As reported by Gary, Delta has added the functionality of searching for Virgin Australia award space to their website. Now if you use the delta.com award tool and there’s Virgin Australia award space, it will automatically show up when doing a search.

When the partnership between Delta and Virgin Australia was initially announced I was really excited, since previously it was nearly impossible to redeem Delta SkyMiles for travel to Australia.

The fact that they’ve added the functionality to search online is awesome, since you used to have to call Delta’s SkyMiles desk to make a reservation for travel on Virgin Australia, and they’re among the most clueless agents in the airline industry (half of them had no clue who Virgin Australia is, the other half hung up on me, thinking I was asking if they were a virgin… oy).

And at the time Virgin Australia wasn’t just an average partner, but actually had an unreal amount of award space. While other airlines were stingy with award space to Australia, Virgin Australia released several business class award seats on most flights, even during peak season. The downside was that there were fuel surcharges, though at the time they were maybe $500 roundtrip. It wasn’t cheap, but at the same time was still an incredible bargain for award travel to Australia.

While coach award space is still quite good, the bad news is that business class award space has more or less dried up over the past several months. We went from seeing award availability almost every day to seeing award availability in business class a few days a year. So in many ways the partnership has become a lot less valuable.

The other bad news is that fuel surcharges have gone up even higher. A roundtrip coach award ticket will cost you around $800, while business class will cost you over $900. While it might still be a good deal in business class in many circumstances, I find it really hard to justify in coach, especially in addition to 100,000 Delta SkyMiles for the roundtrip.

But here’s the really interesting part. Delta imposes fuel surcharges for Virgin Australia award redemptions originating in the US, but not for Virgin Australia award redemptions originating in Australia.

A roundtrip coach award ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney on Virgin Australia will run you $799.50:

While a roundtrip coach award ticket from Sydney to Los Angeles on Virgin Australia will run you $119.50:

So yeah, you pay an extra $680 for the privilege of originating in the US. There’s no doubt that US consumers have had a hard time adopting to fuel surcharges imposed by some airlines (British Airways, for example, as they try to enter the US market more with their credit card), though this is the first time I’ve seen US consumers subject to more fuel surcharges than consumers in other countries.

Anyway, it seems that while the booking process has gotten easier than ever before, the availability is worse than ever before. Oh, how I long for the old days in this instance…

Posted on May 12th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Delta, Virgin | 14 Comments »

Either I’ve been asleep for the past few months or Virgin Atlantic has been really quiet about their new business class product, because it’s already flying between New York and London on their brand new three class Airbus 330s (featuring Economy, Premium Economy, and Upper Class).

You can find all the details of their new Upper Class Suite here, which is currently operating VS003/004 six days a week with the following schedule:

Virgin Atlantic 3 London Heathrow to New York JFK departing at 9:30AM and arriving at 12:20PM
Virgin Atlantic 4 New York JFK to London Heathrow departing at 6:15PM and arriving at 6:35AM (+1 day)

On the whole the product looks like an evolution of the old seat, and not an entirely new concept. The seats are still in a “herringbone” configuration, though it looks like they’ve made quite a few functional improvements. First of all, the bed is now 7ft2in, the longest business class bed of any airline. One of the complaints about the previous seat is that it doesn’t recline all that far, since in order to turn the seat into a bed you have to “flip” the seatback. The new seat seems to have 50% more recline, which is great when you’re not interested in sleeping.

Virgin Atlantic has a pretty cool virtual tour of the product on their website, so check that out. Best I can tell they’ll be installing this product on the Airbus 330s they’re taking delivery of, as well as the 787s they take delivery of starting in 2014, though I don’t think they plan on reconfiguring their existing fleet just yet.

Anyway, I’m rather excited about the new product. I flew Virgin Atlantic last year and thought they had one of the most solid business class products of any airline I’ve flown, between the great in-flight service and awesome ground experience, whether it be in New York, San Francisco, or London (where they have both an arrivals lounge and departures lounge).

