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American Express Membership Rewards Virgin Atlantic Transfer Bonus – Excellent for Fancy First Class Seats (Targeted)

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    If you use cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express, you collect extremely valuable AMEX Membership Rewards points.  You can use them to receive a TON of free travel by transferring them to hotel and airline partners, like Virgin Atlantic.

    Virgin Atlantic is an airline that often flies under the radar in the world of miles & points.  But if you have a particular use in mind, they could be a valuable destination for your flexible points!

    American Express is currently targeting folks to receive up to a 30% bonus for transferring their AMEX Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic.  So your points will go a lot further toward booking those ultra-snazzy Business Class seats to Europe or Asia!

    Folks are receiving emails with transfer bonus offers ranging from 10% to 30% bonus Virgin Atlantic miles.  AMEX Membership Rewards points normally transfer to Virgin Atlantic at a ratio of 1:1.  So with this promotion, you could receive a ratio of between 1:1.1 and 1:1.3.

    You can use Virgin Atlantic for some of the absolute cheapest ways to cross the Atlantic in terms of miles.  But you WILL pay taxes & fees when you fly on Virgin Atlantic, and they are expensive.

    For example, you can fly round-trip from New York to the UK in coach for just 20,000 Virgin Atlantic miles.  And if you received the 30% transfer bonus, you could book that flight for just 16,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points (16,000 points + 30% bonus miles)!  But you’ll pay $430 in fees.

    Or, you could book an Upper Class (lie-flat) seat from Boston to the UK for 95,000 miles round-trip.  With this transfer bonus, you could book that flight for just 74,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points (74,000 points + 30% bonus).  That’s pretty amazing for a round-trip Business Class flight!  But you’ll pay $1,025 in taxes (ouch).

    However, you can use Virgin Atlantic miles with other airline partners, like Delta and ANA.  Virgin Atlantic passes along the fuel surcharges these airlines charge, but they are much more reasonable.

    For example, you could book a FIRST CLASS ticket from the Western US to Tokyo on ANA and pay 110,000 miles round-trip.  And if you received the 30% bonus, you could use as few as 85,000 AMEX Membership Rewards points!  And taxes & fees rarely cost more than $350 in total.

    Check out our guide to using AMEX Membership Rewards points here.  And be sure to read our top recommended AMEX cards!

    Let us know if you jump on this deal!

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    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! :)