Virgin credit cards

[Becx N Gav]

I am flying to Orlando next October and Easter 2027 and will fly with Virgin. I had a quick look at their credit card options and promotions (which end next month).
Couple of questions:
Do they normally release a new promotion? If so when is that likely? I would look to book once flights are first available November)

Is it worth going for the one with an annual fee? It's £160 which seems like a good offer for the value of companion flight or upgrade.

If I do get the companion flight or upgrade do I need to meet the requirements (spend £10k + within a year) before I can use the voucher, so I'm thinking of booking Easter 2027 flights for my son and I in May next year but not sure if I would have spent enough by then, can I buy the flight for just myself and then add him? Can I buy tickets for both of us and cancel his then use the voucher? Seems like it may not work out time wise. If I do need to spend the full amount and I then book in September/October 2026 would flight prices be much higher making it not as worthwhile?

Alo in general is Virgin's point system as good as it used to be? I travelled a lot in the 2000's and haven't flown with Virgin since then. I heard it's not as good as it used to be but I think over the next few years we'll be travelling to the US every 2 years at least so might be worth getting some extra points via the credit card!

 

[button409]

The Virgin system certainly isn't as straightforward as it used to be but I've travelled for the last 3 years using reward seats from the credit cards and points for 4 people, including this year under the new system, and have also just booked for next year. If there is only 2 of you travelling, here is what I would do. (This all depends on credit history etc)
- Open the Amex Gold Card - if you apply using a referral link (which I can send you if you want) you can get 45000 bonus points (you can get a one way fare to Orlando for 13500 points per person, so straight away you have almost got a return flight for 2 people). Its usually £160 a year, but currently free for your first year, so as long as you cancel it before the one year anniversary there is nothing to pay.
- sign up to the Virgin Red app. Its free and again with a referral code you get 1000 points for signing up. From here you can find lots of ways to earn points, as well as track the points you have earned so far.
-Once you have received the bonus miles from Amex, consider closing this down and then look at applying for the Virgin Rewards Mastercard. There is the free one with which you accrue .75 points per £, and then a fee paying one where you accrue 1.5 points per £. With the free one you need to spend £20k to get a reward seat, and the fee paying one its £10k.
The fee paying card offers a higher sign up bonus but I have never seen this bonus to be anywhere near as high as the Amex Gold sign up bonus.

- if you haven't already, sign up to autoconvert your tesco clubcard points to Virgin points. Again there is a bonus of 5000 point s at the moment for doing this.

If you will be travelling every other year or so, this is definitely enough time to earn points for these trips.

I hope this all makes sense, if you have any questions I am happy to help if I can!

 

[button409]

With regards to the voucher from the credit card, this is applied to your account within a few days of you hitting the spend milestone (£10 k or £20k), and its valid for 2 years. Unless you have a big spend to make pretty soon, the timings may not work out for your upcoming trip. If you were to just book two tickets now, and then cancel one once you 'earn' the voucher, you essentially would have to cancel the original booking, and although your miles etc would be returned, there is a £70 admin fee per person, and they would then reprice your ticket, so if the price has gone up you would need to pay the higher amount anyway.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Thanks @button409 that's really helpful!

I already have an Amex Platinum so not sure if I can apply for the Gold but I will take a look!

 

[Ruttangel]

Virgin Reward + card is 36k points for £160 a year fee, look into the spending requirements to get that bonus
Points are really hard to redeem on Virgin unless you are very flexible on flight dates
I got a peak premium return for 65k this year, next year is at least double as they’ve changed to dynamic pricing
You do get a companion reward voucher if you spend £10k p.a. But you still pay the taxes for that flight so this year was 65k points and £950 for 2 premium flights