Review of the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America
("Card issued by FIA Card Services, N.A.")

The Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America was last reviewed on 5th January 2009

Summary - Bank of America has two Virgin Atlantic Cards that is specifically targeted by Virgin's frequent flyers who reside in the US. There are two cards : the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card - Black and the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card - White. These cards allow the Virgin frequent flyer to earn more points when they use the card to buy their tickets. Let's explore both these cards.

Miles Formula - Black Card Verson - Unlike most other airline credit cards, the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America allows you to earn 3 miles for every dollar that you spend on Virgin Atlantic purchases. You also earn 1.5 miles for every dollar that you spend on other regular purchases. This contrast with other airline credit cards where you only double miles for airline ticket purchases and the regular 1 mile for every dollar you spend on other regular stuff. You can earn unlimited miles

Bonus Miles And Anniversary Bonus - Black Card Version - After your first purchase on the card, you will get 20,000 bonus miles. After every anniversary on your card, you will also receive anniversary bonus miles. If you spend more than $15,000 (but less than $25,000), you will receive 7,500 bonus anniversary miles. If you spend more than $25,000, you will receive 15,000. Furthermore, you will receive 2,500 bonus miles for every supplementary card holder (up to 1). So theoretically, you can earn up to 40,000 bonus miles during your first year as a card holder.

Companion Ticket - If you spend $25,000 in a year, you will be able to get a companion ticket that only requires half of the regular miles.

Virgin Tier Point - Card holders can earn one Virgin Tier Point for every $2,500 they spend a month on their card. They can earn up to $5,000 of spending a month or (2 Tier Pioints a month, 24 Tier Points a year).

Miles Formula - White Card Verson - The Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America - White Card Version allows you to earn 3 miles for every dollar that you spend on Virgin Atlantic purchases. Unlike the Black Card version, you earn 1 mile for every dollar that you spend on other regular purchases. You can earn unlimited miles

Bonus Miles And Anniversary Bonus - White Card Version - After your first purchase on the card, you will get 12,500 bonus miles. After every anniversary on your card, you will also receive anniversary bonus miles. If you spend more than $5,000 (but less than $15,000), you will receive 2,500 bonus anniversary miles. If you spend more than $15,000, you will receive an additional 5,000 points making it a total of 7,500 points. Furthermore, you will receive 2,500 bonus miles for every supplementary card holder (up to 2). So theoretically, you can earn up to 22,500 bonus miles during your first year as a card holder.

Companion Ticket - Like the Black version, if you spend $25,000 in a year, you will be able to get a companion ticket that only requires half of the regular miles.

Annual Fee and APR - The Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America - Black has a $90.00 annual fee. The annual fee for the White Version is $49.00. The APR is prime rate plus 8.99%. The average daily balance method (including new purchases) is used to calculate the monthly balance. New card holders get a 0% offer for six billing cycles on balance transfers, check cash advances and direct deposits.

Verdict - The Virgin Atlantic American Express® Cards from Bank of America are one of the better airline credit cards because they actually allow card holders to earn 3 miles for every dollar they spend on Virgin Atlantic purchases (many airline credit cards do no even allow you to earn double miles!). You can also earn unlimited miles and the anniversary bonuses are pretty generous. Whether you choose the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card - Black or the Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card - White depends on how frequent do you fly on Virgin Atlantic Airways and how much you spend on your card. But either ways, we recommend both to the frequent flyers of Virgin Atlantic.

Alternative - For those who are members of the Virgin program and a few others, (or just fly Virgin Airways occasionally), you may want to consider the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express. This is because the Starwood program lets you transfer Starwood points to Virgin miles at a one for one ratio. You also get 5,000 bonus miles for every 20,000 points that you transfer. You can also transfer points to 30 airline partners (most at a one for one ratio). The annual fee of $45 is also very reasonable.

Positives