Fun fact: Although I have worked at TPG for five and a half years and have a good amount of points and miles saved, I have never booked a international lie-flat flight in business class …that is, until now.
Most of the time I travel in economy class. Even on long-haul international flights, I generally prefer to forgo a lie-flat seat to save points and miles. At this point in my life, the number of trips I can take per year with my points is much more important than spending money on a luxury flying experience, even if that means sacrificing some sleep and comfort on longer flights. And honestly, I’m rarely on an international flight that lasts more than seven or eight hours at most.
But when Virgin Atlantic Flying Club launched its new dynamic prices for flights operated by Virgin Atlantic, I found a deal too good to pass up and started focusing on Flying club program correctly for the first time.
Thanks to Virgin of the Atlantic new dynamic prices on award flights and a timely Chase Transfer BonusI booked my first roundtrip lie-flat business class flight for just 42,000 credit card points (plus taxes and fees).
Here’s how you can do it too.
Accumulate a great offer with a great transfer bonus
While some Flying Club points rates now skyrocket to 350,000 points each way for Virgin Atlantic upper class (business class), flexible travelers can also get great deals through Flying Club’s new Saver fares.
Related: Flexibility is key: Why I (mostly) like the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club changes
More out of curiosity than any real plan to book a trip, I did some sample searches at the end of October to help my coworkers understand the new Flying Club changes.
Various dates were available during the first half of 2025 for just 29,000 points (plus taxes and fees) each way in lie-flat business class between John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City and Heathrow Airport (LHR) from London.
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In comparison, that’s what you’d pay fly economy class on American Airlines from New York to London in spring 2025. This year I have made more than double that in rental payments alone with my Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees).
But what in my head turned this great deal into a “I’d be dumb not to book this” deal is the Current Chase Transfer Bonus instead. Until November 30, you get an additional 40% when you transfer your Pursue ultimate rewards points to the Flight Club. That means this trip went from costing 58,000 points round trip to just 42,000 points round trip (or 21,000 points each way).
The disadvantage is taxes and fees, which are usually much higher for business class seats than for economy tickets. But while $870 in taxes and round-trip fees certainly isn’t cheap, paying less than $900 total for transatlantic business class seats that would have easily cost more than $3,000 if you’d paid cash is still considered a fantastic deal, and the Surcharges are much lower than the more than $2,000 that Flying Club charged before the program switched to dynamic pricing.
Despite not planning to book a trip that day, I felt foolish not accepting this offer. I had no idea how long this amazing new Saver price would be available on Virgin Atlantic, and the transfer bonus ends at the end of November. I’ve never been to London and I’ve never flown lie-flat business class. I had the points available to transfer and they transferred instantly. Award flights are refundable and were about the same price I would normally pay for an economy ticket on other airlines.
Needless to say, I booked it.
Related: The Best Cheap (or Absolutely Free) Things to Do in London
How can you book Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Saver Fares?
While some Saver seats are already sold out for the specific dates I booked in March, Virgin Atlantic has a Reward seat checker calendar tool where you can find Saver availability as it fluctuates, not only for New York City to London, but also for other routes such as Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Edinburgh Airport (EDI).
The key is to have a reserve of credit card points ready to transfer and the flexibility to accept an offer when you see one.
First, check out Virgin Atlantic’s Reward Seat Checker for an easy way to see points prices at a glance, and look for those prices with a red “Savings” label to make sure you’re paying the lowest price.
If you find a deal you want to book, search more specifically for those dates on the Virgin Atlantic site to find the specific flight you want and confirm the points you’ll need. I found round-trip flights on the dates I wanted in March for 29,000 points each way, meaning I needed 58,000 points total.
Next, transfer points from the issuer of your choice. Of course, if you book this trip before the end of November, it’s best to use your Chase points to take advantage of that 40% transfer bonus. Regardless of when you want to book, you can check with each issuer (or our regularly updated website). guide to transfer bonuses) to ensure you are transferring at the best price.
Make sure you know how many points you need to transfer, including the bonus. In Best Chase Rewards platform, you won’t be explicitly shown what your final points amount on Virgin will be after your transfer, so you’ll have to break out those rusty high school math skills.
For example, here’s how the breakdown worked for my flights: I needed 58,000 points in my Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account to book these Saver flights. To account for the 40% transfer bonus, I divided that total number of points by 1.4 (the 0.4 represents the 40% transfer bonus). That left me with 41,428.571 points. Since you have to transfer points in increments of 1,000, I rounded up and transferred 42,000 points to Virgin Atlantic.
After transferring your points, make sure you are logged into your Virgin Atlantic account. TPG staff has discovered that Ultimate Rewards Point Transfers to Flying Club are instantaneous; However, transfer times are not universal and points may take longer to reach your account. Once your points are in your account, it only takes a few clicks to book!
TPG always recommends checking availability before transferring points, as point transfers are irreversible.
How to earn Virgin points
Virgin points are easy to earn as Flying Club is a transfer partner of all major programs with a transferable currency:
It’s worth noting that Capital One miles transfer to Virgin Red, not directly to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. However, you can easily use your Virgin Red Account Points with Flight Club.
Check out these card options to earn rewards points and miles to reserve Flying Club award seats (all offer fantastic welcome bonuses):
In a nutshell
I’m far from a Virgin Atlantic fan – this is the first flight I’ve booked through Flying Club. But it was still a pretty easy process to research flights, figure out how many points I needed, and transfer the points from my Chase account to book my flights. One of my friends who had never transferred points also took advantage of this offer and said similar things about how easy it was to transfer and book.
I’m excited to take my first international flight in lie-flat business class, and knowing that I got it for essentially the same price in points as an economy flight makes this redemption even sweeter.
While there are pros and cons to Virgin Atlantic’s dynamic price changes (especially for families), if you’re flexible with your travel dates and keep an available pool of points ready to transfer, you can score fantastic deals like this.
Related reading:
View Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here.
See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.
