Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership’s pesky surcharges are again within the information — and never in a great way.
After introducing dynamic award pricing in late 2024, this system slashed costs and costs on some award tickets. This resulted in business-class fares to Europe for as little as 29,000 factors and roughly $250 in charges. Actually, one TPG staffer and constant Virgin Atlantic flyer thought a lot of the modifications had been for the higher.
However these offers had been short-lived, because the service’s charges have now spiked. This is all the things you might want to learn about Virgin Atlantic’s newest devaluation.
Devaluation particulars
Since Virgin Atlantic’s change to dynamic pricing, award charges have assorted by route, date and fare class. You might count on to pay roughly $250 on a business-class flight to Europe throughout low-demand dates — a steal in comparison with the $1,000-plus charges that was once commonplace.
Now, Virgin Atlantic is charging as much as $586 one-way for business-class redemptions from the U.S. to the U.Ok., together with to Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Manchester Airport (MAN) — greater than doubling these charges in a single day. Thrifty Traveler first broke this information.
Equally, one-way charges from the U.S. to the U.Ok. have elevated from round $75 to $111 for financial system redemptions and from roughly $106 to $240 for premium financial system. That may not appear unreasonable, however keep in mind that it’s a must to pay charges on the return journey as effectively.
These return charges have not modified (but), however they’re already steep, particularly while you issue within the present trade fee. As an illustration, the business-class payment is 672 British kilos, which at present quantities to $924. Yikes.
The brilliant facet? Even after the latest spike, Virgin Atlantic’s transatlantic charges are nonetheless effectively beneath their pre-dynamic-pricing days. As for whether or not they’ll keep that means or proceed to rise, solely time will inform.
For now, we’ll be watching this house intently to see if Flying Membership implements any additional modifications.
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Backside line
Regardless of this destructive change, Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership nonetheless presents some nice offers, particularly if you happen to can journey on off-peak dates. (You possibly can’t actually beat 6,000 factors for a transatlantic flight.)
And since Flying Membership companions with a lot of the main rewards packages with transferable currencies — together with American Specific Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Final Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Wells Fargo Rewards — Virgin factors are extraordinarily simple to earn.
Nonetheless, it is at all times essential to examine the taxes and costs earlier than you e book an award ticket by way of any airline program, as these can shortly eat into your journey finances.
