When and how to book Delta awards with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The post is updated with new information on a regular basis.

If you're looking for good value award redemptions, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a good place to start. There are a lot of gems in the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program.

Delta Air Lines is a partner of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. There are still a couple of good Delta redemptions that will save you thousands of points when compared to booking with Delta SkyMiles, despite Virgin Atlantic decreasing its award chart for Delta partner awards.

We're going to look at when you should use Virgin points to book Delta flights and how to do it.

Collecting Flying Club points

Even without flying Virgin Atlantic or its partners, it is possible to collect Flying Club points.

Flying Club is a transfer partner.

Capital One miles are transferred to Virgin Red, not directly to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. You can use points in your Virgin Red account. There are differences between Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Virgin Red.

There are many ways to transfer points to Flying Club. There are some of the best welcome bonuses on travel rewards cards.

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases within the first six months of cardmembership. But, you may be targeted for a better bonus through the CardMatch Tool (offer subject to change at any time). $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).
• American Express® Gold Card: 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of cardmembership. You may also be targeted for a better bonus through the CardMatch Tool (offer subject to change at any time). $250 annual fee (see rates and fees).
• Chase Sapphire Reserve: 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. $550 annual fee.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. $95 annual fee.
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card: 100,000 bonus points after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first three months after account opening. $95 annual fee.
• Citi Premier® Card: 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. $95 annual fee.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points can be earned by signing up for a Mastercard. You can get up to 35,000 bonus points in the first year.

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• 30,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 or more on purchases within the first 90 days of account opening
• 2,500 points for each of the first two authorized users added to your card, up to a total of 5,000 bonus points

A non-bonus spending card is not worth using. The Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard gives 1.5 points for each dollar spent. You should get a return of at least 2.25 cents per dollar spent if the valuation is 1.5 cents per point.

ThePoints Guy collected the information for the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard. The card issuer did not review or provide the card details on this page.

If you have flown Virgin Atlantic on a cash or award ticket, you should check to see if you can buy a Points Booster. A periodic promotion reduces the price by a small amount.

Tier Points can be earned on award flights and elite status can be extended by six months.

Virgin Atlantic's Delta award chart

The Flying Club states award rates for Delta flights. The award chart for partner awards on Delta was used by Virgin Atlantic. Three Delta award charts can be found on Flying Club's website.

• U.S. to U.K. nonstop flights.
• U.S. to Europe (excluding the U.K.) nonstop flights.
• All other Delta reward flights.

There is a chart for the U.S. to U.K. nonstop flights.

There is an award chart for flights from the US to Europe.

The following table shows the price of other one-way Delta flights.

You have to pay double the price for a round-trip ticket. Flying Club members can't book Delta Premium Select awards.

How to get Virgin Atlantic elite status without flying.

Sweet spots for Delta flights

Most of the sweet-spot redemptions for Delta flights from the Flying Club program were taken away at the beginning of the 21st century. Flying nonstop between the US and Europe is the only outstanding sweet spot left. The Delta Main Cabin has 30,000 points and the Delta One has 50,000 points. Delta flies nonstop between the US and Europe. You won't pay taxes on these awards.

Flying Club can be used to fly between the U.S. and UK on Delta flights. It's possible to fly between the U.S. and U.K. in economy class for 10,000 to 15,000 miles on standard dates and between 20,000 and 25,000 in peak season. You will have to pay high taxes and fees to reduce the appeal. If you are flying in standard season, this may be a good option.

There is a distance-based chart for Delta flights. Routes of less than 2000 miles are recommended for domestic Delta flights. You can get a Delta reward for less than you could with other programs with the distances-based chart.

You must book award flights with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to get the rates discussed in this guide. If you want to book your award flights directly on Virgin Atlantic's website or over the phone, you'll have to transfer points from other rewards.

There are many ways to redeem Virgin Atlantic points.

How to search Delta flights

It was difficult to book these tickets before Virgin Atlantic added Delta award redemptions. You can find Delta flights on the Virgin Atlantic website.

Start here and enter the information you are looking for. Don't forget to change the "show price in" choice from money to points If you have flexibility, I recommend selecting "show flexible dates"

When you enter the three-digit airport code, Virgin Atlantic doesn't show a lot of airports. Select your airport if this happens to you.

A small range of dates and prices can be displayed by selecting the show flexible dates option.

Flying Club took the price calendar off its website. It made award searches simpler because you could see all of the award prices of a calendar month. You have to check award space weekly.

You can select flights when you click on a given date.

You need to log in to your account after you confirm your flight details. You will get a message if you don't have enough points.

You can transfer your rewards to Flying Club. Your account will usually receive the points instantly.

Which is the best rewards program?

Bottom line

The removal of award charts by Delta has resulted in some incredibly high award ticket prices. There are many ways to book these flights for less points than Delta charges. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a good option for certain routes.

If you want to book an award ticket on Delta, it is advisable to check Virgin Atlantic's website. Make sure to check Delta's website before booking an award with Flying Club. If you want to maximize the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, read our post on the best ways to redeem Virgin Atlantic points.

The additional reporting was done by two people.