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Home » Virgin Atlantic » Virgin Atlantic’s No-Notice Devaluation Has Delta’s Fingerprints All Over It
Delta Air LinesVirgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic’s No-Notice Devaluation Has Delta’s Fingerprints All Over It

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 2, 2021November 14, 2023 9 Comments
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Virgin Atlantic Delta Devaluation

Virgin Atlantic has massively devalued Delta awards, eviscerating any value in all but the narrowest of circumstances without notice. Even absent official confirmation, this devaluation has Delta’s fingerprints all over it.

Huge, No-Notice Delta Devaluation Via Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Without notice, Virgin Atlantic moved to a distance-based award chart on Delta redemptions. Awards are still priced on a per-segment basis and in some cases 175% higher than before.

a screenshot of a white sheet with numbers

As a point of comparison, prior to 2021 Virgin Atlantic charged the following for Delta premium cabin redemptions:

a screenshot of a white table

Let me give you an example. For over a year, I have been eyeing a Los Angeles – Shanghai trip on Delta Air Lines to experience Delta One on the A350. The pandemic meant such travel was impossible in 2020, but I hoped to do it this year.

Two days ago the trip cost 60,000 miles for a one-way business class ticket. Now, the same flight costs 165,000 miles one-way. That’s right folks, a 175% increase in price without notice.

There really are no more sweet spots in premium cabins unless you are making a shorthaul redemption under 500 miles.

Was Delta Behind This Sudden Move?

Delta acquired a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic in 2012. The two carriers are joint venture partners. Delta charged significantly more miles for its own flights than did Virgin Atlantic. Now the playing field has been leveled.

Do you really think Virgin Atlantic decided to make this change without pressure from Delta? Not when its business model (with partnerships including American Express, Chase, and Citi) relies upon incoming transfers and consumer redemptions.

I pressed Delta for details and received no response.

Virgin Atlantic’s statement is laughably misleading:

“We recognise how much our members value the extensive range of redemption partner options available through Flying Club, including flights with our joint venture partner, Delta Air Lines. The recent changes contribute to some considerable savings on reward seats, meaning members can go further for fewer Virgin Points. Across all classes, the redemption pricing remains competitive.”

Here’s what I think happened: Delta saw an uptick in partner bookings from Virgin Atlantic and decided that it was simply too much. In many cases, Virgin Atlantic was charging less than half of what Delta charged for the same flight.

In that sense, I suppose the change should not come as a surprise. What does come as a surprise, however, is that Virgin Atlantic gave us no notice. That is shameful and shows a total and complete lack of transparency and respect for Flying Club members.

CONCLUSION

I have miles in Virgin Atlantic and have no idea what I’ll use them for…certainly not on Delta any longer. It is a reminder that points are a depreciating asset and unpredictable in nature and value. As a consequence, make an effort to collect points in flexible currencies like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards and only transfer when you are ready to book. 

I’m done transferring prospectively when a lucrative 40% transfer bonus appears. Because the price of my award went up 175%…

Oh, and if you were planning on booking an ANA award with Virgin Atlantic, I’d get on that. Today.


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image: Delta

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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9 Comments

  1. Phil Reply
    January 2, 2021 at 10:09 am

    Thank you for putting a more neutral viewpoint on this.

    Some others forget that they have readers from the UK (where the options are incredibly thin) and still say stuff like “Flying Club isn’t very valuable so use [US Only Product] instead.”

  2. derek Reply
    January 2, 2021 at 11:35 am

    Cheer up. This is an enhancement! Delta is hinting to us that we should stay home because of the pandemic. In addition, it’s an enhancement because we need to get into the mindset that the rich must pay their own share (rich in miles). Of course, this enhancement will remain even after more people are vaccinated or we are poor in terms of annual income of miles.

    Delta breaks guitars!

    • Levin Y Reply
      January 2, 2021 at 7:36 pm

      Huh I don’t get it.

      You should pay for the Delta One A350 flight, then earn mileage on that instead of spending money to redeem former credit card points or actual qualifying mileage.

