Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has made a major improvement – it will guarantee at least 12 award seats on every single flight operated by Virgin Atlantic.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club opens its schedule 331 days in advance. As soon as flights are bookable, you should find:
- At least two award seats in Upper Class
- At least two award seats in Premium Economy
- At least eight award seats in Economy
This won’t stop Virgin Atlantic from releasing more award space as demand fluctuates. But if you collect Flying Club points, you can be confident that you can spend them – as long as you are willing and able to book the award seats before anybody else does…
Where Does Virgin Atlantic Fly to/from?
The vast majority of Virgin Atlantic’s route network involves flights to/from London Heathrow. At the moment, Virgin Atlantic flies (or plans to fly) from these American airports:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Boston
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York JFK
- Orlando
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Washington Dulles
How Can I Avoid Taxes and Surcharges
Well, you can’t… Like many European airlines / frequent flyer programs, Virgin Atlantic adds substantial surcharges to its award prices. However, surcharges do tend to be much lower when departing the United Kingdom. As a result, you would want to book one-way flights wherever possible. This will save you some money on the UK –> US leg (versus booking a return US –> UK –> US).
This strategy does combine nicely with the guaranteed award space – you can book your one-way US –> UK flight as soon as it is available for booking (331 days in advance). You would then book a one-way back home whenever it becomes available for booking.
However, because Virgin Atlantic’s flights depart from the UK, you cannot use a connecting flight from Continental Europe to avoid the UK’s high aviation taxes (like you can do with British Airways).
Bottom Line
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is now guaranteeing 12 award seats on every single flight it operates. Even though you will still be paying those high taxes and surcharges, at least you know that you can spend your Flying Club points more easily…
