Virgin Atlantic announced a month ago that they would move to dynamic award pricing. They refused to say more about what this would look like, which obviously led flyers to expect the worst. Changes are now live, and here’s what I am seeing.
- Every seat is now bookable with points, but that can cost as much as 350,000 points each way
- Some awards are cheaper
- Fuel surcharges have been lowered
- Saver seats, which used to be available on every flight when loaded into the schedule about a year in advance, don’t work that way anymore. Peak travel dates may never have ‘low’ award pricing available anymore.
- Change fees have doubled, from $50 to $100 per passenger. Cancellations within 24 hours lose all points.
Off-peak pricing is as low as:
- Coach: 6,000 points + $73
- Premium economy: 10,500 points + $105
- Business: 29,000 points + $254
That’s a nice return on your miles against paid one-way pricing (a similar off-peak roundtrip is ~ $3,000).
It’s possible to get a good deal, especially with the reduction in surcharges. However you’ll no longer get a great deal – as used to be possible – for peak travel.
Upgrades for paid tickets have also changed. Any business seat is now available, and the upgrade cost is now based on the award cost. You pay the difference in points and fees between the current business class award price, and the old saver award chart price for the seat you’re currently booked in on a paid ticket. It’s not clear to me how this works at off-peak times where the difference in price is now negative.
Virgin Clubhouse, Washington Dulles
On net I’d say if the only change were to how they’re calculating availability and points pricing, that this would be quite bad. However since they’ve significantly reduced surcharges (you can save up to ~ $500 roundtrip) many will find this better when redeeming on Virgin metal. There have been no changes to partner awards with these changes, though those have been significantly devalued in recent times.
During true off-peak periods you’ll even find the cheapest business class points prices across the Atlantic, besting even Iberia’s 34,000 points each way.