How to Use the Virgin Atlantic “Shops Away” Shopping Portal to Earn More Points

BY 

Dr. Erin Miller

- UPDATED: May 10, 2021   |    2

1. Travel  / 
2. Airlines

2

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This is the shopping portal for Virgin Atlantic fans. With just a few extra clicks, you’ll earn bonus Virgin Points for shopping online. It’s as simple as that!

Read on for information on how to get the most from the Virgin Atlantic Shops Away shopping portal, and you’ll soon be booking those valuable reward flights.

How to Log In To Virgin Atlantic’s Shopping Portal

When you first visit the shopping portal, start by setting your language and location to see offers relevant to you.

Although you can browse available retailers and offers without logging in, in order to receive Flying Club bonus points for your purchases, you must first log in to the shopping portal.

The shopping account uses the same credentials as your Flying Club membership, so you will need to join the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club if you’re not already a member. It’s quick, easy, and free to sign up, so there’s nothing to lose!

Click the LOG IN button at the top right of the homepage to get going and complete your details.

Basics of Using the Virgin Atlantic Portal

The portal is very easy to navigate, with the homepage focusing on Hot Offers, so you can quickly identify the offers that are going to earn you the most points.

You can easily browse retailers using the Categories tab, where you can drill down to search for a specific store.

From the homepage or category results list, you get a top-level view of the bonus offer available for each retailer.

For more information, just click the retailer. You can see if they have a special bonus offer available with extra points, purchase conditions, a points calculator, or any current voucher codes.

To earn bonus points shopping with this retailer, you need to click the red Shop Now button, which will take you to the retailer’s website to carry on browsing.

When you’re ready to make a purchase, you can do this as normal on the retailer’s website. If you’ve clicked through the portal, Virgin Atlantic will automatically track your purchase through cookies, so be sure they are enabled on your browser for this to happen.

Once you have made an eligible purchase on the retailer’s website, it will show in your Virgin Atlantic Shops Away account within 5 days as “pending.” The retailer will then need to validate the purchase before the points will be awarded and this can take up to 45 days.

Hot Tip: Don’t forget that you must click through from the shopping portal using the retailer’s Shop Now button on each visit, otherwise the transaction won’t be registered.

Click Categories and then All Retailers to get a comprehensive list of participating stores, which you can sort alphabetically, by earning rate, by date added, or by most popular.

Special Offers for Extra Bonus Points

Keep your eyes peeled for these special bonus offers, as there is greater earning potential with retailers from time to time. To find them, click the Offers tab and browse retailers that are offering more than their usual points.

For example, at the time this article was written, Macy’s was offering double the normal amount of points per $1, with 4 points per $1 instead of 2 points per $1 spent.

Some retailers will also offer voucher codes with exclusive and non-exclusive promotions, including percentage savings and free shipping. Coupled with those extra bonus points, it’s a win-win situation!

Hot Tip: If you are curious how these bonuses compare to other portals, use CashBack Monitor to easily check over 40 different shopping portals.

Participating Retailers

Virgin Atlantic has over 1,000 participating retailers to choose from on the Shops Away portal, ranging from well-known global brands to smaller independents.

At the time this article was written, these were some of the bonus point offers:

• ESPN+ annual subscription: 450 points
• Groupon: 7x points per $1
• KitchenAid: 5x points per $1
• Ray-Ban: 6x points per $1
• Selfridges: up to 5x points per $1
• …and much more!

The Shops Away Point Finder Toolbar

The Shops Away Point Finder Toolbar is a handy tool if you’re a forgetful person who might not remember to click through from the shopping portal.

It also just saves you time, since it uses a browser extension that works with Chrome to display an alert when you’re visiting a website that offers bonus points.

It’s as simple as that, and it’s free to use — so you’ll never miss out on a precious point again.

Using Credit Cards to Earn Extra Points

You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points and then transfer those to your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account. Ultimate Rewards are easy to earn, especially when using one of their rewards cards for purchases.

Our recommendation is to use one of the Chase cards below when making purchases through the Virgin Atlantic shopping portal. The points earned by using the card will be added to the total bonus points for that retailer.

For example, if you used the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for most purchases you’d get an extra point per $1 spent, on top of the retailer bonus. If your online purchase fell into “travel” or “dining,” then with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card you’d earn 2 points per $1.

Credit Card

Benefits & Info

Best Offer Ever Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Apply Now (at Chase's secure site)

Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,250 when redeeming points for eligible purchases with the new Pay Yourself Back tool, or for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards® UP's Bonus Valuation*: $2,000 Earn 2x points on dining at restaurants including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out and travel & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Earn 5x points on Lyft rides (including bikes and scooters) through March 2022. That’s 3X points in addition to the 2X points you already earn on travel. Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Get unlimited deliveries with a $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on eligible orders over $12 for a minimum of one year with DashPass, DoorDash's subscription service. Activate by 12/31/21. Good to Excellent Credit Recommended (670-850) Annual Fee: $95 Must Reads: For more info on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, see our thoughts on its benefits and travel insurance coverage, which includes primary car rental insurance. Take a look at our full review to see why it's one of our favorite cards.

American Express Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points also provide a 1:1 transfer rate to Virgin Points if you’re looking to top-up your points.

Final Thoughts

With over 1,000 participating retailers, you really are spoiled for choice on the Shops Away online portal. If you’re a frequent flyer with Virgin Atlantic, then it’s definitely worth logging in and having a look around.

There are some great bonus offers available, and with the nifty browser plugin, you don’t even need to click through from the portal each time. The plugin will guide you through activating the tracking so you can carry on shopping as normal. You’ll be booking your next reward flight in no time.