Virgin Upper Class To London For 4
In light of the Capital One 20% transfer bonus to Flying Blue, I thought it would be a good time to share a bunch of Virgin Atlantic Upper Class award space.
Please note that the award rate varies based on your departure airport.
If you want to visit somewhere else in Europe, you can use London as an easy jumping off point as cheap flights to places such as Paris, Berlin, Rome, Dublin, etc. You can even take a train to Paris.
Now, let's get into the details.
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Straight To The Points:
Routes: ATL/BOS/JFK/LAX/MIA/SFO/TPA-LHR
Operating airline: Virgin Atlantic
Class of service: Upper Class (business class)
Dates: January - May 2024
Seats available: 4
Cabin layout: 1-2-1 (A350, A330-900neo); 1-1-1 (A333, B789)
Book with (per person, one-way):
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue:
- BOS: 71,000 miles
- JFK: 75,000 miles
- ATL: 91,500 miles
- MIA/TPA: 96,500 miles
- LAX: 112,000 miles
- SFO: 117,000 miles
- Delta SkyMiles:
- One-way: 195,000 miles
- Round-trip: 250,000 miles
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:
- Standard: 47,500 points
- Peak: 57,500 points
- Standard (LAX/SFO): 67,500 points
- Peak (LAX/SFO): 77,500 points
Taxes/fees (per person):
- Delta SkyMiles
- From US: $5.60
- From LHR: ~$934
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- From US: ~$210-305
- From LHR: ~$548
- Virgin
- From US: ~$877
- From LHR: ~$804
Note: On journeys starting from LHR, you will be on the hook for the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee of £185 (~US$238). It doesn't matter which airline program you use to book, this will be the included.
Bank transfer partners:
- Delta: Amex, Marriott
- Flying Blue: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
- Capital One 20% transfer bonus
- Virgin: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott
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Flight Experience
Virgin Atlantic has a reputation for being a fun airline with friendly crews and an amazing lounge at London Heathrow. For the best inflight experience, try to find a date with award space on Virgin's A350-1000 or A330-900neo.
The A350 has a 1-2-1 cabin layout but, unlike reverse herringbone cabin arrangement, the 2 middle seats face away from each other and toward the window seats. Their A330-900neo has a staggered 1-2-1 layout.
The A330neo will also have two Retreat Suites which have a bit more space, including an ottoman that allows your traveling companion to dine with you. You can book one of the two Retreat Suites for £200 one-way.
The A330-300 and Boeing 787-9 cabins are arranged in a 1-1-1 layout. Row A will provide the most privacy as Rows G and K are angled toward each other.
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Available Dates
Please double check the aircraft operating the flight you want before booking. I've listed the aircraft with the Upper Class cabin/seat you want to fly.
ATL-LHR (A350)
January: 1, 2, 8, 14-16, 21-23, 28-31
February: 5, 6, 11-13, 18, 19, 27
March: 4, 12, 18, 25
LHR-ATL
January: 4, 5, 7-31
February: 1, 2, 4-24, 27-29
March: 1, 5-8, 12-15, 19-21
BOS-LHR (A330neo)
January: 5-31
February: 1-29
March: 1-27, 29-31
April: 1-5, 7-9, 11-13, 17, 19-22, 25-30
May: 2-7, 10-14, 17-21, 25-28
June: 1, 3, 4
LHR-BOS
January: 4, 6, 9-11, 13, 16-31
February: 1-11, 13-18, 20-25, 27-29
March: 1-3, 5-9, 12-14, 16, 19-21, 26-30
April: 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16-18, 20, 23-25, 27
May: 1-4, 8, 10, 11, 15-18, 22-25, 29-31
June: 1, 5
JFK-LHR (A350)
January: 1-10, 12-31
February: 1-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-29
March: 1-6, 8-31
April: 1-17, 19, 20, 22-24, 26-30
May: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13-15, 17, 18, 21, 22
LHR-JFK
January: 2-31
February: 1-29
March: 1-31
April: 1-30
