In the past, I haven’t really mentioned much about Virgin Atlantic’s loyalty program, Flying Club. Their loyalty program has often been heavily criticised. Therefore I thought it would be good to compare Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with British Airways Executive Club.
The focus in this comparison is the number of miles/avios required for a flight redemption in addition to the total monetary cost which includes tax, fees, charges and carrier imposed surcharges for long haul flights in economy and business class.
Economy Class – Roundtrip from London to …
New York
Virgin: 35,000 Miles + £250 Vs British Airways: 40,000 Avios + £365
Johannesburg
Virgin: 50,000 Miles + £360 Vs British Airways: 50,000 Avios + £386
Hong Kong
Virgin: 50,000 Miles + £340 Vs British Airways: 60,000 Avios + £365
Dubai
Virgin: 38,500 Miles + £250 Vs British Airways 40,000 Avios + £342
Business Class – Roundtrip from London to …
New York
Virgin: 80,000 Flying Club Miles + £515 vs British Airways: 80,000 Avios + £534
Johannesburg
Virgin: 100,000 Miles + £610 vs British Airways: 100,000 Avios + £577
Hong Kong
120,000 Miles + £620 vs British Airways 120,000 Avios + £555
Dubai
Virgin: 80,000 Flying Club Miles + £515 vs British Airways 80,000 Avios + £519
Conclusion
Virgin Atlantic easily trumped British Airway on flight redemptions in Economy. In all examples flight redemptions with virgin required less miles/avios and cost less than British Airways.
When it came to flight redemption in Business Class the two Airlines were evenly matched. However due to the fantastic business class product offered by Virgin Atlantic and the fact that their executive lounge in Heathrow (Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse), is considered the worlds best business class lounge – then I declare Virgin Atlantic the winner for business class redemptions as well.
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[…] I compared the loyalty program of Virgin Atlantic with British Airways. In that post I focused on the number of points required, and cost for a long-haul flight […]