Next Year Fly to Europe for 8,000 Points on Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is dramatically altering its award charts for bookings made January 16, 2017 or later.

The United States goes from two regions to three.
The year round price is no more. Now we will have off peak and peak prices.
Economy and Premium Economy prices for most of the year drop dramatically.

Up to 90,000 Bonus Miles on the Virgin Atlantic MasterCard

The Virgin Atlantic World Elite MasterCard® is offering up to 90,000 bonus miles but there are quite a few strings attached.

The bottom line is that you earn 127,5

5 Underpriced Awards on Obscure Award Charts

With the proliferation of transferable points like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints, Americans have access to cheap awards through tons of foreign programs.

Here are five underpriced awards on foreign award charts and how to get the miles needed to book the awards.
1. Singapore Awards Between Hawaii and the Americas
Singapore Airlines puts Hawaii and Central America--you know, those two places that are thousands of miles apart--into one region.

30% Transfer Bonus Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic + Award Sale =10,000 Miles to Europe Year Round!

American Express is offering a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through May 31, 2016. For the next four weeks, 1,000 Membership Rewards will transfer to 1,300 Etihad Guest Miles.

 

This is huge news because there is also currently a 30% discount on Virgin Atlantic economy awards through May 11, 2016. Combining this transfer bonus with that sale means you can book awards from the Eastern United United States to London for 10,000 Membership Rewards plus $135 with great availability for the next 11 months if you act right now.

Top 8 Uses for 96,000 Point Sign Up Bonuses of Citi Prestige and ThankYou Premier

You can get both the Citi Prestige with 40,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months and the Citi ThankYou Premier with 40,000 bonus ThankYou Points after spending $3,000 in the first three months, as long as you apply at least eight days apart.

Meet both minimum spending requirements, and you'll have at least 96,000 ThankYou Points, in one account if you follow the simple steps to combine your accounts.

Here are the top eight ways I would use the 86,000 point sign up bonus for flights in Economy and First

Please Do Be Tempted by ThankYou Points/Virgin Atlantic Transfer Bonus

A recent post by View from the Wing said not "to be tempted" by the current 25% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin Atlantic miles. His argument was that there are so few good uses of Virgin Atlantic miles that he had to dig "deep in the barrel" to come up with any.

Well I dug for 15 seconds to find two great uses to South America and Europe.

Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #2: Sweetspots on 12 Partner Award Charts

This post is part of a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Citi ThankYou Points to airline partners.

Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #1: Suites Class for as Little as 32,000 Miles
Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #2: Awards on United and Partner Flights
Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #1: 10,000 Points USA to Europe
Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #2: Sweetspots on 12 Partner Award Charts (this post)
Sweetspots with Flying Blue Miles: 30,000 Miles Roundtrip to Hawaii
Sweetspots with Virgin America Points: 35,000 Points Roundtrip to Europe in Flat Bed
Sweetspots

Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #1: Awards to Europe for as Little as 10,000 Points

This post is part of a series about how to maximize value when transferring your Citi ThankYou Points to airline partners.

Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #1: Suites Class for as Little as 32,000 Miles
Sweetspots with Singapore KrisFlyer Miles #2: Awards on United and Partner Flights
Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #1: 10,000 Points USA to Europe (this post)
Sweetspots with Virgin Atlantic Miles #2: Sweetspots on 12 Partner Award Charts
Sweetspots with Flying Blue Miles: 30,000 Miles Roundtrip to Hawaii
Sweetspots with Virgin America Points: 35,000 Points Roundtrip to Europe in Flat Bed
Sweetspots

Ends Sunday: 25% Transfer Bonus from Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin Atlantic

Transfers of Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin Atlantic miles will have a 25% bonus through Sunday August 23, 2015.

You must transfer ThankYou Points in 1,000 point increments, so until August 23:

1,000 ThankYou Points = 1,250 Virgin Atlantic miles

This is huge news as it is the first transfer bonus of Citi ThankYou Points to an airline partner. American Express Membership Rewards has historically run transfer bonuses, including to Virgin Atlantic, though Chase Ultimate Rewards never has.

Three Reasons Why You Want Virgin Atlantic Miles
1.

Great Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Award Space Next May, June 2016

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class Award Space is widely available for two passengers on several routes to London in May and June 2016.

This is an excellent use of Delta SkyMiles because these awards cost 62,500 SkyMiles each way per person, despite Delta's big devaluation last week. The award space is also an excellent use of ThankYou Points transferred to Virgin Atlantic miles during the current 25% transfer bonus.