Virgin Atlantic AMEX - 45,000 miles signup bonus
Jan 19, 2011, 5:46 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: Virgin Flying Club British Airways Executive Club
Posts: 232
Virgin Atlantic AMEX - 45,000 miles signup bonus
I already have the card, but my gf just got this offer in an e-mail: https://wwwa.applyonlinenow.com/USCC...ntry?sc=UABJNM
Sounds like a good deal to me! Only have to spend $750 in 90 days to get 45,000 miles. Just passing along the word...
-Matt
Sounds like a good deal to me! Only have to spend $750 in 90 days to get 45,000 miles. Just passing along the word...
-Matt
Jan 19, 2011, 7:51 pm
#3
Join Date: Feb 2000
Posts: 6,540
In summary, $800 cash plus $26,667 in credit card spend = one roundtrip upper class LAX-LHR.
$800 cash =
$600 award taxes/fees +
$180 annual credit fees for 2 years
100,000 VS miles =
45,000 sign-on +
15,000 threshold bonus @ $25,000 spend +
40,000 regular for $26,667 spend
$800 cash =
$600 award taxes/fees +
$180 annual credit fees for 2 years
100,000 VS miles =
45,000 sign-on +
15,000 threshold bonus @ $25,000 spend +
40,000 regular for $26,667 spend
Jan 21, 2011, 12:03 pm
#5
Join Date: Oct 2008
Programs: AA/HH/SPG Gold
Posts: 308
Is the fuel surcharge applied to bookings on all partners ?
This seems to be very good offer: 50K miles sign up bonus is much higher than usual, no ? But I am quite surprised to see the lack of enthusiasm on this board. Are the VS miles really so useless ? Does VS charges a fuel surcharge on all partner redemptions ? Is there any other reasonable way to use the miles, e.g. gift cards ?
Jan 21, 2011, 1:25 pm
#6
Moderator, Virgin Atlantic
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: www.V-Flyer.com
Programs: VS Red, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium - earned out of our own pocket!.
Posts: 2,386
In my personal opinion, VS points are far from useless - fuel surcharges are a pain, but not enough to negate the value of points redeemed for premium class travel. IMHO.
The lack of enthusiasm towards this thread may be explained by the fact that the majority of regular posters on this forum and UK based, and the thread concerns a US credit card.
I would certainly swap you card issuers.
Nick
The lack of enthusiasm towards this thread may be explained by the fact that the majority of regular posters on this forum and UK based, and the thread concerns a US credit card.
I would certainly swap you card issuers.
Nick
Jan 21, 2011, 1:33 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,116
In my personal opinion, VS points are far from useless - fuel surcharges are a pain, but not enough to negate the value of points redeemed for premium class travel. IMHO.
The lack of enthusiasm towards this thread may be explained by the fact that the majority of regular posters on this forum and UK based, and the thread concerns a US credit card.
I would certainly swap you card issuers.
Nick
The lack of enthusiasm towards this thread may be explained by the fact that the majority of regular posters on this forum and UK based, and the thread concerns a US credit card.
I would certainly swap you card issuers.
Nick
Jan 22, 2011, 6:28 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: MRY
Posts: 430
From the T&C's: "You will receive 2,500 Flying Club miles for each of the first two authorized users added to your Card."
Jan 23, 2011, 9:07 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: TPA
Programs: spg gold
Posts: 406
I just saw this reveiw on one mile at a time
A credit card sign-up bonus I won’t be taking advantage of….
Virgin Atlantic is offering a sign-up bonus of 45,000 miles for their American Express co-branded credit card. You earn 2o,000 miles after your first purchase, and another 25,000 miles after $750 in purchases, plus 1.5 miles per dollar spent for all purchases. There’s a $90 annual fee. In theory this sounds tempting, since 45,000 miles is a pretty big sign-up bonus, not to mention earning 1.5 miles per dollar is great.
However, these are Flying Club miles, which I consider to be more of a liability than an asset. Actually, I consider them to be less valuable than Delta miles. A lot of people want to redeem for Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic, which seems to be a pretty good business class product. Redeeming through Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, an award from New York to London roundtrip will cost you 90,000 miles and about $611 in taxes and fuel surcharges. You could book that same exact award through ANA (they’re partners with Membership Rewards and SPG) in Upper Class for 63,000 miles and about $400 less in fuel surcharges.
Yes, Virgin Atlantic has some decent partners with reasonable redemption rates, though at the end of the day you’re going to be paying fuel surcharges and higher redemption rates than elsewhere for just about every type of award. Furthermore, the fact that they have individual partners and aren’t part of an alliance is a negative, since you can’t mix airlines on a single award.
Ultimately I don’t think it’s worth collecting miles in a program that doesn’t have the best “deal” for at least some kind of redemption. For example, Delta has the best redemption rates on V Australia. British Airways has the best redemption rates for travel on LAN (and allows unlimited stopovers, meaning you can hit Lima, Santiago, and Easter Island all on a single award for 80,000 miles roundtrip in business class).
And for Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club I’m drawing a blank. I can’t think of a single type of award where they would be the most reasonably priced.
Virgin Atlantic is offering a sign-up bonus of 45,000 miles for their American Express co-branded credit card. You earn 2o,000 miles after your first purchase, and another 25,000 miles after $750 in purchases, plus 1.5 miles per dollar spent for all purchases. There’s a $90 annual fee. In theory this sounds tempting, since 45,000 miles is a pretty big sign-up bonus, not to mention earning 1.5 miles per dollar is great.
However, these are Flying Club miles, which I consider to be more of a liability than an asset. Actually, I consider them to be less valuable than Delta miles. A lot of people want to redeem for Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic, which seems to be a pretty good business class product. Redeeming through Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, an award from New York to London roundtrip will cost you 90,000 miles and about $611 in taxes and fuel surcharges. You could book that same exact award through ANA (they’re partners with Membership Rewards and SPG) in Upper Class for 63,000 miles and about $400 less in fuel surcharges.
Yes, Virgin Atlantic has some decent partners with reasonable redemption rates, though at the end of the day you’re going to be paying fuel surcharges and higher redemption rates than elsewhere for just about every type of award. Furthermore, the fact that they have individual partners and aren’t part of an alliance is a negative, since you can’t mix airlines on a single award.
Ultimately I don’t think it’s worth collecting miles in a program that doesn’t have the best “deal” for at least some kind of redemption. For example, Delta has the best redemption rates on V Australia. British Airways has the best redemption rates for travel on LAN (and allows unlimited stopovers, meaning you can hit Lima, Santiago, and Easter Island all on a single award for 80,000 miles roundtrip in business class).
And for Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club I’m drawing a blank. I can’t think of a single type of award where they would be the most reasonably priced.
Jun 29, 2011, 12:37 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,073
That equals 8 return interisland flights for a measly $90 fee.HA charges 15K using their miles.
Last edited by philemer; Jun 29, 2011 at 12:56 pm