Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has hiked redemption pricing on certain ANA business class flights, increasing ANA business class redemptions by up to 26%.
This new devaluation, which was implemented quietly without notice, took effect as of May 23, 2024.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Increases ANA Business Class Pricing
As first reported by AwardWallet, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has quietly hiked the redemption rates for medium- and long-haul ANA business class awards as of May 23, 2024. Increases of up to 26% took effect.
Previously, the redemption chart for ANA round-trip awards was as follows:
Then, as of May 23, 2024, the Virgin Atlantic website displays the following ANA redemption chart for round-trip awards:
Comparing the charts, you’ll see the following changes:
- Japan – Malaysia/Myanmar/Singapore/Thailand/Vietnam: increased from 65,000 to 70,000 Virgin Points
- Japan – Hawaii/India/Indonesia: increased from 70,00o to 75,000 Virgin Points
- Japan – Australia/Canada/Western USA: increased from 90,000 to 105,000 Virgin Points
- Japan – Europe/Central & Eastern USA/Mexico: increased from 95,000 to 120,000 Virgin Points
The changes above represent an 8–28% increase in award costs.
Unfortunately, taking the worst hit are long-haul flights, including those to the US and Canada, which increased by 15,000–25,000 Virgin Points, or 17–28%.
This round of devaluation frankly isn’t surprising, as Virgin Atlantic Flying Club had already increased ANA First Class redemption costs by as much as 42% in March 2023. Perhaps what’s more surprising is that it took this long, since it’s long been speculated that non-alliance partner awards would devalue as Virgin Atlantic joins SkyTeam.
The good news is that Virgin Atlantic Flying Club periodically offers transfer bonuses with certain transfer partners. In fact, the program is offering a 30% bonus on transfers from Chase Ultimate Rewards until June 15, 2024.
Still, the no-notice devaluation leaves a sour taste in the mouth, and it’s anyone’s guess whether we’ll see further devaluations to ANA awards in future years after repeated changes in 2023 and 2024.
Still a Sweet Spot Compared to Other Programs
Despite this no-notice devaluation, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is still a better program for ANA business class redemptions than most other airline programs, provided that you can find award availability.
For the following theoretical examples, let’s compare Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with Aeroplan and Avianca LifeMiles.
Note that Aeroplan uses a fixed-price, distance-based redemption pricing for partner flights, while Avianca LifeMiles uses a fixed-price, zone-based redemption pricing for partner flights.
Tokyo–Bangkok (2,889 miles)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 35,000 Virgin Points
- Aeroplan: 45,000 Aeroplan points
- LifeMiles: 38,000 LifeMiles
Osaka–Honolulu (4,116 miles)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 37,500 Virgin Points
- Aeroplan: 55,000 Aeroplan points
- LifeMiles: 48,000 LifeMiles
Tokyo–San Francisco (5,160 miles)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 52,500 Virgin Points
- Aeroplan: 75,000 Aeroplan points
- LifeMiles: 75,000 LifeMiles
Tokyo–London (5,974 miles)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 60,000 Virgin Points
- Aeroplan: 80,000 Aeroplan points
- LifeMiles: 75,000 LifeMiles
Despite being devalued compared to before, it’s still a lower amount of points required to book through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club compared to other programs. Therefore, while this devaluation isn’t welcome news, Flying Club remains one of the best ways to book ANA business class.
Conclusion
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club quietly increased redemption costs for medium- and long-haul ANA business class awards. The devaluation, which took effect on May 23, 2024, saw increases of up to 25,000 Virgin Points or 28%.
While the devaluation isn’t ideal, Flying Club remains to be one of the best ways to redeem ANA business class seats, beating out Star Alliance programs like Aeroplan in terms of the cost in points.
Plus, Flying Club periodically offers transfer bonuses with certain programs, such as American Express US Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards. A well-timed transfer bonus could therefore soften the impact of this devaluation for would-be ANA business class travellers.
