Insider’s experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our our partners, however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.
Virgin Points are about to become a lot more useful.
Bradley Caslin/Shutterstock
Virgin Atlantic is joining the SkyTeam airline alliance in 2023.
Once this partnership is official, you’ll be able to use Virgin points to fly on more than 20 airlines.
Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of six flexible points currencies, so they’re easy to earn.
Read Insider’s guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.
Most prominent airlines around the world are members of a major airline alliance, namely:
OneworldStar AllianceSkyTeam
A major benefit of airline alliances is the ability to use airline miles from one airline to fly on any of its alliance partners. For example, if you collect American Airlines miles (a member of the Oneworld alliance), you can use those miles to fly on other Oneworld airlines such as British Airways, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, and many more.
Virgin Atlantic is one of the few airlines that isn’t a member of any of the three major airline alliances. But in early 2023, Virgin Atlantic plans to join the SkyTeam alliance — making Virgin Points more valuable. Here’s why.
We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.
Virgin Atlantic to officially join SkyTeam
While Virgin Atlantic isn’t a member of any of the big three alliances, it’s cobbled together a healthy variety of airline partners by itself. You use Virgin points to fly with:
ANA (a Star Alliance member)Air New Zealand (a Star Alliance member)Delta (a SkyTeam member)Flying Blue, the partnership between Air France and KLM (SkyTeam members)Hawaiian Airlines (a Oneworld member)Singapore Airlines (a Star Alliance member)South African Airways (a Star Alliance member)Virgin Australia (not a member of a major alliance)
Some of the best sweet spots in the award travel world exist through these Virgin Atlantic partnerships. For example, you can fly first class to Japan on ANA for as little as 110,000 Virgin points round-trip. That seat can cost more than $15,000 in cash.
Another great use of Virgin points is booking Delta One (lie-flat business class) seats to Europe for 50,000 points. The same award seat through Delta’s own site routinely costs more than 300,000 miles.
It’s unclear what will happen to Virgin Atlantic’s non-alliance partners once it joins SkyTeam in early 2023. But there’s no reason to think it will jettison these valuable associations. In fact, this union with SkyTeam will likely catapult the utility of Virgin points.
There are currently 18 airlines under the SkyTeam umbrella. That means you can use Virgin points to reach significantly more destinations around the world. Even if Virgin points already get you to everywhere you care to go, these 12+ new airline partners will open up more award availability for you to use your points.
Virgin Atlantic currently publishes unique award charts for each of its airline partners. Because of this, we don’t know the full implications of its entrance into SkyTeam, and the untold number of new sweet spots that may arise.
You may have Virgin points without even realizing it
Virgin Points are an extremely valuable rewards currency. And with the above changes, they’re likely to be an even more powerful tool for those who want to travel on the cheap.
Here’s another strength of Virgin Atlantic that is rare among loyalty programs: Virgin is a transfer partner of nearly all major flexible credit card rewards currencies:
Amex Membership Rewards points (1:1 transfer ratio)Bilt Rewards (1:1 transfer ratio)Capital One miles (1:1 transfer ratio)Chase Ultimate Rewards® points (1:1 transfer ratio)Citi ThankYou points (1:1 transfer ratio)Marriott Bonvoy points (3:1 transfer ratio, with 5,000 bonus Virgin points for every increment of 60,000 Marriott points you transfer)
If you collect any of the above currencies, you’ve got a stash of Virgin Points at your fingertips. Most of these points transfer to Virgin Atlantic instantly.
If you don’t currently collect these transferable travel rewards, you’ve got dozens of credit cards to choose from, each with its own welcome bonus, which can help you to earn over a million Virgin points. Here are some good examples.
CardWelcome bonusRewards rateAnnual feeThe Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Platinum Card® from American ExpressAmerican Express® Gold CardAmerican Express® Gold CardAmerican Express® Gold CardAmerican Express® Gold CardThe Business Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Business Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Business Platinum Card® from American ExpressThe Business Platinum Card® from American ExpressAmerican Express® Business Gold CardAmerican Express® Business Gold CardAmerican Express® Business Gold CardAmerican Express® Business Gold Card
You can also earn Virgin points with Virgin Atlantic’s own credit card, the Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard®. This Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard®-annual-fee card offers a welcome bonus of Virgin Atlantic World Elite Mastercard®. To learn more, you can read our Virgin Atlantic credit card review.
Bottom line
Virgin Atlantic is joining the SkyTeam alliance in early 2023. That will triple the number of airlines you can fly with Virgin points — making the loyalty program even more valuable.
This is good news to many credit card rewards collectors because Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of nearly every flexible points currency. If you’re low on Virgin points, you can simply open a couple of credit cards, earn the bonuses, and easily amass hundreds of thousands of points.