With no notice, Virgin Atlantic doubled surcharges on both business class and premium economy award tickets. Surcharges on economy class awards have also gone up in price.
Virgin Atlantic Quietly Doubles Surcharges On US – UK Award Tickets
Virgin Atlantic has quietly raised the cash portion of award tickets on flights from US to the UK. Business class taxes and fees have jumped from about $255 to a flat $586 one way, an increase of over 100%. Premium economy award surcharges have climbed from roughly $106 to $240, and economy awards now carry about $111 in fees, up from $75.
Thankfully, mileage costs have no changed. If you book a 29,000-mile Upper Class one-way trip to London, you still pay 29,000 Virgin Points, but now face a $586 surcharge. That pushes the total outlay for a roundtrip up to over $1,100 out-of-pocket.
Virgin introduced dynamic pricing and dramatically cut award fees in late 2024, slashing what was once often a $1,000+ one-way surcharge down to as low as $250. This new shift to a flat fee feels like a reversal in the wrong direction, and (true to form for Virgin Atlantic) it happened overnight and without warning.
Sure, these fees are still lower than the $1,000+ levels we saw pre-2024. But the sudden nature of the hike, especially after multiple transfer bonuses encouraged people to move points into Virgin Flying Club, feels like a bait-and-switch.
While there is still definite value in the Virgin Atlantic program, once you factor in these changes any points sweet spot is far less sweet when you’re facing $1,200+ roundtrip fees on top of the miles required.
If you booked before today, your ticket is safe, but any new bookings will carry the heavyweight surcharge. With transatlantic award space still tight this summer, Virgin once again makes clear that miles are always a depreciating asset and that it cannot be trusted.
CONCLUSION
Virgin Atlantic took another step backward by doubling its award ticket fees without notice for premium cabin redemptions. Thankfully, mileage pricing has not risen (yet) and still offers value compared to previous surcharges. But the swift shift to a $586 screening cost is probably a good indicator of what is to come with mileage pricing. Is the program still a bargain? In some cases, yes, but less so now than before. And what little trust was left is gone now.
The problem is not the higher cost itself, which is bad but still better than a year ago, but the lack of notice…and the greed. We’ve seen this before with Virgin Atlantic so it is not a total surprise, but I’m still calling out Virgin Atlantic for this bait-and-switch practice…respect is a two-way street and passengers deserve better than seeing their value of their existing points wither overnight without any warning.
Still a decent deal if flying from JFK or BOS as the only cities I have even seen the 29K business class to LHR are those 2 cities . Still a pretty greedy move so soon after lowering the costs late last year. I was planning to do another speculative transfer out of membership rewards at the next bonus, but thise plans are shelved for now.
There used to be some good saver availability on MAN-ATL, no sure whether it’s still the case.
Seems like a return to points + cash upgrade awards.
I’m trying to work out the implications for the non-US routes, although there are too few of those. My preference would be to use their points on AFKL awards and possibly other Skyteam options, but I do get some upgrade vouchers through their credit card and it’s a shame having them go to waste.
Just checked a random date JFK-LHR for business class one way
Virgin is 37,000 miles plus their surcharge while Delta are 185,000 miles.
How much would it cost to get that many miles, or Sky Pesos, on Delta.
Even with the increased surcharges Virgin awards can be a decent deal sometimes compared to other options.
I was happy to use the last of my Delta SkyMiles for a round trip to LHR in Delta One a while back when Delta was having one of their rare sales.
I’ve been tracking miles required for May 2026 JFK-LHR and Premium Econ required miles have doubled and tripled. Many days were at 10500 now none are. This has happened in the last couple of days. Writing this on July 9th.