I’ve briefly browsed award availability and unfortunately haven’t been able to find any Upper Class award availability for the coming weeks. If I find any I’ll probably make a booking to try the product out and report back to you guys. Or if anyone else comes across space but doesn’t want to use it, let me know and I’ll gladly be the sacrificial lamb and report back. ;)

Posted on April 23rd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Virgin | 13 Comments »

The Sky Steward posted a picture he was sent by a reader of a gate display for a Virgin America flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Underneath the flight information, the screen read “Todays flight attendants and pilots are sane…and HOT!!”

So I’m curious to hear, in light of recent events, do you think that’s funny or offensive? Vote below, as I’m curious to hear what you guys think.

The gate display was...

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Posted on April 9th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Virgin | 13 Comments »

Through May 15, 2012, the US Membership Rewards program is offering a 25% bonus on transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

While there is no limit to the number of transfers that can earn the bonus, it’s not built into the transfer ratio like with the British Airways bonus. Instead, the 25% bonus posts within 14 days of the original transfer (though I suspect it will be sooner in practice).

In the past I would say points transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for the purpose of actually flying Virgin Atlantic were never a good deal.

ANA used to be the best option by far. They partnered with Virgin Atlantic, and they have a very lucrative distance based award chart. The thing that made their chart especially lucrative was that they didn’t impose fuel surcharges for redemptions on Virgin Atlantic. So while Virgin Atlantic directly charged 90,000 miles plus about $800 in taxes and fuel surcharges for a redemption between New York and London, ANA charged 63,000 miles plus about $150 in taxes. Unfortunately last July they started imposing fuel surcharges on Virgin Atlantic redemptions, so that’s no longer the case.

The next best option was Continental miles, since Continental partnered with Virgin Atlantic and also didn’t impose fuel surcharges on award redemptions. Unfortunately they discontinued their partnership with Virgin Atlantic as of February of this year.

That means that there’s now not really a way to fly Virgin Atlantic without paying fuel surcharges (then again, the same goes for British Airways, so they’re not alone). That means that ANA is typically still the best airline to transfer Membership Rewards points to for Virgin Atlantic. They have a distance based award chart, as follows:

So in almost all cases it’s still going to be more economical to transfer to ANA than to Virgin Atlantic, even with the transfer bonus.

The one major exclusion would be if you’re trying to book one-way travel, since ANA won’t let you book a one-way award. While I don’t like Virgin Atlantic’s fuel surcharges, I give them big prop for being transparent about them. When you use their award calculator it will tell you exactly how much they are:

40,000 Flying Club miles would require 32,000 Membership Rewards points to be transferred. If you need to fly Virgin Atlantic one-way, that’s still going to be your best bet.

There is one other major potential upside here, though. Flying Club miles can be converted to Hilton HHonors points at a 1:2 ratio. That means that through this promotion you can actually transfer them at a 1:2.5 ratio.

That’s actually a really solid deal if you collect Hilton points. It’s not a ratio at which I’d just speculatively transfer all my Membership Rewards points since I’m not a Hilton guy. Their award chart looks like this:

In other words, transferring 20,000 Membership Rewards points will get you 50,000 Hilton HHonors points, enough for a free night at one of their top hotels. That can actually be a pretty good deal.

Posted on April 2nd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Virgin | 7 Comments »

Pardon me for being blunt, but it’s about damn time. It amazes me that despite the fact that Virgin America has been around for a few years now, they still haven’t actually done a whole lot to integrate with the other “Virgin” airlines, which seems like a no brainer. While this is hardly the most exciting news ever, it is a step in the right direction for the Virgin family.

As of today Virgin America Elevate points can be redeemed for travel on Virgin Atlantic (points calculator here), and as of March 22 Elevate points can be redeemed for travel on Virgin Australia (points calculator here).

