If you want to earn air miles through daily spending in the UK there are a few options. The Virgin Atlantic Credit Card is a great option if you regularly fly with Virgin Atlantic. Also, if you just want a basic guide to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (covering ways to earn and spend points and how to get loyalty benefits), I wrote a helpful guide here.
Comparing the Two Cards
Virgin offer two cards:
- The basic, fee-free Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card. This is a “bare bones” card and you’ll only earn 0.75 points per £1 spent. You’ll also get a companion voucher after spending £20,000, which for many isn’t achievable.
- The £160 per year Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card has much better rewards, but obviously this comes at a cost. First you’ll earn twice as many points. Then you’ll get 15,000 bonus point as long as you make a purchase within 90 days. Finally, the companion voucher is granted after spending just £10,000 in a year which is much easier to achieve.
Based on an easily achievable redemption rate of 1.2p per Virgin point I’ve created a breakdown of how much your points could be worth with each card. Essentially, however much you spend, you’ll earn far better rewards with the Reward+ card. For example, spending £5,000 per year will net you £110 worth of points with the Reward+ card but just £45 with the basic Reward Card. If you’re a high spender the difference is even more stark. And that’s not factoring in the companion voucher which could potentially be worth thousands depending on what route/class of flight you redeem it on. As long as you can stomach the £160 annual fee I definitely recommend the Reward+ card over the Reward card.
Spending your Virgin Miles
When booking flights on the Virgin Atlantic website you can calculate how many points it’s cost. As you can see an Upper Class return flight from London to Barbados will require 115,000 points. When I checked Virgin’s website the cash cost of this flight was £2,559.71. That’s a redemption value of 2.2p per point, which is pretty good.
And if you want to see how redeeming miles with Virgin compares to my two other favoured redemption airlines, British Airways and Singapore Airlines, I’ve prepared a breakdown below. Looking at equivalent long haul return flights I found that none of these airlines will give you a good rate on economy flights. However, when it comes to redeeming on business flights Virgin is the clear winner. You can redeem Virgin points for as much as 2.7p per point. Singapore also provide a similar, but not as good, rate. Whilst British Airways are much worse. In this case 1 Avios wasn’t even worth half a Virgin Point.
It is worth noting though that these rates are heavily dependant on when and where you’re flying to. For examply I flew from London to Geneva in Business, redeeming points at a rate of 1.5p per Avios. I also recently upgraded a flight from Saigon to Singapore to business class (flight review coming in March) and was only able to redeem at about 1.2p per KrisFlyer mile. So it is really variable.
Alternatives
Barclaycard Avios Card
Barclaycard offer two different credit cards which are almost identical in benefits to the two American Express cards I’ve discussed above. I wrote in detail about the potential points earnings you could get with the Barclaycard Avios here. I also have the free version of the Barclaycard Avios as a backup for when American Express isn’t accepted.
First is the standard “Barclaycard Avios” which will earn 1 Avios per £1 spent and a companion voucher after spending £20,000. Then the “Barclaycard Avios Plus” which earns 1.5 Avios per £1 spent and a companion voucher after spending £10,000. The extra earnings on the plus version do come at the cost of £20 per month however. Both cards also have a signup bonus at the time of writing. 5,000 Avios after spending £1,000 on the free version, and 25,000 Avios after spending £3,000 on the plus card. Both of these spending goals need to be met within the first 3 months.
Really choosing between the Barclaycard and Amex cards comes down to personal preference as they are extremely similar. Consider how many of your most visited shops accept Amex.
American Express British Airways Card
Much like Virgin Atlantic, American Express also offer two tiers of airline credit cards. However, these ones are British Airways branded and you’ll earn Avios. In fact the benefits and fee structure are almost identical to both the Virgin Atlantic Card and Barclaycard discussed above. The Amex British Airways Card with no annual fee and the Amex British Airways Premium Plus card at £250 per year.
I’ve estimated that if you’re spending ~£5k per year or below the basic British Airways card is probably best for you. I you’re a higher spender then the Premium Plus card is your best choice. Overall, these Amex cards are very similar to the Virgin cards. You’ll just have to decide if you prefer BA or Virgin Atlantic.
Bottom Line
The Virgin Atlantic Credit Card is the best credit card in the UK if you don’t want to fly with British Airways or Oneworld Alliance airlines. Both cards are incredibly similar to both the American Express British Airways Card and Barclaycard Avios. The only real difference being what airline your earning miles with. Personally I just prefer using the British Airways cards as you have access to a much larger route network, including some amazing carriers like Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Virgin Atlantic are still a great airline though and offer very generous redemption rates when booking Upper Class flights.
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- Best Airlines in the World – If you want to find out which airlines I think are better than British Airways, read this…
- Best Airline Alliances and why you should care– For a guide on how to decide between Oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam.
- Best Airline Reward Programs – What I think are the best airline reward programs from each alliance, for those based in the UK.
And if you fancy earning some fantastic rewards and Avios points through American Express, please use my referral links below:
- The Platinum Card – You Receive 35,000 Membership Reward points after spending £3,000 in the first 3 months: https://americanexpress.com/en-gb/referral/fREDEGgRA5?CPID=100493012
- British Airways Card: You Receive 12,000 Avios after spending £1,000 in the first 3 months: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/credit-cards/referral/prospect/intl…