How to Earn and Use Virgin America Points – Part 2: Earning Virgin America Points

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    Virgin America is a West Coast based airline that flies to several cities in the United States and a few cities in Mexico.  Their flights are concentrated along the West Coast, and from their hub cities (San Francisco and Los Angeles) to the East Coast.

    A lot of people like flying Virgin America since they’ve marketed themselves as a very “hip” brand!  But most of us here care more about Virgin America points and what you can do with them.

    You Can Earn Virgin America Points in Ways Other Than Flying

    How to Earn and Use Virgin America Points

    Part 2:  Earning Virgin America Points

    Link:   Virgin America

    Link:   Virgin America Elevate Frequent Flyer Program

    1.   Comenity Bank Virgin America Visa Signature Cards

    Link:   Comenity Bank Virgin America Visa Signature Cards

    Link:   My Review of the Virgin America Cards

    The easiest way to earn Virgin America points is with the Virgin America Visa Signature cards.  These cards come in a regular and premium version, with different annual fees and sign-up bonuses.

    Note:   To apply for these cards, you’ll need to sign-in to your Virgin America account.

    The Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card gets you:

    You’ll Get Closer to Elite Status If You Spend a Lot on the Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card

    And with the regular Virgin America Visa Signature Card, you get:

    You’ll Earn Extra Points When You Use Your Virgin America Card to Buy Tickets

    On both cards, you earn 1 point per $1 you spend on regular purchases, and 3 points per $1 you spend on Virgin America.

    If you book a paid Virgin America ticket, you earn 5 points per $1 you spend automatically, so buying your ticket with this card gets you 8 points per $1 you spend (5 points automatically + 3 points from using the card).

    That’s like getting a 17% discount on your flight!  Because each point is worth ~2.15 cents, you’re getting ~17 cents back per $1 you spend (8 points x ~2.15 cents per point).   So if you buy paid tickets on Virgin America a lot, this could be a good card for you.

    Here’s to Saving 17 Cents for Every $1 You Spend on Virgin America!
    How Are These Cards Different?

    The premium version of the card waives change and cancellation fees, but only if you paid for your ticket with the card.  This only applies to paid tickets, not award seats.

    It’s nice that Virgin America gives this benefit to premium credit card holders, although Southwest gives it to all of its customers on all types of tickets! 🙂

    The premium version of the card also awards 5,000 status points (not redeemable points) for every $10,000 you spend in a calendar year (up to 15,000 status points for spending $30,000).  If you are a frequent Virgin America flyer and a Big Spender, this can be useful.

    That’s because you need 20,000 status points ($4,000 spent on Virgin America flights) to achieve Elevate Silver status, which gets you:

    With Elevate Silver Elite Status, You’ll Get Upgraded to Main Cabin Select If There’s Space

    So if you earned 15,000 status points with the credit card, you would only need 5,000 more status points ($1,000 in paid tickets) to earn Elevate Silver status.  If you are a frequent Virgin America traveler, this could be worth looking into.

    You need 50,000 status points ($10,000 spend on Virgin America flights), to achieve Elevate Gold status.  Even if you earned the maximum 15,000 status points with the credit card, you would still need to earn 35,000 status points ($7,000 spent on tickets).  You would have to be a very frequent Virgin America flyer to achieve this!

    2.   Transferring Points From Other Credit Cards

    Link:   American Express Membership Rewards

    Link:   American Express Platinum (Personal)

    Link:   American Express Platinum (Business)

    Link:   American Express Premier Rewards Gold

    Link:   American Express EveryDay Preferred

    You can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards to Virgin America’s frequent flyer program at a ratio of 200 American Express Membership Rewards points to 100 Virgin America points.

    You’ll pay a fee of 12 cents per 200 American Express Membership Rewards points you transfer (or 60 cents per 1,000 points), to a maximum of $99.  For example, if you transfer 10,000 American Express points to 5,000 Virgin America points, you would pay a $6 fee (10,000 American Express points x 60 cents per 1,000 points).

    You Can Transfer AMEX Membership Rewards Points to Virgin America in Increments of 200 Points

    100 Virgin America points are worth ~$2.15, while 200 American Express points are worth ~$2 if you redeem them for gift cards or travel.

    But if you have the American Express Platinum (Business) card, you can redeem points at 1.25 cents each for travel, so 200 American Express points would be worth $2.50 toward travel (worth more than transferring to Virgin America).

    That said, American Express occasionally runs transfer bonuses.  And if you need to top off a Virgin America account for an award ticket, this can be a good way to get the extra points.

    3.   Flying

    Of course, if you book a paid ticket on Virgin America, you’ll earn Virgin America points.  This is worth considering with the $150 companion ticket discount, since you have to pay for both tickets.

    You can get as much as a ~28% rebate on your paid Virgin Atlantic flights when you’ve reached Elevate Gold status and you use the Virgin America Visa Signature card to pay for your ticket.

    Your rebate in points will be between ~11% and ~28% depending on if you use the Virgin American Visa Signature card and your status with the airline.

    For folks who like to see the math, here is how it works out:

    You earn 5 points per $1 you spend on Virgin America flights, which is an ~11% rebate (5 points x 2.15 cents per point).  If you purchase the ticket with either Virgin America Visa Signature card, you earn an additional 3 points per $1 you spend, or a total of 8 points per $1 you spend (~17% rebate).

    If you have Elevate Silver status, you earn 6.25 points per $1 you spend, which is a ~13.5% rebate (6.25 points x 2.15 cents per point).  By using your Virgin America Visa Signature card to pay for your ticket, you get an additional 3 points, or a total of 9.25 points per $1 you spend.  That’s ~20% rebate (9.25 points x 2.15 cents per point).

    If you have Elevate Gold, you earn 10 points per $1 you spend, or a ~21.5% rebate (10 points x 2.15 cents per point).  If you purchase tickets with the Virgin America Visa Signature card, you get an additional 3 points per $1, or a total of 13 points per $1.  You’re getting a ~28% rebate on flights (13 points x 2.15 cents per point).

    Bottom Line

    You can earn Virgin America points from the Virgin America Visa Signature cards.  Depending on the version you apply for, you’ll earn a sign-up bonus of 10,000 to 15,000 points after meeting minimum spending.

    American Express Membership Rewards points also transfer to Virgin America at a ratio of 200 American Express points to 100 Virgin America points.  You’ll pay a small fee for each transfer, but sometimes there are transfer bonuses.

    You’ll earn at least 5 points per $1 you spend when you fly on paid Virgin America tickets.  And if you use the Virgin America card, or have elite status, you’ll earn even more.

    Stay tuned for all the ways to use Virgin America points!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)
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