The first thing to note is that for both airlines fuel surcharges are high when redeeming with Virgin America Elevate points. Very high. But the thing is, there’s no way to redeem for award travel on either airline in a premium cabin without paying fuel surcharges, so it’s hardly surprising. Virgin Australia partners with Delta, and they impose fuel surcharges for redemptions on them, while Virgin Atlantic partners with several airlines (including ANA), which also impose fuel surcharges for travel on Virgin Atlantic (the only exception I can think of is US Airways, though they only let you redeem for coach on Virgin Atlantic). Up until this February, Continental partnered with Virgin Atlantic and didn’t impose fuel surcharges, but that partnership is now a thing of the past.

Before we get too far into this, it probably makes sense to establish the value of Elevate points. They can be redeemed towards the cost of Virgin America flights at about 2.15 cents per point, meaning a $215 ticket would cost you about 10,000 points. They can also be transferred from American Express Membership Rewards at a 2:1 ratio, though this week they’re running a 30% transfer bonus.

So what’s the cost of redemptions? Here are a few samples:

New York to London is priced as follows:

As you can see, coach would rarely be worth it on points given how high the fuel surcharges are. Premium Economy is a marginally better deal, while Upper Class would be the best deal.

The same applies for San Francisco to London:

And San Francisco to Tokyo via London (yeah, check out those fuel surcharges):

So on the whole if you have Elevate points I’d say travel on Virgin Atlantic is among the best uses of them. That being said, if you have Membership Rewards points, you’re probably best off redeeming through one of their other partners for travel on Virgin Atlantic, given that transfers from Membership Rewards to Virgin America Elevate are at a 2:1 ratio. A better option might be to transfer to ANA, which has a distance based award chart, as follows:

While they also impose fuel surcharges, the costs should be a bit lower than the above.

As far as Virgin Australia goes, here’s what they charge for a redemption from Los Angeles to Sydney:

Again, a good use of Elevate points, though not something I’d transfer Membership Rewards points for unless they had an amazing transfer bonus (it better be more than 30%). In this case you’d be better off transferring to Delta, which transfers from Membership Rewards at a 1:1 ratio and charges 150,000 miles, and would have slightly lower taxes and fuel surcharges.

Oddly for Chicago to Sydney (with Chicago to Los Angeles on Virgin America) they charge 180,000 miles for business class, which seems crazy.

In other words, you pay more for the segment from Chicago to Los Angeles than you do for the segment from Los Angeles to Sydney.

But the underlying message here is exciting for those of us that like to redeem for aspirational awards. Previously Virgin America points could only be redeemed for travel on Virgin America based on the revenue cost of a ticket (meaning 10,000 points can get you about $215 towards a Virgin America ticket). That means there was no way to get a good deal and no way to get a bad deal. Now that they have a real award chart for their partners, there are ways to get aspirational awards. Suddenly you can turn 35,000 points and some cash into a ticket that could retail for $6,000.

Posted on March 21st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Virgin | 6 Comments »

Through March 25, 2012, American Express Membership Rewards is offering a 30% bonus on transfers to Virgin America’s Elevate program. The transfer ratio is usually 2:1, so through this promotion you can convert 200 Membership Rewards points into 130 Elevate points. In my experience Elevate points can be used towards the cost of airfare at a value of 2.15 cents per point. In other words, you can buy a $215 ticket for roughly 10,000 Elevate points.

That means typically when you’re converting Membership Rewards points into Elevate points you’re basically getting about 1.075 cents per point in value. Through this promotion, however, you’d be getting ~1.34 cents per point of value. It’s definitely not a great deal, though I guess if you have more miles than money this is still a better way to fly Virgin America than the American Express “Pay with Points” option.

Posted on March 21st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Virgin | 2 Comments »

Through February 29 (or when 35,000 people have signed up — whichever comes first) Virgin America is offering a code good for 20% off a Virgin America flight booked by March 31 for travel between April 11 and June 13, 2012 (with blackout dates from May 25-28). The code is valid for non–refundable Main Cabin tickets in S, L, M, U, E, H, B, or V fare classes.

Once you sign up you should receive the email code in your inbox within a few minutes.

Posted on February 28th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Virgin | 1 Comment »

In celebration of the Super Bowl, Virgin American is offering 20% off select Main Cabin fares for those that pay with a Visa card. To take advantage of this offer, just visit this page to enter your name and email address.

