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![Best Ways to Book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class With Points [Step-by-Step]](https://upgradedpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Virgin-Atlantic-Upper-Class.jpeg?auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=1420&height=650&fit=crop)
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If airlines have gained a reputation for taking the fun out of travel, Virgin Atlantic has worked hard to be different. The London-based airline brings a fun atmosphere to flying, and it’s obvious when flying their Upper Class product.
From great lounges — particularly at London Heathrow (LHR) and New York City (JFK) — to inflight bars to fun crew members, the Upper Class experience is nice and easy from start to finish.
If you’re looking for a way to cross the Atlantic, flying Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic is a very nice way to go.
Now, let’s be clear from the outset: this isn’t going to be the same over-the-top experience as flying Lufthansa first class or Singapore Airlines Suites to Europe, but it’s still a great way to fly.
Every Upper Class seat can flip into a lie-flat bed so you can catch some shuteye, whether you’re on a 7-hour flight from the East Coast or a 10-hour flight from San Francisco.
Additionally, each seat has direct aisle access, so you won’t have to worry about others climbing over you or tripping on someone just to walk around during the flight.
Again, don’t expect the same kind of space at your seat that you’d find when flying Singapore Airlines business class. The seat width isn’t terrible, but the walls on each side of it can feel a bit cramped.
Hot Tip: If you want to turn your seat into a bed, you’ll need to get some help from a crew member as the seat won’t recline until flat — it must be flipped into the bed position.
Finally, most Upper Class seats are positioned so that you are facing someone across the aisle. This leaves very little privacy for those who would prefer to feel like they’re alone when sitting in their business class seat.
As part of Virgin Atlantic’s effort to make flying fun, you will also have access to their inflight bar.
On an overnight flight from New York City (JFK) or Washington Dulles to London, you might not find many people congregating, but there are usually at least a few. If you have a long flight, you can expect more action around the bar (especially if it’s a daytime flight).
Whether you’re hanging around the bar or watching a movie from your seat, you’ll always be able to enjoy a glass of champagne or a cocktail.
As an Upper Class passenger, you’ll also enjoy a multi-course meal that includes an appetizer, main course, dessert, and a cheese course. Throw in some friendly service from the crew, and you have quite the enjoyable flight!
Beyond the flights, you will also have access to Virgin Atlantic Clubhouses at a number of airports, including the famous Clubhouse at London Heathrow. Additionally, when London Heathrow is your destination, you can grab a shower and a bite to eat at the Revivals Lounge before heading into the city.
Now that you have an idea of what to expect (and why you probably want to book Upper Class soon), let’s talk about the booking process itself.
Virgin Atlantic revamped their Upper Class product. The old product consisted of herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, whereas this new arrangement consists of modified reverse herringbone seats.
Offered on the A350-1000, this new version of Upper Class represents a huge upgrade compared to their older Upper Class seats, which have been criticized for their lack of privacy.
The new Upper Class seats are 20 inches wide, 44 inches in pitch, and 82 inches in bed mode, equal to 6’10”. While these seats are quite narrow and on par with United Polaris, there’s a privacy divider that adds additional privacy.
The high-tech, touchscreen, in-flight entertainment screens measure 18.5 inches, so it represents a huge upgrade over the last version, which measured 13 inches. Also, the in flight entertainment system will be Bluetooth compatible, which will allow passengers to also control the screen at the touch of a phone.
All of the seats are facing the windows, so you won’t need to turn your neck to look outside. In addition, Virgin Atlantic is revamping their onboard bar. Instead of having an onboard bar, they will offer an in-flight lounge called The Loft.
Inside The Loft, you’ll find lounge seating for up to 8 passengers and tables for snacks and drinks. Also, you can enjoy programming from the 32 inch television connected to personal Bluetooth headphones.
