- Virgin Atlantic vs Air France: Which is Better? - August 21, 2023
- Virgin Red vs Virgin Atlantic: What’s Changed? - August 20, 2023
- Does Southwest Have First Class? Business Select Explained - August 18, 2023
If as an economy passenger you’ve been forced to walk through the Upper-Class section of a Virgin Atlantic flight, on the way to your cattle – well err standard economy class – you’ll have noticed how comfortable and inviting they look. They almost scream at you ‘This is what you could have won!’ as you drudge past. Just think with your regular day-to-day spending you could have collected enough Virgin Flying Club points to upgrade your ticket to Upper Class.
You would need 71,200 Flying Club miles (or points) to upgrade to Upper Class from Economy on Virgin Atlantic, flying from London to New York during off-peak time. This increases to 86,200 Flying Club miles (or points) for the same flight during peak season.
The divide between Upper Class and the standard economy is quite vast. A lay flat bed, food, and drink on tap and on some flights a free stock bar to sit at during the flight. On Virgin’s Upper Class you really are treated like VIPs.
This is all after you have enjoyed faster check-in and luggage drop, fast-track through security, and enjoyed the relaxing delights refreshing in the Virgin Club Lounge. These are delights not even Premium Economy ticket holders enjoy. This is exclusive for Upper-Class ticket holders or those who have upgraded themselves to Upper Class.
In this article we are going to look at ways of getting you an upgrade to Upper Class for your next flight using your Flying Club points – and how many flying club points you need for the upgrade to Upper Class.
Let’s look at different options and find out!
London to New York in September – Use Flying Club points to upgrade to Upper Class
Off-Peak Season Flights (Standard Season)
New York is such an amazing place to fly to. So much to see and do. It’s a very popular destination hence why it’s used often during our examples. In these examples, though we will look at two months. We will look at January upgrade requirements as January is considered Off Peak – and we will also look at Christmas time and December which is considered Peak time.
Fortunately, Virgin Atlantic allows you to upgrade an economy ticket into an Upper-Class ticket (this isn’t something you can do on all airlines, where upgrades can happen to just the next cabin, so it is an advantage for us here).
This though only applies to Economy Classic and Economy Delight. If you book your flight in Economy Light, you cannot upgrade to Upper Class. For this flight, you will need 71,200 Flying Club points to upgrade your economy flight to Upper Class. This is the total number you need for the return flight.
Peak Season Flights
This time we are going to check the number of Flying Club points you need to upgrade to Upper Class during the last half of December – which is considered to be Peak Season. For this flight, you will need 86,200 Flying Club points to upgrade your economy flight to Upper Class. This is the total number you need for the return flight.
These Flying Club point prices are valid until March 2022. New York is relatively close, in terms of destinations flown to by Virgin Atlantic. The further you travel the higher the upgrade fee will be. In this next example, we will look at one of the furthest and most expensive Upper-Class upgrades using Flying Club points – which is San Francisco.
(If you do fly to San Francisco I would whole-heartily recommend a car and driving across the Golden Gate Bridge!)
London to San Francisco in July – Use Flying Club points to upgrade to Upper Class
Off-Peak Season Flights (Standard Season)
Now that Virgin Atlantic no longer flies to Australia, one of the longest flights you can take is to the West Coast of America. To amazing places such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and of course San Francisco sitting up north in California.
Driving up Route 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco is truly awe-inspiring! For an off-peak upgrade, we will look at a flight in May. For this flight, you will need 101,200 Flying Club points to upgrade your economy flight to Upper Class. This is the total number you need for the return flight.
Even though you cannot purchase and upgrade every seat to Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic flights, I have always found lots of availability to upgrade. This compared to other airlines (such as BA) where upgrade availability can be very limited indeed! It is worth adding that upgrading is not a guarantee even if you have enough Flying Club points or miles, so book and upgrade as early as possible.
Peak Season Flights
This time we will look at flights to San Francisco in July – which is peak season. Fortunately, the California climate stays relatively constant all year round, averaging between 22 and 27 degrees Celsius no matter when you fly. For this flight, you will need 116,200 Flying Club points to upgrade your economy flight to Upper Class. This is the total number you need for the return flight.
One Way Upgrades to Upper Class using Virgin Flying Club Points
If you don’t have enough points for a full return upgrade, you may have enough points for a one-way upgrade. This can be nice to do to either start your trip, or something to look forward to on your return trip back home. To calculate the number of Virgin Flying Club points you need for a one-way upgrade, simply half the number of Flying Club points shown below.
It’s as simple as that.
So, if you plan to fly to New York off-peak then you would need 35,600 Virgin Flying Club miles for a one-way upgrade. Considering you could collect 15,000 Flying Club points as a signup bonus for taking out the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card and collect up to 10,000 Flying Club points simply by shopping and collecting fuel at Tesco each week and converting your Tesco Clubcard to Flying Club points – you will see that these two methods alone are enough to give you 25,000 Flying Club points.
These are just two methods from the many available. Check a little further below for the link to the article you will find on The Points Guru showing you all the ways you can collect Virgin Flying Club points!
Earn Enough Flying Club Points for an Upgrade to Upper Class on Virgin Atlantic
In order to upgrade your flight, you will need to find a way to start building up your flying club points. Flying alone just doesn’t build up points fast enough unless you literally live out of your suitcase and airport lounges and regularly fly Upper Class already. If you took one flight a year on Virgin Atlantic in the economy, it could take you up to 20 years to collect enough Flying Club points for your upgrade.
I wouldn’t want to wait that long! There are much faster ways to build your flying club points than flying alone. Virgin Atlantic has its shops away portal that works similar to cashback sites – but instead of earning cash back, you earn Flying Club points instead.
You can also collect a large 15,000 signup Flying Club point bonus, and earn points on everyday spending, using the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card. I have put together a full guide showing you exactly how to earn enough Flying Club points for a free flight or upgrades – the link to the article is below
Suggested Reading – How to earn enough Virgin Flying Club Points for a free flight in Business Class or upgrade
In Summary
It’s easier to get into Upper Class than most people think. There are some secrets though which are to ensure you book early enough to make sure there is availability, and you also have to look for ways to really boost and maximize your Virgin Flying Club points every chance you get.
There are many ways to collect Flying Club points. From shopping to groceries, to fuel, to insurance switching, and Christmas present buying. Smart Flying Club point collectors can collect up to 100,000+ Flying Club points in their first year without even stepping onto a plane!
Virgin Upper Class is an experience you simply need to try!