You don’t need any more reasons to visit Europe. You already know that there’s more culture, cuisine and excitement in more cities than just about any other region on earth. But going to Europe should be a celebration- and at just 39,000 Amex points one way. You’ve got your extra reason. Make it two reasons: business class for economy points. And Europe of course.
This is a three way shuffle and it’s oh so easy. IF you have Amex points- they’re all you need to get this done. Amex>Virgin Atlantic>Delta Flights. If you don’t- you need Virgin Atlantic points, where you’ll pay only 11,000 points more. If you only have Delta points, sorry- you’ll pay 31,000 points more- no fun.
If you DO have Amex points though– all you need to do is- take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus from Amex to Virgin Atlantic. With this bonus you can turn 39,000 Points into 50,000 points instantly. The bonus expires November 30th, so transfer your points by then or pay 11,000 more points each way. Flights can be up to a year from November 30th 2017.
Through the magic of transferring- transferrable points, you instantly turn 39,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles. 50,000 is all you need to book partner flights on Virgin Atlantic’s partner Delta. Delta charges ONLY $5.60 one way for flights leaving the U.S. so long as you don’t go to London, any other city, like Amsterdam, Paris Barcelona or Frankfurt works just fine. How? We’ll show you how.
You need to find “saver” space to Europe on Delta.com. This works in reverse, but with higher surcharges, over 200 euros. Still a great deal however. Saver space is (for now) defined as 70,000 miles one way for a business class ticket. IF you find a date on a route that works for you on the Delta website that’s available at 70,000 points- call Virgin Atlantic Flying Club immediately and book. You can probably even book online. IGNORE the Delta price in miles– it will still be 50,000 Virgin points. Feed them the Delta flight numbers. Points should transfer instantly- so you can wait to transfer your points until you confirm it can be done! Easy- amazing-flat beds- love it.
Featured image courtesy of Delta Airlines
Sorry but Virgin just increased the charges on Delta partner flights to match their own….so that $5 cost just increased to $501 for a one-way US to UK Business seat. Shocking increase and with no notice.
This is deal no longer exists guys, I already spoke with Virgin about it. They have increased the partner awards charges on Delta to $500 to match the Virgin flight charges.
Correction: this does exist, just not to London. U.S. cities to European cities are not charged surcharges. Don’t jump the gun!
Searched(for next summer) CDG today from CVG. Delta One. $5.60. Don’t use LHR.
Aaaaah got ya….only where Delta revenue-shares with Virgin are the fees aligned…so yes, LHR is a definite no-no. Looks good for those other cities still thank goodness. Separate connection back to the UK would still save plenty of $$$ but just an extra inconvenience.
Thanks for updating the article to exclude London. Will post an update if I get any explanation from Virgin ref the huge increase in charges since Sept….email on its way to them soon!
If you can book Paris you can always get the Eurostar train through the tunnel to London and still do both. Virgin also partner with Eurostar so if you have some of their miles you could get that for free as well.
Ah good suggestion, not thought of that option.
How much is a business class award on Virgin to Dubai typically ?
Scored a one-way business class trip to Paris July 2018 for only 39K MR points and $5.60!!! Awe-fucking-some! Looked it up and this ticket costs US$8,708 last night! Thank you!!!!
Am I seeing it correctly that you can only do a maximum of 30,000 points? That kills the deal for me, I’ve got to get 4 people across the pond. I got pretty excited there for a minute.
From Amex to Virgin? If so, that’s a new thing. I’ll try to replicate.