Review of Virgin Atlantic Credit Card
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Editor's Rating: 4.2/5.0
A card targeted to the Trans-Atlantic flyer who prefers Virgin Atlantic to British Airways. One of the rare cards that allow you to earn triple points, which might come in handy for that business class upgrade which comes with the free limousine ride and free in-flight therapy.
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Intro Purchase APR | Regular APR | Intro Balance Transfer | Annual Fee | Issuer | Credit Needed |
N.A. | $90 | Bank of America | Excellent |
Feature Summary
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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® 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 $65 is also very reasonable.
The American Express® Premier Rewards Gold Card is another card to consider if you want to earn Virgin miles because Virgin is part of the Membership Rewards program. What is cool about this card is that like the Virgin card, you can earn triple miles when you buy an airline ticket. Furthermore, you earn double miles on gas spending. The annual fee of $175 is higher, but remember that Amex has more airline partners.
Positives
- Earn triple miles
- Earn unlimited miles
Virgin Atlantic American Express® Card from Bank of America | |
Miles Formula | |
Miles per Dollar |
1.5 miles for Black Version 1 mile for White Version |
Miles per Dollar spent on Virgin Atlantic Purchases | 3 miles |
Yearly Limit on Miles you can earn | None |
Bonus Miles |
After First Purchase (Black) : 20,000 Miles After First Purchase (White) : 12,500 Miles |
Other Bonus Miles | Additional 2,500 Miles when you add a supplementary card holder |
Anniversary Bonus Miles |
Up to 10,000 anniversary bonus miles - Black Version Up to 7,500 anniversary bonus miles - White Version |
Perks/Notation* | |
Various Internet account related services. Up to $1,000,000 in travel accident insurance Auto rental insurance Extended warranty protection Various travel and emergency assistance services Medical referral services Legal referral services Lost luggage recovery Emergency airline ticket replacement No liability for unauthorized Internet transactions Optional personal photo on card Discounts on auto rentals Optional Mini Card See website for additional benefits |
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Cost/Fees/Interest rates | |
(APR) Purchase | Rate - Variable risk based rate is Prime + 8.99% |
(APR) Balance Transfer | Rate - Variable risk based rate is P + 8.99% |
(APR) Cash Advance | Rate - Variable risk based rate is P + 15.99% |
Finance Configuration | Average Daily Balance (including new purchases) |
Annual Fee |
$90.00 - Black Version $49.00 - White Version |
Additional Cardholders | $0 |
Grace Period | 20 days (Min) |
Late Payment fee | Based on Account balance on the fee assessment date - $15 for balances less than or equal to $100, $29 for balances $100.01 to $250, $39 for balances greater than $250. |
Over-the-limit fee | Based on the highest Account balance during the Billing Cycle - $15 for balances less than or equal to $500, $29 for balances $500.01 to $1000, $39 for balances greater than $1000. |
Cash Advance fee | 3% min $10.00 |
Balance Transfer fee | 3% min $10.00 |
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