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Today is the last day on which you can book select Virgin Atlantic awards and get back 50% of the points that you use in the form of a rebate. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m not a big fan of this promotion but just in case anyone reading this can make the most of it, here are all the details that you need to know.
Headline details
- Book by 7 November 2022
- Travel by 25 March 2023
- Get 50% of the Virgin Atlantic Points that you spend back as a rebate
- Valid for routes to/from the US and Caribbean for UK members
- Valid on routes to/from the UK for US members
Note: This offer is not valid for Gold Reward Seat bookings.
Important to know
- To be eligible for this offer, members must book a new flight through virginatlantic.com or Virgin Atlantic contact centre.
- You must be a resident of the United Kingdom or the United States and a member of Virgin Red and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and have linked your accounts before booking. Virgin Points will be credited to your Virgin Red account.
- 50% points back is applicable on all new bookings made for Reward flights and points upgrades on the following Virgin Atlantic routes:
- UK members: US and Caribbean routes to/from the UK
- US members: UK routes to and from the US
- Valid for new ticketed flight reward seats and upgrades for travel booked using Virgin Points between: 00:01 28-Oct-22 and 23:59 07-Nov-22 AND travelled prior to: 23:59 on 25th-Mar-23 .
- Valid on Virgin Atlantic marketed and operated flights only (flight number starts with VS). Partner airline and codeshare flights are not eligible.
- Points plus Money redemptions are excluded.
- Upgrade Rewards and Companion Rewards, including those earned on Virgin Atlantic Credit Cards, are eligible for this offer.
- 50% of the Virgin Points redeemed will be returned to the original lead booking member for all reward seats on that booking. Points will be credited to the member’s Virgin Red account within 28 days after the original final flight within the booking has completed.
- Full taxes, fees and carrier-imposed surcharges apply and vary according to choice of cabin, departure airport, destination and date(s) of travel. The 50% back offer only applies to points, not any cash element (taxes, fees and carrier-imposed surcharges) of the flight price.
Full terms and conditions can be found on the promotion page.
A quick reminder of why this isn’t an amazing deal
It’s a 50% rebate and not a 50% discount that’s on offer so a flyer will have to have enough points in their account for a regularly priced booking before they can participate in this promotion.
This promotion only applies to flights marketed and operated by Virgin Atlantic. What this means is that the number of routes on which a rebate is being offered is limited and it means that Flying Club members are beholden to Virgin Atlantic award availability which, although better than before, is still not great.
Most importantly, this promotion does nothing to address Virgin Atlantic’s ridiculous surcharges.
Valid bookings may well earn a 50% points rebate but when flyers are being asked to pay up to $2,040 in added fees…
…that’s not exactly a fantastic “deal” is it?
I’ll admit (as I did when I first wrote about this promotion last week), that when it comes to Economy Class bookings originating in the UK (where surcharges are lower and award bookings include a checked baggage allowance), there will be times when this promotion will have its uses.
A roundtrip Economy award between London and LA, for example, will cost 15,000 points and ~£285/~$330 in fees during “standard season” (after the 50% rebate has been factored in) and assuming that you don’t value Virgin Points at more than 0.85p/1.00c, that can be a reasonable deal.
In most other cases, however, it’s hard to make a strong argument for this being a deal that everyone should be excited about.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic’s offer of a 50% points rebate on select award bookings ends today. Personally, I’m giving this promotion a miss but for some, this may offer savings that are worth considering.
