Flying Club Elite Status
Virgin Atlantic elite tiers. Image courtesy of virginatlantic.com.
The Flying Club program has 3 elite tiers, each of which we’ll cover in more detail below.
Red: This the base elite tier offered by Virgin Atlantic that comes with the following benefits:
- Earn points on every flight
- Ability to use points for award flights
- Dedicated Flying Club phone line
- Discounted access to Flying Club lounges
Silver: Virgin Atlantic’s middle-tier elite status offers qualifying members these perks:
- All Red benefits plus:
- 30% bonus points on every flight
- Free seat selection ahead of your flight in Economy Light
- Premium check-in flying in any cabin
- Tier renewal bonus
- Priority waitlist for flights
- Maternity and paternity membership pause
Gold: Flying Club’s top elite tier, which provides members with these benefits:
- All Silver benefits plus:
- 60% bonus points on every flight
- Free seat selection for your party ahead of your flight in Economy Light
- Extra baggage allowance
- Upper Class check-in flying in any cabin
- Clubhouse passes for you plus 1 guest
- 1 complimentary Clubhouse spa treatment plus 10% off thereafter
- Access to London Heathrow Revivals Lounge
- 2,000 bonus birthday points
- Complimentary companion ticket upon yearly renewal of Gold tier
- Clubhouse passes for you to keep or share when you earn 1,500 Tier Points within your membership year
- Cabin Upgrade Reward when you earn 2,000 Tier Points within your membership year
- Complimentary Silver membership for a friend
If you want to learn more, head to the Flying Club website for the entire list of benefits available at each tier.
Value of Flying Club Elite Status
The way to value elite status with Virgin Atlantic is to ask yourself if you fly Virgin Atlantic or its partner airlines frequently enough to utilize the benefits.
If the answer to that question is yes, it may make sense to invest your loyalty in the Flying Club program.
Red and Silver elite tiers do not provide a ton of perks, so I’d recommend focusing your efforts on earning the top-tier Gold status.
With Virgin’s top-tier status, a complimentary companion ticket and a cabin upgrade reward are the most valuable perks.
Bottom Line: Virgin has a simplified elite tier structure with the most valuable benefits offered to those members who earn Gold status.
Earning Flying Club Elite Status
The Flying Club program uses what are called Tier Points for elite status qualification.
Not to be confused with the Virgin Points that you earn from flying, Tier Points are solely used to determine whether you are a Red, Silver, or Gold member.
Tier Points will expire every 12-13 months if you are a Silver or Gold member. Red members have added runway in that you’ll have 36 months before your status expires.
To ensure that your Silver status is current, you’ll need to earn 400 Tier Points a year. If Gold is what you want, you’ll need to earn 1,000 Tier Points a year.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Elite benefits. Image courtesy of virginatlantic.com.
Red elites looking to qualify for Silver status will need to earn 400 Tier Points in what’s called an “Upgrade Cycle”, which is calculated from the current date back to the first day of that month to the previous year.
Hot Tip: From April 2022 to March 2023, members will only need 300 Tier Points to earn Silver elite status, and 800 Tier Points to earn Gold elite status
For example, if it’s November 27, 2022, you calculate back to November 1, 2022 and then 12 months back to November 1, 2021 to determine the amount of time required to upgrade from Red to Silver.
Elite status duration for Silver and Gold resembles Red, but it’s slightly different.
Silver and Gold elites will remain in those respective tiers every year that those members earn the required 400 and 1,000 Tier Points respectively in the Upgraded Fixed Membership Period.
The Period starts on the day that you earn Silver or Gold status, and continues for the remainder of that month through the subsequent 12 months.
For each Upgraded Fixed Membership Period, your Tier Points will reset to 0. If the member doesn’t earn the 400 or 1,000 points needed, the member will drop down to the membership tier directly below the one the member holds.
For example, if you are a Gold elite and don’t earn 1,000 points within the Upgraded Fixed Membership Period, you will drop down to Silver elite status.
Earn Tier Points on award flights
Effective Septemeber 1, 2020, members will earn elite-qualifying Tier Points on all bookings with Virgin – including award tickets!
Similar to cash fares, you’ll earn Tier Points based on the fare class of your ticket. However, award tickets will earn tier points at 50% of cash tickets. But seeing as before you earned none, this is still great for frequent Virgin Atlantic flyers.
All one-way Upper Class redemptions will earn 100 Tier Points, Premium one-way redemptions will earn 50 Tier Points and economy one-way redemptions will earn 25 Tier Points.
Ticket Type: | Economy | Premium | Upper Class |
Tier Points Earned: | 25 | 50 | 100 |
In addition to earning Tier Points from flying, Virgin Atlantic has a credit card that provides an avenue toward earning elite status:
- Black Credit Card — 25 Tier Points per $2,500 spent on the card
Bottom Line: Virgin Atlantic uses Tier Points for elite status qualification and doesn’t have a revenue or segment qualification requirement like you’ll find with American Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines.