The Virgin brand has a storied history, dating back to its origins as a record shop in 1970. Over the years, it has evolved into a global conglomerate with a diverse portfolio of products and services. The first travel-related company came with the launch of Virgin Atlantic in 1984, marking the beginning of a series of ventures under the Virgin umbrella. Subsequently, the brand expanded to encompass Virgin Australia, Virgin America, Virgin Trains, Virgin Hotels, and, most recently, Virgin Voyages.
Despite sharing the Virgin moniker, each of these entities operated largely independently, especially in terms of their loyalty programs. This meant that customers were unable to pool or transfer their points and rewards between, for example, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia.
Virgin Red
Virgin Red is a program that operates on the Virgin Points currency. Initially, the primary method for earning Virgin Points was through the Virgin shopping portal. However, in 2020, Virgin Atlantic made a significant change by transferring miles from the Flying Club program to Virgin Points.
As of today, your Flying Club miles will never expire. They’ll also have a new name – Virgin Points. This change means that you can build up your Virgin Points balance for as long as you want, and enjoy rewards at your leisure – whenever you’re ready.
Still, few people were using Virgin Points for anything other than booking flights or upgrades with Virgin Atlantic. In 2023, the ability to redeem Virgin Points for stays at Virgin Hotels and Virgin Luxury Collection, which includes Necker Island and Moskito Island, was added to Virgin Red.
Now, members can use also Virgin Points to book select Virgin Voyages cruises.
While various credit card reward programs allow point transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, others facilitate transfers to Virgin Red. For instance, Capital One now offers the flexibility to send points to either program and Bilt Rewards enables you to input your Flying Club number or Virgin Red ID when transferring points. In the US, the only Virgin-branded credit card is the Virgin Red Mastercard, which means that a larger number of individuals will be accruing points with Virgin Red.
To maximize the utility of your points across both programs, it’s important to link your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Virgin Red accounts. This will enable you to seamlessly use your points for various purposes. When booking a Virgin Atlantic flight, you can directly utilize the airline website. However, for other redemptions using Virgin Points, you will need to go through Virgin Red.
How to Link Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Virgin Red
I started the process on the Virgin Red website when I logged into my account. There, I found a link to connect to my Virgin Atlantic account.
From there, I only had to log into my Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account.
Instantly, my accounts were linked, and my Virgin Points balances from both accounts were combined. I can now use those points on either site.
Final Thought
While the idea of having two programs using Virgin Points may sound confusing, it’s not that hard to understand. Once you link your accounts, you’ll be able to use your points with Virgin Atlantic for flights or with Virgin Red for everything else, like hotels, cruises and experiences.
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