May: 1-31
LAX-LHR (A350)
January: 10-31
February: 1-29
March: 1-21, 24-27, 29-31
April: 1-14, 16
LHR-LAX
January: 11-13, 15-20, 22-27, 29-31
February: 1-6, 11-25, 27, 29
March: 5, 7-9, 12, 14, 15, 21, 29-31
April: 1-17, 16, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30
May: 1, 2
MIA-LHR (A330neo)
February: 7, 10
LHR-MIA
January: 11, 15, 17, 19, 20, 26
February: 12-14, 19-22, 26, 27
March: 5, 7, 12, 21
April: 3, 4, 10, 11
May 7, 16, 21, 28, 30
SFO-LHR (A350)
January: 17, 20-24, 28-31
February: 3-6, 10-14, 17-21, 24, 26-28
March: 2, 4-6, 11-13, 18, 19
LHR-SFO
January: 11-31
February: 1-29
March: 1-22, 24
April: 2-4, 9-12, 16, 17, 19, 25
May: 1
TPA-LHR (A330neo)
February: 3
LHR-TPA
January: 11-26, 28, 29, 31
February: 1-7, 9, 11, 13-16, 18, 20-23, 25-29
March: 3-9, 11-15, 17, 19, 20
April: 2-13, 16, 17, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28
May: 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13-17, 19, 20, 30, 31
June: 1-5
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Best Ways To Book
Personally, I would use this to lock in a flight to London and then book something else on the return. Ideally, I'd start my return from another country to avoid the steep APD fee.
Important: Before you transfer points and book, check the cash fares.
You might prefer to book a cash fare or redeem Chase points via the Chase travel portal at 1.5 or 1.25 cents per points (depending on the card you have).
Similarly, if you have the Amex Business Platinum or Business Gold, you might prefer to take advantage of the 35% or 25% points rebate, respectively, via Amex Travel.
Flying Blue: Best Award Rate + Cash Combo
Flying Blue presents the best option for booking for a few reasons.
- Award rates
- Reduced carrier-imposed surcharges
- Capital One 20% transfer bonus
With the 20% bonus, here are the number of Capital One Miles you'd need for a one-way award ticket from each US departure city:
- BOS: 60,000 Cap One Miles
- JFK: 62,600 Cap One Miles
- ATL: 76,250 Cap One Miles
- MIA/TPA: 81,000 Cap One Miles
- LAX: 94,000 Cap One Miles
- SFO: 97,500 Cap One Miles
Virgin Atlantic: Best Award Rate, Insane Surcharges Ruin It
Personally, I wouldn't bother with this one since the surcharges are so steep. If you need to be in Europe on a specific date and have Virgin points lying around, it might be worth it. But, I would look into booking a premium economy cash ticket and then upgrading with points first.
Delta: Terrible Award Rate, Reasonable Taxes/Fees
Delta is the counter to Virgin. They have an awful award rate at 195,000 miles one-way but they don't pass on surcharges. If you're flying from LAX and have SkyMiles, you might prefer this to using Flying Blue.
Keep in mind that transferring Amex points to Delta will require you to pay the small excise fee of $0.0006 per point with a max of $99 per transfer.
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How To Book
The fastest way to search is on Virgin's site.
- Select origin/destination
- Select one-way or round-trip
- Select date(s)
- Select number of passengers
- Select Advanced search
- Show Price in Points
- Show Fares For: Upper Class
- Click the arrow to search
- To expand 7-day view to 30 days, select Price Calendar
- To find Delta flights, Filter for Direct
- Select a flight
- Click Continue
- Choose seats
- Select review and pay
- Log into your account to complete booking
Once you find space, you can run a search with Air France (or KLM) or Delta to confirm they see the space and book from there.
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Final Thoughts
I've enjoyed my Upper Class flights on the A350 and A330neo but I'd give the edge to the A350 unless you pay extra for the front row of the A330neo.
Whether you visit London or jump off from their, this is a fun way to fly.
Happy booking!
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