Virgin Atlantic Changes To Loyalty Program, Side By Side Comparison To Current Program

Virgin Atlantic have announced changes to their loyalty program, these new changes will go into effect on November 13th, 2016 (new flights will be bookable from January 16th, 2017). Here is a quick overview of what is changing:

• They’ve added off peak and peak seasons for award flights
• Miles earned will change, premium cabins will earn more points and economy cabins will earn less points.
• Tier points for elite status will be changing
• Changes to the amount of miles required for seat upgrades

Earning Miles

The number of miles you earn is changing, you can view the full list of what you’ll earn below (add an additional 30% for Silver and 60% for Gold).

Virgin Atlantic have provided you with a handy tool so you can compare directly to how many miles you would have previously earned. Basically economy cabins will earn less and premium economy will earn around the same and upper class will earn more.

Tier/Elite Status

Currently Virgin Atlantic has three status levels, this will be staying the same but the number of the tier points required will be changing:

	Old Program	New Program
Red	None	None
Silver	15 Tier Points	400 Tier Points
Gold	40 Tier Points	1,000 Tier Points

Now obviously that’s too big so any flights you’ve already booked or taken will be given a multiple of 25 points. If we put that multiple into the above chart, we are given:

	Old Program	New Program
Red	None	None
Silver	375 Tier Points	400 Tier Points
Gold	1,000 Tier Points	1,000 Tier Points

As you can see the number of points required is increasingly slightly for Silver staying the same for gold. Virgin are also making changes to how you earn these tier points. Under the previous system the amount of points you earned was as follows:

And under the new program it’s as follows:

	Old Program	New Program
Red	None	None
Silver	375 Tier Points	400 Tier Points
Gold	1,000 Tier Points	1,000 Tier Points

As you can see you earn slightly more points when flying upper class (apart from Z), the same or less tier points for premium economy and less tier points for economy flights. Keep in mind the number of tier points required is also increasing for silver.

Off-Peak/Peak Award Flights

Virgin Atlantic are distinguishing between two types of award flights depending on when you want to fly

• Standard (off-peak), these start at 20,000 miles plus taxes and fees
• Peak, these start at 40,000 miles plus taxes and fees (they also claim that there will be more award availability for these flights)

The new award chart looks as follows:

Now let’s compare this to the old award charts:

Standard (Off Peak)

Cabin Class	Old Program	New Program
J,C, D	150	200
I	125	200
Z	125	100
W,S	100	100
H,K	75	50
Y,B,R,L,U,M	75	50
V,E,Q,X,N,O	50	25

Peak

	Old			New
	Economy	Premium Economy	Upper Class	Economy	Premium Economy	Upper Class
India & UAE	38500-42500	60000-70000	80000-100000	40000	55000	95000
US – Northeast	35000	55000	80000	40000	55000	115000
Carribean	45000	70000	100000	40000	55000	135000
US – Midwest and South & Mexico	35000	55000	80000	45000	65000	115000
Africa & China	38500-50000	60000-75000	80000-100000	45000	65000	135000
US – West	42500	70000	100000	50000	75000	155000

As you can see the peak flights are significantly more expensive and the off peak flights are less expensive.

Peak Dates

Our standard reward flights are available all year round, except for School Holidays, Christmas and Easter. Our peak reward flights are for travel during: March 31 to April 18, 2017, June 22 to September 6, 2017, December 13 to December 31, 2017

Reward Upgrades

If you’d like to upgrade cabins, they’ve simplified the amount of points needed.

• Single cabin upgrades will cost 50% of the miles of a reward seat
• Two cabin upgrades will cost 75% of he cost of a reward seat

Currently they use this table:

Here is London to New York (keep in mind I used the old award prices to work out what it would cost to keep things simple).

	Old Program	New Program
Upgrade Economy to Premium	15000	13750
Upgrade Premium to Upper	20000	13750
Upgrade Economy to Upper	35000	30000

This looks great, but keep in mind that if you want to do the same upgrades in peak season then you need to add an additional  you’ll need an extra 10,000 miles for Economy to Premium Economy and Premium Economy to Upper Class, or an extra 15,000 miles for an Economy to Upper Class upgrade. If we add those surcharges to the above chart then we get:

	Old Program	New Program
Upgrade Economy to Premium	15000	13750
Upgrade Premium to Upper	20000	13750
Upgrade Economy to Upper	35000	30000

Significantly more expensive.

Our Verdict

There are a couple of other changes being made, such as miles + cash redemption, not getting a new loyalty number when you change loyalty tier and accounts available for those under 12 (and the ability to pool miles if you have gold status). Overall these changes are horrible, it’s getting more difficult to earn elite status unless you’re flying in the most expensive cabins and the cost of award flights in peak periods are increasingly dramatically.

If you fly off peak and in premium cabins, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. Otherwise you’ll most likely be disappointed with these changes.

P.S. it would be great to get some feedback on this post, it’s the first time I’ve tried something like this and am wondering if it’s worth the effort involved or if people would just prefer a brief overview of the changes without the side by side comparison. If you did enjoy it, make sure you share it on social media so I am encouraged to do more of this style of post!