Currently, the new Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seat is offered on:
Unlike many airlines, Virgin Atlantic is not part of a major airline alliance, but they have partnered with several other airlines. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can use points and points try Virgin Atlantic Upper Class. Note that taxes, fees, and carrier-imposed surcharges apply to all reward flights. Points shown are for round-trip flights; one-way flights would have the points halved.
| Standard Season Reward Flights To/From U.K. | Upper Class |
|---|---|
| Israel | 56,000 |
| India | 75,000 |
| U.S. — Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York-JFK, Washington, D.C.) | 95,000 |
| Caribbean | 115,000 |
| U.S. — Midwest and South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | 95,000 |
| Nigeria, China, and Hong Kong | 115,000 |
| South Africa | 115,000 |
| U.S. — West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 135,000 |
| Peak Season Reward Flights To/From U.K. | Upper Class |
|---|---|
| Israel | 66,000 |
| India | 95,000 |
| U.S. — Northeast (Boston, Newark, New York-JFK, Washington, D.C.) | 115,000 |
| Caribbean | 135,000 |
| U.S. — Midwest and South (Atlanta, Miami, Orlando) | 115,000 |
| Nigeria, China, and Hong Kong | 135,000 |
| South Africa | 135,000 |
| U.S. — West (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle) | 155,000 |
As you would expect, you can use Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club program to book Upper Class award tickets. The process is quite simple; just follow the steps below:
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when booking with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
First, the carrier-imposed surcharges are steep, especially when flying from the United States to the United Kingdom.
Second, the Flying Club award chart has peak season and regular season. Make sure you book awards during the regular season to save a ton of points!
While the redemption rates aren’t always great and the carrier-imposed surcharges can be very high, the advantage to using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is that you can transfer a number of rewards currencies to book if you need more points:
If you want to keep carrier-imposed surcharges to a minimum, Delta SkyMiles is probably your best bet.
To book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class, follow the steps below:
As Virgin Atlantic operates out of a limited number of airports in the U.S., a connection on Delta might be required. Sometimes, the online search results won’t show Virgin Atlantic flights as an option if a connection is required.
However, if you can find award space on Virgin Atlantic and a separate saver level award for a connecting flight, there is a way to make this work. You can speak with Delta via online chat or over the phone and they can add the connecting flight so you don’t have to book separate awards.
Delta is an American Express transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio if you need more SkyMiles to complete your booking. Transfers from Membership Rewards generally process almost instantly.
Unlike the options above, if you want to book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class with All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club, you will have to call to complete the booking. Just follow these steps for an easy booking process:
Like Virgin Atlantic, you’ll want to be careful when booking with ANA Mileage Club as they will pass on the steep carrier-imposed surcharges. While the mileage cost is much cheaper, ANA requires you to book a round-trip award ticket — which means very expensive taxes and fees.
Like with Delta, you can transfer Amex Membership Rewards to your ANA Mileage Club account to get the necessary miles to book Upper Class.
The difficult part is that Membership Rewards often take 2-3 days to transfer. This is made more difficult by the fact that ANA will not put award tickets on hold.
Virgin Atlantic also partners with Singapore Airlines, which allows you to use KrisFlyer miles to book Upper Class. Unfortunately, other airline partners such as Air New Zealand and South African Airways don’t have award charts that are competitive.
Many of the award booking options for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class flights are going to involve some steep taxes and fees thanks to carrier-imposed surcharges. That being said, there are some interesting ways to book Upper Class so you can get the most bang for your miles.
If you are okay with roughly $1,200 in taxes and fees, you can book Upper Class with ANA Mileage Club for 88,000 miles round-trip between San Francisco and London.
You could also depart from New York City, Washington, D.C., or another city further east — but if you’re going to spend $1,200 on taxes and fees, it might as well be for a 10-hour flight so you can have time to enjoy the inflight bar!
If you only need a one-way award ticket, Delta SkyMiles can book Upper Class for 85,000 miles plus only $5.60. Clearly, this is the cheapest out of pocket option.
Hot Tip: Since Delta uses a region-based award chart, the one-way cost will be 85,000 miles whether you book Upper Class from San Francisco or New York City!
Virgin Atlantic’s own Flying Club program splits the United States into East and West with different redemption rates for each.
The East includes Atlanta, Boston, Miami, New York, Orlando, and Washington, D.C.; a one-way Upper Class booking from here will cost 47,500 miles plus around $500 in taxes and fees.
From the West Coast (San Francisco and Seattle), it will cost 67,500 miles plus the ~$500 in taxes and fees. Regardless of the departure airport, make sure you book during the regular season, since peak season rates require significantly more miles.
