Virgin Atlantic Raises Fees On Award Bookings

Intro

When Virgin Atlantic changed to dynamic award bookings last year, the whole points and miles world was sort of shook for many different reasons. Some dates charged 150K+ miles for a one-way to Europe, while other dates were simply 29,000 miles+280 ish USD.

Well, that has now changed, as Virgin Atlantic has sort of reverted to old ways.

The Details

A couple of days ago, Virgin Atlantic quietly raised the taxes needed to book a ticket on Virgin Atlantic Metal (keep in mind this is for Virgin Atlantic Metal only). Where you used to be able to find reasonable taxes and fees coming out to about 255$, this has now been raised to 586 USD in Business Class.

This is not that bad... let me explain

In addition, we have seen premium economy taxes rise to 240$, and economy awards rise to 111 USD.

Keep in mind that before Virgin Atlantic went dynamic, taxes (and fees) were significantly higher at about 1000 USD one-way, pure absurdity, and right in line with British Airways.

Why This Isn't The End Of The World

In an ideal world, one would love to be able to pick and choose any flight of the week in business class, and fly to London on Virgin Atlantic for 29,000 miles+255 USD.

Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world...

With the points and miles industry becoming extremely oversaturated, and credit cards making so much money from this, airlines have had to adjust their strategy. If customers can't book flights, and airlines can still sell these fares with higher fees, then why not?

Because honestly, this will dissuade many from using Virgin Atlantic, and I am fine with that. Award travel to some is the ability to book a last-minute award when needed, and at a half-reasonable cost. If Virgin has something available for 29K miles and 585 USD in fees compared to 6000, I am taking the miles option in a heartbeat. Now, is this good for people who plan a honeymoon a year out when schedules open? Probably not...

So my opinion might not resonate with everyone, but more money=less demand, and less demand=more seats available.

Final Thoughts

Virgin Atlantic has quietly raised how much taxes and fees they charge when flying on their own metal going forward. From now on, the fees have basically doubled, leaving people upset about what the airline has done. In an ideal world, this would never happen, but the points and miles world is less than ideal at the moment. In my opinion, this is a smart move by the airline and a way to keep making money. There is still great value to be had; you just have to poke around.