The American Express US Membership Rewards program has once again launched a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

While the UK-based airline primarily focuses on the transatlantic market, its Flying Club loyalty program has great award pricing for transatlantic flights and numerous partnerships with airlines around the globe – such as the five-star Japanese carrier ANA – and that’s what makes this transfer bonus a lot more interesting. 

40% Transfer Bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Until December 31, 2024, you can transfer Amex US Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and receive a 40% bonus. 

Points are normally transferred at a 1:1 ratio between the two programs, and can only be transferred in increments of 1,000. With the 40% bonus, for each 1,000 Amex US Membership Rewards points transferred, you’ll receive a total of 1,400 Virgin Points.

This transfer promotion is only for those who dabble in US credit cards and have access to Amex US MR points.

If you’ve yet to get started with US credit cards, it’s possible to get your first Amex US MR card this month, although you’d need to act quickly. 

Is This 40% Transfer Bonus a Good Deal?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club recently made a shift to dynamic pricing, and the program operates much differently than it has in the past.

However, the good news is that there are some great redemptions available for flights with Virgin Atlantic, including on the upcoming new route to Toronto that’s set to launch at the end of March 2025.

For example, a quick scan of award availability from Spring–Summer 2025 shows the following lowest prices for each class of service on the new Toronto route:

• Economy: 6,000 Virgin Points
• Premium economy: 16,500 Virgin Points
• Upper Class (business class): 35,000 Virgin Points

Even with the moderate amounts of taxes and fees on the booking, those are very competitive prices for a transatlantic flight. This is especially the case when you consider the 40% transfer bonus at play:

• Economy: 4,285 Virgin Points (with a 40% transfer bonus)
• Premium economy: 11,785 Virgin Points (with a 40% transfer bonus)
• Upper Class (business class): 25,000 Virgin Points (with a 40% transfer bonus)

The prices fluctuate throughout the schedule, but the pricing is pretty reasonable on most dates. It’s easy to see award availability for a month at a time using the Reward Seat Finder feature on the Virgin Atlantic website.

Another one of the optimal uses of Amex US MR points is to transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and then redeem for ANA First Class and business class. Of course, this is dependent on being able to find award availability, which is extremely difficult these days.

For example, you can pay only 72,500 or 85,000 Virgin Points for a one-way flight in ANA First Class, depending on whether your US gateway airport is on the West or East Coast.

If you’re happy with ANA business class, including its premier product “The Room” on certain routes, it’ll cost just 52,500 or 60,000 Virgin Points for a one-way flight, depending on your origin city in Canada or the United States.

With the 40% transfer bonus from Amex US MR, you’re really looking at just 52,000 or 61,000 Amex US MR points to book a dream flight in ANA First Class. For ANA business class, the one-way prices drop down to the equivalent of 37,500 or 43,000 US MR points, respectively.

If you have any aspirations of taking advantage of this sweet spot – still one of the best opportunities all around – then timing the transfer around a 40% bonus like this one will be your best move.

With such a competitive product, the hardest part is going to be finding award availability, which continues to pose the biggest challenge. However, with ANA award availability also being scarce or non-existent through other programs, including Aeroplan, Flying Club remains one of the best all-around options.

You can also redeem Virgin Points for flights with Delta, but finding “Saver”-level award availability may prove to be tricky.

Convert Canadian MR Points to Virgin Atlantic

Don’t forget, there’s also the possibility of converting Canadian-issued Amex MR points to US MR points for those who have an Amex relationship on both sides of the border.

In doing so, you can effectively convert your Canadian Amex MR points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at a somewhat favourable ratio. 

Amex describes this process as an “International Transfer.” As long as the American Express cards are under the same name, points can be transferred from one credit card account to the other. 

When converting Canadian MR points to US MR points, the prevailing foreign exchange rate is applied. Right now, the exchange rate is sitting at around 1 Canadian MR point = 0.71 US MR points.

Factoring in the 40% bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, the effective through-conversion rate is 1 Canadian MR point = 0.71 US MR points = 0.99 Virgin Points.

To have your Canadian MR points transferred to US MR points, you’ll have to call Amex in the originating country to initiate your International Transfer.

Keep in mind the process can take 1–2 weeks to complete, and every cardholder is limited to one International Transfer per 12-month period, so it’s best to act quickly and decisively if you’d like to apply your Canadian Amex MR points to this December 2024 Virgin Atlantic transfer bonus. 

Conclusion

Amex US is offering a 40% bonus when transferring American Express US Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. The Flying Club program has one of the lowest mileage rates for flying across the Atlantic, so this could be a great opportunity to lock in a future trip to Europe.

Plus, booking ANA First Class through Flying Club is one of the best sweet spots across all loyalty programs at the moment, and booking ANA business class is also an outstanding deal.

Make sure to take advantage before December 31, 2024 to rack up your Virgin Points with a 40% bonus.