Virgin Atlantic opens award space gates [when booked directly with Virgin points]

That is an amazing step to take in this overheated travel economy.

Virgin Atlantic is no longer releasing their extra award space to partners.

I didn't check award availability before this change, but I'm sure it's better now.

They charge a reasonable number of points, but they also impose large surcharges.

It costs only 115,000 points for a round trip business class from New York to London during peak times, which is great for an award that is almost always available.

If you book two one-way awards instead of a round-trip, you can reduce the surcharge, but it is not a panacea.

Delta Ain’t the Answer

By booking Virgin Atlantic flights with Delta miles, you will pay only the taxes and fees.

The price for this flight is crazy.

Air France / KLM Flying Blue to the Rescue

Flying Blue charges more miles than Virgin Atlantic but less than Delta.

Virgin Atlantic is no longer releasing their extra award space to partners.

Flying Blue charges 112,000 miles for the same round trip itinerary that Delta wants 385,000 miles.

Air France has flights from New York to London that are available for only 56,000 miles.

The return flight from London is the killer. The United Kingdom has departure taxes.

You can fly from Paris to New York via London for less than the cost of a ticket from Amsterdam.

I don't think it's worth paying that many more miles for these cash savings

If you can find Air France's own business class seats at saver level, you may pay less in both miles and airfare.

It is possible to save even more by connecting through Paris.

Other ways to save on return fees

There are other ways to reduce taxes and fees when you return to the US from Europe.

• Book Premium Economy instead of Business class.  Premium Economy flights incur lower fees.  Most flights back from Europe to the U.S. are daytime flights and so you might find that lie-flat business class seats are less important to you.
• Book a Star Alliance award using miles that don’t pass along surcharges.  For example, if you want to fly Lufthansa or Swiss airlines business class from Europe to the U.S., you can avoid paying surcharges by booking with miles from United Airlines MileagePlus, Air Canada Aeroplan, or Avianca LifeMiles.
• Book an award on an airline that doesn’t impose fuel surcharges at all.  For example, if you’re lucky enough to find business class awards available on United or Air Canada from Europe to the U.S., you will have to pay airport fees, but no surcharges even if you book with a program that would otherwise pass along these fees (such as Turkish or ANA, for example).

Beyond Europe

There are a lot of awards available for flights between the U.S. and other countries.

Air France's website doesn't do a good job of finding flights to London from the U.S.

Conclusion

If you want to book an award, you can most likely find one.

Virgin Atlantic is no longer releasing their extra award space to partners.