Capital One and Virgin Red (affiliated with Virgin Atlantic) have joined forces to offer a limited-time transfer bonus, making it even more rewarding to leverage your Capital One miles for exciting travel experiences with Virgin Atlantic.
This exciting promotion grants a bonus of 30% Virgin Points when you transfer your Capital One miles to Virgin Red. Here’s how you can unlock a world of travel possibilities with this strategic transfer.
Registering and Transferring Your Points
The process of initiating the points transfer itself is straightforward, and so long as you don’t experience any delays your points should be in your partner account instantly. What can trip you up a bit is how Virgin Red assigns your account number, and how you link it to your Cap1 account. We’ll review all of that below:
- Step 1: Create a Virgin Red account if you don’t already have one, then navigate to the Personal Info page:
- Step 2: Scroll down the Personal Info page to the Virgin Red ID section. This will be right above your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Number section which you should link together by clicking the Link button.
Copy or write down the Virgin Red ID code, which is a 4-word phrase. This is your Membership # for the Capital One linking page.
- Step 3: Log in to your Capital One account, click on your rewards points tile, and click Convert Rewards. Verify yourself via text, if needed.
- Step 4: Click on the tile to link your Virgin Red account to Capital One. You’ll be able to verify the transfer bonus at this point.
- Step 5: Enter in your Virgin Red ID code to the “Membership #” section of the pop up and click Next.
- Step 6: Enter in the number of points you’d like to transfer to Virgin Red, then confirm the 30% bonus is applied in the summary.
And that’s it! You’ve officially connected and transferred points to your Virgin Red account with the 30% transfer bonus.
Easy, right?
A World of Virgin Red Redemptions
Virgin Red goes beyond just cruises. It’s a comprehensive rewards program encompassing a vast array of travel, lifestyle, and entertainment options. Here are just a few ways to redeem your Virgin Points:
- Unicorn Flights with Virgin Atlantic: Book your next getaway using Virgin Points for flights on Virgin Atlantic. From luxurious Upper Class cabins to comfortable Economy fares, Virgin Atlantic offers a refined travel experience across their global network.
- Explore with Virgin Holidays: Virgin Red points unlock unforgettable getaways with Virgin Holidays. Combine flights with hotels, car rentals, and curated experiences for a seamless and memorable vacation.
- Extraordinary Experiences: Virgin Red boasts a unique collection of “pinch-me” moments. Use your points for access to exclusive events, VIP concert tickets, or once-in-a-lifetime adventures.
- Everyday Rewards: Treat yourself! Redeem points for everyday purchases with Virgin’s partners, including Virgin Wines, Virgin Mobile, and more.
These are great and all, but they’re not really the reason we’re announcing this promo today…
Virgin Atlantic Flights with Virgin Red Points
Virgin Red allows you to link your account to the broader, more lucrative Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer program, renowned for its premium in-flight service and fantastic partner flight options. Here’s how it works:
- Generally speaking, you’ll search for and book Reward Seats: Virgin Atlantic guarantees a minimum number of reward seats on every flight, allowing you to redeem points for the entire fare (excluding taxes and fees).
- You can also use your points for the Points + Money option: Don’t have enough points for a full reward seat? No problem! Use Points + Money to partially cover the cost of your flight and pay the remaining balance with cash. Even though this option is available, you should compare the value you’ll get using both currencies with the value you’d get using only points (spoiler: it’s usually not as good).
What isn’t exactly clear about this link is that it opens up the option to book flights on other airlines that are strategically partnered with Virgin Atlantic in the SkyTeam Alliance. Which airlines, you say?
Delta as a SkyTeam Alliance Partner
Among the handful of SkyTeam partners that Virgin Atlantic can codeshare with, Delta is one that’s more highly valued than others for US travelers due to their dominant footprint within the States as well as in Western Europe. Who doesn’t love a cheap flight to Paris, right?
Pending reward availability, you’ll transfer your Virgin Red points to Virgin Atlantic, search their inventory, then book a main cabin, first, or business class seat on a Delta airplane to any of their destinations.
Why not just book through Delta direct? Good question, and the answer is pricing.
Delta award pricing has exploded over the past several years, out-pricing themselves as reasonable options for any points and miles traveler, especially for international business class seats. A ticket that goes for around 50k Virgin Atlantic points can come in as high as 600k Delta SkyMiles for the same. exact. seat.
Insane, I know, and this is how we find value by leveraging partner airlines. Fortunately, Virgin makes it a bit easier for us to determine what kind of pricing we can expect for certain routes based on their length:
I know at this point everything looks like butterflies and rainbows, but there’s a pretty big ‘but’ lurking in here… Even though you do everything right, transfer your points, know the codeshare partners, and see the flight available on the partner you’d like to utilize, it may turn out that there simply isn’t “partner” availability through Virgin. That means that you’ll be unable to find or book your desired flight at that time. The best way to get ahead of this problem is to search as far into the future as you can to find partner flights on the cheap. Doing so will present the best odds that you’ll be able to benefit from a partnership like this.
Getting to the Point
This Capital One and Virgin Red promotion unlocks exceptional value for your miles, even beyond the traditional application of spending them with Virgin Red itself. With understanding how codeshare relationships work and taking advantage of this lucrative transfer bonus, you’ll be able to expand your travel horizons, indulge in luxury flights with Virgin Atlantic (or any SkyTeam member), and book unforgettable Holiday packages or extraordinary experiences. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make your points work harder for you.
One word of caution: never transfer points speculatively! Doing so could result in your points spending a long, long time at their new destination, and possibly suffering a devaluation in the near to mid term future. We don’t want that, right? Always have a plan to book before you transfer, and that goes for every type of point transfer.
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