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Capital One Transfer bonus: 30% to Virgin Red through 4/30/24
Capital One has brought back their 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Red. If you’re unfamiliar with Virgin Red it’s the umbrella rewards program of the Virgin group, so if you have Virgin Atlantic miles and link your account, you’ll have Virgin Red points. They’re essentially interchangeable, but Virgin Red has a ton more redemptions options since it’s open to cruises, hotels, and even safaris. We have added this to our current list of transfer bonuses. Let’s take a look!
Using Virgin Red to book Virgin Atlantic with miles
Virgin Red and Virgin Atlantic miles are one in the same after you link accounts, but all of the redemption pricing is still in Virgin Atlantic miles.
Virgin Atlantic is a very sleek, sexy, and stylish way to fly. The biggest problem? The surcharges are just outrageous. With that being said, Virgin committed in 2022 to release 2 award seats per flight. So… you can often find award space and if you’re booking last minute flights, it’s still a good deal when comparing to cash rates ( most of the time ).
I’ve flown the A350 many times and it’s a very solid product. My biggest gripe is the lack of storage in the seat, so personally I prefer other carriers, but I still fly it usually once or twice a year since we travel to London quite often. A new seat to keep an eye on is the A330-neo which offers their latest seat configuration and seems like a nice improvement. Avoid the old A330s tho…a quite inferior business class.
The A350-1000 on Virgin Atlantic
Let’s look at the Delta Suite 47k option.
I was fortunate enough to book this deal from London to Atlanta last year – it’s a bit of a unicorn booking so don’t count on finding it consistently.
You can also use Virgin Red for cruises, hotels, and safaris
Personally, I think the real value is utilizing them for flights, specifically on partners, but even when paying the surcharges for Virgin Atlantic flights you’re getting pretty good value. One thing I would highlight, in 2023 we’ve seen Virgin Red promote their cruises. There are 7 and 8 nights cruises in the Caribbean or Mediterranean for 100k points for 2 people. That’s 77k Capital One Miles for a week long vacay – I’m sure you’re going to spend some money too on add-ons, etc – but a pretty good deal all around if you ask me.
Regarding the cruises the terms say: “As for digs, you’ll be kicking back in The Sea Terrace (or Limited View Sea Terrace, depending on availability).”
I did some perusing and this is the price for a sea terrace for 8 nights in the caribbean, what you could presumably book with Virgin Red
Overall
A lot of people have added the Capital One Venture X or Capital One Venture Rewards to their wallet over the past couple years when bonuses have ranged between 75k and 100k. There are a lot of interesting redemptions options on Virgin Red that could turn your miles into a very luxurious trip.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.