Once you click “Get Your Code,” the email with your code should arrive almost instantly.

When you’re ready to make your reservation, just enter the promotion code at the time you begin your search.

The promotion is valid for bookings made through February 29, for travel between January 10 and February 29, or between April 15 and June 15. The blackout dates are February 17, February 20, May 25 and May 28. Lastly, the promotion is only valid on non-refundable Main Cabin tickets in fare classes S, L, M, U, E, H, B, or V.

(Tip of the hat to Deals We Like)

Posted on January 23rd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Virgin | 4 Comments »

This is hands down the worst frequent flyer news of the year so far. Continental has just announced that as of February 13, 2012, they’ll be discontinuing their OnePass partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Per the announcement:

Effective February 13, 2012 we will discontinue our OnePass partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Mileage accrual benefits are valid for travel through February 13, 2012. Please refer to the Mileage Credit Request Form for information regarding obtaining missing mileage credit. OnePass reward reservations for travel on Virgin Atlantic must be confirmed and ticketed by February 13, 2012, and they are valid one year from the date ticketed.

I think we all saw this coming, though I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. I’m not so concerned about the mileage accrual side of things, though redeeming OnePass miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class was always a real bargain. Virgin Atlantic has a phenomenal business class product, and their lounge in London is one of the best business class lounges out there.

Anyway, you can still make reservations for travel over the next year, though if you need to change your reservation  after February 13, it will need to be for travel on a different airline that’s still a OnePass partner airline.

Keep in mind that you can use Continental miles to fly from the US to Asia via Europe, so you could conceivably book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from Los Angeles to London to Tokyo for 60,000 miles one-way, for example.

The worst part of this news is that I think once this relationship ends, there will be no way to redeem miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic without paying fuel surcharges.

Posted on January 18th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Continental, Virgin | 18 Comments »

Short answer: No, unless you’re just topping off an account.

I’ve received a few emails on this, so figured I’d mention it. Through December 20, 2011, Virgin America is offering a 100% bonus on purchased Elevate points. Through this promotion you can purchase Elevate points at 2.6 cents each. While the annual cap on purchased points is usually 20,000 per year, because they’re offering a 100% bonus with this promotion, that cap is really being lifted to 40,000 points.

This means that purchasing 40,000 points will cost you $1,040. So does taking advantage of this ever make sense?

Well, if you wanted to redeem your points from Los Angeles to San Francisco, for example, you have two options:

You could either pay 2,279 Elevate points:

Or spend $49:

So if you were redeeming points you would be doing so at 2.15 cents per point, about 0.45 cents per point lower than what you paid (not factoring in the points you’re missing out on by booking an award as opposed to a revenue ticket).

Now most would say it doesn’t make sense to redeem points for such a cheap ticket, though keep in mind that Virgin America’s award pricing is based on the revenue cost of the ticket, so it doesn’t matter how expensive it is, you’ll pay a proportional number of points.

For example, say you want to book a Main Cabin Select fare from Los Angeles to Boston:

You could either redeem points 41,210 Elevate points:

Or spend $886:

In this instance you would be redeeming points at… you guessed it, about 2.15 cents per point. So if you were buying those points at 2.6 cents each, that’s not much of a deal.

So unless you’re just short of the number of points required for an award, give this one a pass…

Posted on December 7th, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Virgin | 3 Comments »

Through December 31, 2011, Urban Daddy is offering a 15% Virgin America discount code if you register for their giveaway here., which can be redeemed between December 15 and December 31, 2011.

Once you register you’ll be asked if you’d like to invite five friends, and if you do you’ll get a 25% off coupon code for a Virgin America flight.

The fine print is that the promotion code is valid for main cabin fares in the S, L, M, U, E, H, B, or V fare classes, for travel between January 3, 2012, and February 15, 2012.

That’s an awesome deal if you’re planning on flying Virgin America!

(Tip of the hat to Deals We Like)

Posted on December 5th, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Great Deals, Virgin | 1 Comment »

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