You could also connect in London on your way to Johannesburg, South Africa. Again, you’ll see that Delta provides an option without carrier-imposed surcharges: 150,000 SkyMiles plus around $50 for a one-way Upper Class award.
ANA Mileage Club allows you to book Upper Class round-trip for 104,000 miles plus roughly $1,100. Notice that this is actually cheaper than just flying to London!
Hot Tip: ANA also lets you book a stopover, so you could visit London for a week before continuing to South Africa if you wanted.
Virgin Atlantic requires 105,000 miles for a one-way award in Upper Class plus just over $500 for taxes and fees.
Overall, each loyalty program has its positive aspects when booking Upper Class:
Virgin Points can be transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi Thank You Rewards (all at a rate of 1:1), or from Marriott Bonvoy at a transfer rate of 3:1.
Delta and ANA are Amex and Marriott transfer partners.
(For more on this topic, see our guides on: Chase Transfer Partners, Amex Transfer Partners, Citi Transfer Partners and Marriott Transfer Partners.)
Business Owner? See our article on Chase business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.
Business Owner? See our article on Amex business cards that earn Membership Rewards.
Flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class is a great way to travel for a number of reasons, but here are few that really stand out.
When you fly Upper Class, make sure you leave time to visit one of their Clubhouse lounges, especially if you are departing or connecting at London Heathrow or New York City (JFK).
From great cocktails and champagne to delicious meals, you’ll actually enjoy waiting for your flight here!
If London is your destination, take advantage of the Revivals Lounge at Heathrow.
You can get a hot shower, breakfast, and coffee or tea to give you a jolt and start the day right. If you so desire, spa treatments are also available, which can be especially nice after a long flight from the West Coast.
There are several airlines that provide inflight bars, but you usually only find them on the Airbus A380.
Virgin Atlantic has taken a different approach and installed inflight bars on all of their aircraft, so every Upper Class passenger can mingle, enjoy a drink, and grab a snack.
Keep in mind that the inflight bar will not be offered on the new Upper Class routes. Instead, you’ll be able to enjoy The Loft aboard the new Upper Class.
Whether it’s the atmosphere of The Clubhouse lounge or at the inflight bar, Virgin Atlantic strives to make flying fun. The crew members are very often friendly and willing to chat while making sure every passenger has what they need.
While some business class products are great because of their spacious seats or cabin layout, Virgin Atlantic sets itself apart with its approach to flying. While the cabin layout could probably use some improvements and the seats are due for a bit of an upgrade, they are a fine way to travel and not the only reason to try Virgin Atlantic Upper Class.
With several ways to book one of these flights and plenty of ways to earn the necessary points to do so, you will be on your way to an Upper Class experience before you know it!
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Always a fan of flying, it was only natural that Spencer was drawn to finding a way to improve the travel experience.
Like many, he started this journey searching for cheap flights to take him around the world. This was fun for a while, but Spencer was intrigued by the idea of flying in business and first class!
Throwing himself into what became an extensive research project, Spencer spent 3-4 hours per night learning everything he could about frequent flyer miles over the course of several months (he thinks this is normal). He runs Straight to the Points, an award-seat alert platform.
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17 comments
Chris
November 02, 2020
“If you only need a one-way award ticket, Delta SkyMiles can book Upper Class for 85,000 miles plus only $5.60. Clearly, this is the cheapest out of pocket option.”
Would you please elaborate on how this is possible? I get the 85,000 points part; it’s the “… and $5.60” part that is throwing me off. All of the VS awards I see on Delta would have me paying a few hundred dollars in taxes and fees in addition to the 85k points.
Thanks.
Stephen Au
November 03, 2020
Hi Chris,
Thanks for reading.
The taxes and fees will be dependent on your route. Although it’s not currently $5.60 for flights from the U.S. to the U.K., you can still find Virgin Atlantic Upper Class awards for around $25 one-way per person.
Nan
May 19, 2021
Looking for Upper Class LAX-CDG. Virgin Atlantic website doesn’t allow paying with points in Upper Class. You can only search for Economy award. Is there a way around this?
Jarrod West
May 21, 2021
Hi Nan,
That does not appear to be the case when I perform an award search. It is likely that there might not be Upper Class availability on the date you’ve searched. If you don’t need to travel on specific dates, you can choose to search for dates within 1 week or within 5 weeks.
