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Virgin Atlantic has just announced that it is lowering the elite status targets for the 12 months from 1 April 2022 as well as making elite status easier to earn for travelers who book through Virgin Holidays. The airline has also announced a gift and a nice bonus for Silver Card holders as well as a points promotion open to all that runs through March next year.
Flying Club elite status changes
A little over a year ago, Virgin Atlantic made earning Flying Club elite status considerably easier when it confirmed that award bookings would earn elite status credits from 1 September 2020. Today, the airline has made earning elite status even easier with two key changes to the Flying Club:
Elite status targets lowered
From 1 April 2022 through 31 March 2023 (one year only) the number of Tier Points needed to earn Flying Club Sliver status will drop from 400 to 300 and the number of Tier Points needed to earn Flying Club Gold status will drop from 1,000 to 800.
These changes are already being reflected on the Virgin Atlantic website.
With Virgin Atlantic already having announced a new 6-month extension to all elite statuses back in September, it has never been easier to hold on to or to earn Virgin Atlantic elite status.
Virgin Holidays now earn Tier Points
From today, 9 November 2021, Virgin Atlantic customers can earn Tier Points on bookings made through Virgin Holidays.
Lead customers on a Virgin Holidays booking will now earn 20 Tier Points for every £500 spent on a Virgin Holidays booking (up to a maximum of 400 tier points per trip) and these Tier Points come in addition to the Tier Points earned from any Virgin Atlantic or partner flights within the Virgin Holidays booking.
Here’s an example that Virgin Atlantic has provided:
Everyone in the booking will earn Tier Points from the flights within a Virgin Holidays booking but only the Lead Traveler will earn Tier Points from the spending made with Virgin Holidays.
A Silver thank you
Virgin Atlantic is saying thank you to Silver card holders in two ways:
A Clubhouse pass
As a thank you for their continued loyalty, Virgin Atlantic is giving every Silver card holder a one-off Clubhouse pass for them and a guest. The passes will appear in eligible member accounts in the coming hours and days and will expire 12 months from the date of issue.
Household Accounts
Up until now, only Gold card holders have been able to create and maintain a Virgin Atlantic household account but as of today, Silver card holders can now also pool their Virgin Points with up to nine other members in their household.
Full details of how household accounts work can be found in the Flying Club membership section of the Flying Club terms and conditions.
Virgin’s Premium Cabin points promotion
Virgin Atlantic has launched a new promotion in which it’s offering all Flying Club members 20,000 bonus points when they take two return Premium or Upper Class flights on any Virgin Atlantic route between 9 November 2021 and 31 March 2022.
Virgin hasn’t provided a link to this promotion or any further details so I’m left to assume that no registration is required, that only cash bookings will earn the bonus points, and that mixed cabin bookings (Premium and Upper Class) will earn the points as well.
I’ll update this post when things look clearer.
Bottom Line
Virgin Atlantic has today announced that it is lowering the thresholds for Flying Club Silver and Gold status to 300 Tier Points and 800 Tier Points respectively and that it will now award bonus Tier Points for spending made through Virgin Holidays.
In addition, Silver card holders are now being given a one-off gift of a Clubhouse pass for them and a guest as well as now being allowed to create a household account for up to 10 people.