I too have approx 160K miles

I find the Virgin miles pretty useless if trying to redeem for flights or even for using to "purchase" an upgrade.

The outrageous "fuel surplus" charges mean it is pretty pointless (pun) redeeming for a flight as these out weight any true benefit. If you do not buy a ticket in a certain bucket you cannot redeem miles for upgrade, buying a ticket in that bucket is normally a significant premium (hundreds of pounds) above where I normally buy so I do not pay that premium and at risk of presumption, I believe if flying personally you will not either.

They have clearly made a corporate decision to restrict the effectiveness of their FF programme for redemption by budget travelers and at the end of the day Virgin and BA use the same approach so they have you well and truly bent over a barrel.

Despite my observation, in all reality you are probably best using them against a flight if you can, but when it says free BEWARE (you can expect to pay about 70-80% of the normal cheap cost due to the for mentioned charges!). Maybe you can try a Miles & Money approach, effective and relatively easy.

Remember both BA and Virgin were profitable last year and suffer from limited true competition so can afford to take a strong approach to redeeming miles.

As I am based in the UK I have other options and I use mine for free wine and free balloon rides (booked 4 last year) but I suspect this option is not open to you.....

Good luck^