculatively.