Heather Bull
June 20, 2021
I am trying to book upper class with points lax to London through Virgin. When I try to search flexible dates it still tells me there are no awards flights for these dates. If I can really get this deal I’m excited but it sounds too good to be true and I can’t figure out how to see them. Any help would be awesome! I have a ton of ultimate rewards points to transfer, just trying to find my flights.
Jonathan
January 30, 2022
Thanks for this detailed post!! Somehow I keep seeing different number of miles on Virgin Atlantic and Delta websites. Any help will be appreciated
March 13, 2022
JFK -> BOM on Virgin Atlantic : 85k miles + ~$600 taxes
JFK -> BOM on Delta: 145k miles + $63 taxes
What am I doing wrong? I thought the number of miles I see on Virgin Atlantic website and Delta website should be same?
If thats not the case, what is the best option to book that Virgin Atlantic business class route? Any other partner?
Stephen Au
January 30, 2022
Hi Jonathan,
The numbers you will see on the two websites will be totally different because Delta and Virgin Atlantic have completely different frequent flyer programs. These programs price the same flight differently. Ultimately, it depends on what points and miles you have, as well as how much you’re willing to pay in taxes and fees. Delta is more expensive with points but doesn’t have huge taxes and fees.
Nick
January 31, 2022
This looks like a great way to enjoy my first awards trip ever! I’m currently planning a trip in May 2022 from SF > Paris, Paris > London, then London > SF. I have 130k Chase UR points. FAQs point to using ANA for less points with round trip tickets. Am I able to get a good deal on the leg to London with cash maybe? Also, is this a better experience compared to United’s Polaris business class flights? Thanks for your time, happy flights.
Stephen Au
January 31, 2022
Hi Nick,
You can often find super-cheap flights from Paris to London paying out of pocket, so we definitely recommend that route. Save your Chase UR points for the long-haul flights!
United Polaris is a solid experience overall, but Virgin Atlantic’s new Upper Class option is probably the better choice. But not all routes have the new Upper Class, so try to do your homework in researching which routes have the new Upper Class.
Charlie
November 16, 2022
Thanks for all the info. I’m planning on booking an award flight SFO-LHR as well, and it doesn’t look like SFO-LHR has the new Upper Class option based on this post. I’m trying to book on Delta but couldn’t find any Virgin flights from SFO-LHR. Any idea how to search on Delta for awards?
Stephen Au
November 19, 2022
Hey Charlie – Delta’s website will give you Delta options by default. So I’d recommend finding either giving Delta a call and asking them to search for the specific flight number on Virgin Atlantic. Otherwise, you can also use Air France’s website to try to find Virgin Atlantic flights and verify with Delta that those flights are available.
Mark
April 25, 2022
Hi Steve,
Can you advise if there’s a way to use the 200k miles my wife has and the 40k I have to obtain an Upper Class flight to HKG from LHR (it’s advertised at the moment as 115k each so a total of 230k) for us both?
I’ve searched the Flying Club site with little luck, especially with the virtual assistant!!
Thanks for any help
Stephen Au
May 19, 2022
Hi Mark,
There used to be a way to transfer points at an expensive rate of £7.50 per 1,000 points, but that doesn’t currently seem to be offered anymore.
You can always buy more points!
Sherry
September 06, 2022
Thank you for your thorough and detailed work and for sharing it in such an easy-to-understand way! As a new card holder, this is exactly what I was looking for! Just wanted to say thanks!
Bob
February 05, 2023
Thanks for all the great info. I have just over 250,000 chase points and am heading to Lisbon from LAX in June with a return at the beginning of August. Trying to find he best way to use these miles for business or premium economy. I know the final leg from a major airport in Europe to Lisbon will be economy which is fine for a 2-3 hour flight. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated
Jarrod West
February 24, 2023
Hi Bob,
I would look into using the Flying Blue program and connecting through Paris/Amsterdam, or Iberia and connecting through Madrid. I’d also recommend you read through our guide on the best ways to fly to Europe with points and miles.
Joe s
June 11, 2023
Delta now charges 375k for London nyc with Virgin upper-class!
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