We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Monkey Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Virgin Atlantic devalues ANA award chart
Silent but deadly is usually how my friends describe being around me after I eat dairy ( I am, at best, lactose sensitive ). But, this time around, it’s how I like to describe program devaluations without notice…someone releases a stench into the air and it goes without notice until someone smells it. The fine people over at Thrifty Traveler smelled it, and pointed their fingers right at the culprit: Virgin Atlantic.
Look, no one likes a devaluation, but dropping one without notice is just plain disrespectful and stinks. To be fair…the redemption was arguably the best deal in the sky, and people have been calling for its devaluation for a long, long time, and the hit wasn’t THAT bad. It could be way, way worse, and at least for the time being, only affects first class. The business class redemption is still in tact. Let’s take a look.
Compare the Old and New Virgin Atlantic award charts for ANA
You’ll see it will take 30 to 40% more points to fly First Class from the mainland USA to Japan now.
| New Virgin Atlantic ANA | Old Virgin Atlantic ANA |
East Coast
|
East Coast
|
West Coast
|
West Coast
|
Hawaii
|
Hawaii
|
Here is a look at the full Old Virgin Atlantic Award Chart for ANA
As you can see, the prices within Asia were pretty cheap as well and that has definitely changed.
The New Virgin Atlantic Award chart for ANA
You can see here that prices went from 80k roundtrip Japan ot Southeast Asia to 105k. Roughly 30% rise in prices.
Overall
Nobody likes devaluations, and certainly people don’t like the lack of communication. But, it could have been WAY worse, and business class, thus far, is unaffected.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. 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.