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Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has announced a reward seat sale for flights to Miami, New York and Orlando.

You must book before 31 October, 2018 and fly before 12 December, 2018.

The promotion is only valid in Economy Class – Flying Club rewards book into “Economy Classic” that comes with seat selection and checked luggage. You’ll receive a 25% discount on the number of miles needed for a reward flight. Full details can be found here.

These are the routes that are reduced by 25%:

• London Heathrow to New York (Newark and JFK)
• London Heathrow to Miami
• London Gatwick to Orlando
• Manchester to Orlando
• Manchester to New York JFK
• Glasgow to Orlando

Does it Make Sense?

Economy rewards with Virgin Atlantic come with substantial taxes and surcharges to be paid. Here are a couple of examples:

• London Heathrow to Miami (return) – 18,600 miles + £267
• London Gatwick to Orlando (return) – 18,600 miles + £236

I haven’t cross referenced paid fares against award availability, but here is a calendar view of week-long trips to Orlando (from Gatwick) in November.

That’s right… paid fares from Gatwick to Orlando start at £265 return, with no need to bother with miles, award availability, etc.  Perhaps if you got lucky and found award space on a set of flights costing £615 you’d be pleased, but otherwise you’d be wasting your miles unnecessarily…

In case you’re wondering whether you can take advantage of this promotion without paying UK APD, a one-way from the United States back to London receives the 25% discount, but you’ll still pay a hefty surcharge of around £115 to fly one-way from New York to London.

Conclusion

This promotion isn’t aimed at helping loyal members enjoy a summer (or winter) holiday by reducing the number of miles required. It’s actually aimed at tricking members into believing that now is the time to spend those miles and pay those hefty surcharges… to fill empty aircraft.

So, take a close look at the alternatives before rushing out to spend your Virgin Atlantic miles during this “sale”.