Transfer Citi Points To Virgin Atlantic And Get A 30% Bonus: Book Bargain Delta, ANA, ITA, Air New Zealand, And More Awards!

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You can get a 30% bonus when you transfer Citi Points to Virgin Atlantic until 3/16. The points typically transfer instantly at a 1K:1.3K ratio with this promo.

Virgin Atlantic points never expire!

In general, Virgin Atlantic charges high fuel surcharges that kill the value of many of their awards.

Note that you can save big by booking travel as 2 one-way trips from the US, instead of a round-trip. Fuel surcharges for one-way or round-trip travel originating in Israel are also very low, making for some great bargains for Virgin Atlantic travel.

You may even save more by calling Virgin Atlantic at 800-365-9500 and asking for a companion discount.

You can hold award tickets for 3 days.

Dates changes or cancellations cost $50 ($35 if originating in UK).

Flying on Delta:

There are some notable sweet spots on partner airlines:

Virgin Atlantic points can be a bargain for flying on Delta, though with the recent devaluation it’s not what it used to be.

Click here to access the Virgin Atlantic award booking page.

If you have problems typing in your desired airport you will need to click the location icon as shown below and manually search for your destination by country and state. If your destination still isn’t available you will have to call Virgin Atlantic to book award travel to that destination.

If the option to search for points isn’t available you also may need to try selecting another airport, click on pay with points, and then switch the airport. For example NYC to LAX didn’t work for me at first, but I switched the destination to San Francisco, clicked on pay with points, and then switched back to Los Angeles.

On the search page you can select one-way or round-trip, exact dates, flexible within 1 week, or within 5 weeks by changing the word “dates” in the URL to “calendar” on the award calendar search results page. You can also change the class of service by clicking on “Show advanced options.” When you are viewing the award calendar you can toggle it to show direct flights only.

You generally won’t want to use Virgin points for Delta flights to the UK, as they tack on fuel surcharges.

However you can fly on Delta to the rest of Europe for just 30K points (23,077 points with a 30% bonus) in coach or 50K points (38,462 points with a 30% bonus) in business class each way.

For the rest of the world besides Europe, Virgin has a distance based award chart for travel on Delta:

You can check what a ticket will cost by checking the distance between city pairs on GCmap.com.

There are still some domestic bargains, though Delta often blocks partner award space within 3 weeks of a flight.

For example, a flight NYC to Cleveland will be 7.5K Virgin points in main cabin with wide open availability, as long as you book 3 weeks in advance:

A zone 1 JFK-Cleveland coach ticket on 5/12 is 7.5K Virgin points (5,769 points with a 30% bonus) or 21K points (16,154 points with a 30% bonus) in first class:

Vs 21.5K in main cabin with Delta miles or 31K in first class with Delta miles:

• A zone 1 flight from Cleveland, Detroit, or Pittsburgh to NYC is 7.5K Virgin points in economy and 21K in first class.
• A zone 2 flight from Atlanta to NYC will is 11K Virgin points in economy and 41.5K in first class.
• A zone 3 flight from Miami to NYC is 16.5K Virgin points in economy and 59.5K in first class.
• A zone 4 flight from Denver to NYC is 18.5K Virgin points in economy and 66.5K in first class.
• A zone 5 flight from LA to NYC is 22K Virgin points in economy and 70K in first class.
• A zone 6 flight from NYC to Lima is 35K Virgin points in economy and 80K in first class.
• A zone 7 flight from NYC to Buenos Aires is 44K Virgin points in economy and 105K in first class.
• A zone 8 flight from NYC to Tel Aviv is 49.5K Virgin points in economy and 130K in first class.
• A zone 9 flight from NYC to Tokyo is 65.5K Virgin points in economy and 165K in first class.

Infant lap child awards on international flights are a bargain. While Delta charges 10% of the paid fare, which can be astronomical on one-way flights, Virgin charges just 1,000 points in coach or 5,000 points in business class each way:

Cancelations and changes officially cost $50, but are capped at the taxes paid, so are just $5.60 for a domestic one-way.

Flying on ITA:

Fly on ITA between the US and Rome for 75K points (57,692 with a 30% bonus):

Flying on Air New Zealand:

You can fly on Air New Zealand between Australia or Pacific Islands and New Zealand for 15K points (11,538 with a 30% bonus) in business class, between Asia and New Zealand for 40K points (30,769 with a 30% bonus) in business class, between Hawaii and New Zealand for 45K points (34,615 with a 30% bonus) in business class, and between the US48 and New Zealand for 62.5K points (48,077 with a 30% bonus) in business class with no fuel surcharges.

Unfortunately, you do need to call Virgin Atlantic to book travel on Air New Zealand at 800-365-9500. You can search for Air New Zealand award space on United.com.

ANA flies between Tokyo Haneda or Narita from Chicago, Houston, JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington DC.

Search for business class saver awards on United.com to or from AKL and then call Virgin Atlantic to book:

Flying on ANA:

ANA is an incredible Japanese airline with great first class suites that have very comfortable beds and amazing service.

I reviewed them here towards the end of the 4th part of my Island Hopper adventure and flew on ANA’s new first class cabin last year from Tokyo to the US:

On long-haul flights you can enjoy divine Hibiki 21:

And on medium-haul flights you can enjoy also excellent Hibiki 17:

You only need 72.5K Virgin Atlantic points to fly one-way from the west coast to Japan or 85K points to fly one-way from the east coast to Japan in first class. There are fuel surcharges which are tied the price of oil from a couple months ago. Those are currently about $250 each way.

Or you can fly in business class for just 45K Virgin Atlantic points one-way from the west coast to Japan or 47.5K points to fly one-way from the east coast to Japan.

Unfortunately, you do need to call Virgin Atlantic to book travel on ANA at 800-365-9500. You can search for ANA award space on United.com.

ANA flies between Tokyo Haneda or Narita from Chicago, Houston, JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Washington DC.

Search for first class saver awards on United.com to or from TYO and then call Virgin Atlantic to book:

ANA’s new first class suites and business class suites are amazing!

New ANA First, with a 43″ 4K LED, a door for privacy, windows, and more:

The middle seats have a partition for privacy that goes up and down so that companions can talk to each other:

New ANA business:

Business class is staggered with forward and rear facing seats that also have privacy doors and middle partitions and go up and down:

Want to earn Virgin Atlantic points?

• You can transfer AMEX, Chase, Capital One, Or Citi points to Virgin Atlantic at a 1:1 ratio or Marriott points at a 60K:25K ratio. 

If you or a friend has one of the following Citi cards, you can transfer points into miles with a 30% bonus:

• Citi Premier® Card® Card.
  • Read more here.

Citi no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:

• The Citi Double Cash® card.
  • Read more here.
• The Citi Rewards+® Card.
  • Read more here.
• The Citi Custom Cash® Card.
  • Read more here.

Will you transfer points from Citi to Virgin Atlantic to take advantage of this bonus? What other award sweet spots do you take advantage of?

HT: Eluzer K.