Citi has announced a 30% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club from March 22, 2026, through April 18th, 2026.
We’ve got all of the current transfer bonuses covered in our ThankYou Points transfer bonuses article.
Quick take: 30% transfer bonus to a highly usable program
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
30% isn’t the highest transfer bonus that we’ve seen to Virgin Atlantic lately—I used a 40% bonus last year to book a family trip to Europe. But it is the highest transfer bonus currently available.
Generally, I’m finding myself using Virgin Atlantic points more and more—and that’s because the program offers plenty of uses for family travel in coach to Europe that end up being cheaper than my previous favorite program, Flying Blue, on this route.
Is this a good enough bonus to transfer speculatively? Doubtful… although I hesitate to say that because I recently burned A LOT of Virgin points on a business class flight on Kenya Airways and, had I transferred speculatively, I could have saved myself some points. But, then again, that’s like wishing that I had bought Apple stock in the early 2000s. In every case, if you’ve got current uses for Virgin Atlantic points, transfer them from Citi.
How I’ve used Virgin Atlantic miles
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Virgin Atlantic Flying Club in the last few years. It has been a program that has been useful for both business and coach tickets internationally.
The redemption that everyone always talks about with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, of course, is using the miles for Delta One across the Atlantic. But I’ve never actually booked that. Here’s what I have booked with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club:
- Kenya to the U.S. in business class on Kenya Airways: Later in 2026, I’ll be flying back to the U.S. from Kenya on Kenya Airways for 140,000 points and $612. That’s a bit more than I’d like to pay, but flights to/from Africa are expensive and hard to book, so I consider this a win. And I’m getting to fly the flag carrier of the country I’m visiting for about the same price as a coach ticket, when you consider cash back redemptions as my alternative.
- U.S. domestic coach on Delta: In early 2026, I booked a round trip from Minneapolis (MSP) to Dallas (DFW) in Main Cabin on Delta for 22,000 miles, plus $12 in fees. Delta wanted 35,200 miles (41,600 miles without a credit card), plus $12 in fees for the same flight. The cash price of the same ticket was $467.
- U.S. to Europe, plus intra-Europe flight in coach on KLM: In 2025, I took my family of 5 to Europe, including a flight within Europe, for about 180,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, plus about $1,100 in cash. Admittedly, this was a transfer from Ultimate Rewards, since that program had a transfer bonus at the time, but I ended up using about 140,000 bank points… not bad, considering what I got.
- New Zealand to U.S. in business class on Air New Zealand: In 2023, I used Virgin Atlantic points to book Auckland, New Zealand to Houston in business class. The receipt in my email looks like I paid 125,000 points + $92 for two tickets. That might win the award for the best redemption I’ve ever done.
