Virgin Atlantic’s Points Plus Money: Is it Worth Your Miles?

Virgin Atlantic's ‘Points Plus Money' feature allows customers to use Virgin Points for a discount on cash flights, functioning similarly to other airline part-payment schemes. Unlike British Airways' Avios system, Virgin offers a fixed redemption value: 0.55p per point, equating to £16.50 for every 3,000 points, without any tapering based on the number of points redeemed. The value remains static, as there are no promotional offers.

To use ‘Points Plus Money', bookings must be made online for Virgin Atlantic operated flights only, not codeshares or partners. There are no blackout dates or inventory restrictions, and tickets still earn Virgin Points and tier points. While there's no limit to points redeemed, it must be in multiples of 3,000. An example showed redeeming 111,000 points for a £602.82 discount, yielding 0.543p per point due to rounding, suggesting optimal value is achieved by paying any small remainder in cash.

The primary risk involves cancellations: if a REFUNDABLE ‘Points Plus Money' flight is cancelled, the points are lost (except for taxes, or if cancelled within the 24-hour cooling-off period). For non-refundable tickets, points are lost as the cash equivalent would be. While 0.55p per point is generally considered low compared to the 1p often sought for mileage redemptions, it surpasses the 0.5p value from non-flying redemptions like hotels or vouchers. It's a reasonable option for points earned from business travel or Virgin Atlantic credit cards, but less attractive if points originated from transfers like Tesco Clubcard or Heathrow Rewards, where the effective return is significantly diminished.

(Source: https://www.headforpoints.com/2025/10/05/virgin-atlantic-points-plus-money-3/)