      International fares across the board are wonky. We are seeing First Class, Business Class reaching new lows for redemptions so much that airlines yanked capacity.

      And please don’t be too quick to judge airlines.

      There is a more rationale explanation. Singapore Airlines was reportedly not pleased with what Delta was intending to do to the Virgin brand. Temasek Holdings wants to acquire the stake they sold to Delta in the first place.

      According to reliable rumors, Singapore’s Business Times reported that Delta saw the opportunity to eradicate the Virgin Atlantic brand by operating flights via London Heathrow a la nwa at Tokyo Narita in the 1990s. The keystone strategy sees this being replicated via Seoul Incheon and potentially via Tokyo Narita or Starflyer via an expanded Fukuoka-HIJ/ KKS.

      Delta’s seeing a strategy that is not exactly going well now that governments have a say.

      LATAM Brasil is plotting a return to Star. Azul international strategy has failed them. Azul seems to have placed priority over connecting to Neeelman ventures rather than to actual demand.

      FYI, a robust and dynamic education system that now mandates compulsory exchanges means that the biggest O&D market right now, is that of students traveling between South America and China Singapore Bangkok Tokyo Seoul.

      Students below 21yo are exempt from testing. This market is a lot larger than imagined because friends, family are exploiting this and I suppose it has done nothing but good. You must be born after 1996.

      • Jerry Reply
        January 3, 2021 at 1:08 pm

        What?

  3. Nate nate Reply
    January 3, 2021 at 9:54 am

    Does Delta still own 49%? I thought Virgin when bankrupt and is in restructuring?

  4. FNT Delta Diamond Reply
    January 3, 2021 at 10:29 am

    Virgin Atlantic has been decimated by the pandemic. Perhaps more so than other international airlines since their business relied on U.S. and U.K. flights. Do they actually think the 7 times daily (or whatever the volume was) flights between Heathrow and New York–JFK are coming back? This is not the time to be shafting loyal customers. They need customers to return to the skies.

  5. FNT Delta Diamond Reply
    January 3, 2021 at 10:30 am

    Don’t forget that several years ago, maybe 2014 or 2015, Delta was eliminating transatlantic flights from airports like Detroit, Seattle and so forth in favor of Virgin Atlantic. They were pushing Delta customers to Virgin because presumably Virgin’s operating costs are lower due to lower paid staff.

  6. nick Reply
    January 4, 2021 at 12:31 am

    to be fair for folks domiciled in Canada like myself under the old redemption table I had to shed 25K VS miles for a YYZ-JFK-YYZ transfer to catch a VS flight (they still dont fly to Canada) now under the new redemption table it is only 2 x 7,5K miles so it may make sense to use it although when it comes to miles /points/ bora bora sea-shells or timbuktu pebles redemption …would You rather spend 15K VS miles on a BOS-JFK-BOS DL flt redemption or you’d add 5K and get a JFK-LHR-JFK VS flt redemption ditto would You rather spend 15K BA avios for the same BOS-JFK-BOS or (YYZ-JFK-YYZ) or youd add 10K more avios and rather redeem for a JFK-LHR-JFK BA flt…some FFP it makes more sense to exchange for a long-…longER…longEST flights rather than short hauls…and its always almost…the case the most bang for Ones miles are always on the Long/er/est haul premium class redemption when you compare the airfare price equivalent. But all of You here know that already… I remember the time when there was this awesome EOS airlines based in Purchase NY that will slam You with not only a special offer of buy 1 get 1 free but with a generous 80K miles redeemable on DL/AC/AA/UA/AF/LH/BA/VS/EK with a single RT JFK-STN flight so a had a quarter of a mill miles acumulated in a span of few months but then puff…they went bankrupt and all the miles with it to be fair they gave a 2 months advanc notice

  7. ORDinary Reply
    January 4, 2021 at 6:44 pm

    This reeks of standard DL practice.
    Make a negative change without saying anything, don’t respond to questions, wait for the fanboys to scream at anyone who dare ask questions about Dear Leader’s infinite wisdom.
    I do not understand the cult of personality around it. Perhaps there is a reeducation-through-labor terminal I haven’t connected through?

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