Collectors of Amex, Citi, and Chase Points can get Business Class for 28,000 miles / 22% LESS than coach
If you’ve been following FCF for a while, you know how much we love our Delta Detour Upgrade Strategy. It means using partner Virgin Atlantic miles to book Delta flights for far less than Delta itself charges for the same flights.
However, back in 2021, things sadly went south for this idea. Delta availability using Virgin Atlantic miles virtually dried up, which effectively killed our favorite FCF Delta loophole.
We’ve been excited to follow every twist, turn, or insight from this strategy’s soap opera ever since FCF’s research team discovered it — as you can see by how much we’ve written about it: Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. That’s a lot of here-say!
In January this year, we predicted availability would come back, which went against conventional thinking. A big part of FCF’s Upgrade Mindset is to keep an open, hopeful outlook for the future – which has paid off in this case.
Happily, at the time of this writing, Delta award availability to Europe using Virgin Atlantic miles had started to return, as shown in the screenshots below, which is great news for travelers willing to be flexible.
Note, however, that award space comes and goes, so keep your eye out for the best deals and be ready to pull the trigger. If the itinerary does not meet all your requirements, you can always upgrade closer to your travel date.
This is the one strategy where you can get Business Class flights to Europe for just 100,000 miles round-trip through Delta’s partner Virgin Atlantic (an Amex, Chase, and Citi points-to-miles partner) on Delta flights when Delta charges 500,000 to 750,000 miles for the same ones.
That’s up to 90% off.
Said another way, that’s between five and 10 tickets for the price of one when you consider mile transfer bonuses.
Delta’s Hot for a Partner
It seems crazy, doesn’t it? Those miles bought through Delta’s partner would get better treatment on Delta’s own flights than those bought through Delta. It seems like they really took those partnership vows to heart: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, to love and to cherish… Indeed, Delta is really loving and cherishing Virgin Atlantic right now. Meanwhile, Delta loyalists are worse off, and poorer.
Here’s a closer look at what we’ve been seeing.
When traveling close-in, Delta charges 375,000 for a one-way flight from New York to Zurich. Virgin Atlantic charges 50,000 one-way for the same flight, on the same day.
Typical Delta One-Way Cost Within 60 Days of Travel
Virgin Atlantic One-Way Cost for the Same Dates
Not only is there a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between those costs, but there’s also better availability at the lower price on a handful of routes for up to four travelers. For a family of four, that translates to saving over 2,400,000 miles on a round-trip.
When traveling further out, Delta typically charges 250,000 to 270,000 for a one-way flight from New York to Zurich. Virgin Atlantic still charges 50,000 one way on many of the same days during the month of March — still over a million miles saved.
Typical Delta One-Way Cost Beyond 60 Days Out
Virgin Atlantic One-Way Cost for the Same Dates
FCF’s Sweet Redeems Survey: Delta Flights Using Virgin Miles Treasure Map
Amazing, right? Anything deal-worthy when it comes to Delta is good news because it’s so rare. Trust our truffle hounds to keep digging up these treats. Here are the routes we recently found with availability.
New York to / from Brussels
New York to/from Frankfurt
New York to/from Zurich
Other Important Points to Remember When Using Virgin Atlantic Miles on Delta Flights
No Miles? No Problem!
Virgin Atlantic has more credit card point transfer partners (Amex Rewards, Chase, and Citi) than Delta. Delta only has Amex Rewards.
You can buy Amex Membership Reward points for 2.5 cents each and transfer them to Virgin Atlantic. Check out how to buy American Express Membership Rewards points, and FCF’s beginner’s guide: how to play the “Buy Miles to Fly In Style”.
For even more savings over Delta’s 750,000 miles, Virgin Atlantic and Amex Membership Rewards offer transfer bonuses periodically. Their most recent bonus was 30%. This brings the cost down to 77,000 Virgin Atlantic miles round-trip for a net savings of 673,000, or 90%.
Meanwhile, Delta’s co-branded credit cards never offer transfer bonuses. What is it about Delta and loyalty?
Connecting Flights
When booking a connecting flight, we usually recommend first checking each segment separately, starting with the most important over-the-water flight. You can add a connection to your nonstop route using Virgin miles on Delta from most U.S. cities (depending on availability). But be aware that you’ll have to spend more miles to add these connecting flights. A one-way domestic (non-transcontinental) connection up to 1,000 miles will cost 27,500 more Virgin miles, and a one-way domestic transcontinental connection will cost you 52,500 more Virgin miles.
Now let’s apply this to an actual itinerary. Suppose you want to fly to Paris, but you live in Austin. The Atlanta-Paris flight can be as low as 50,000 Virgin miles one way, while Delta often charges 320,000 miles each way. The Austin-to-Atlanta flight will cost 27,500 miles one way for a total of 77,500 miles (Austin-Atlanta-Paris) one way. Anyone can easily grab these points with Amex, Chase, or Citi points-to-miles transfer. Or just get your connecting flight in cash.
Mileage Award Taxes
Virgin Atlantic charges the same taxes as Delta for flights to Europe, except when traveling to London. But the three routes we highlighted here are to other destinations, so you can ignore London for now.
Last Word
And there you have it. The good news headline is that the Delta Detour Upgrade Strategy is back. All completely above board, and anybody can do it. Including you.
Dare we say we expect to see more routes coming in the near future?
In the meantime, see you up front.