Discover how to get five tickets for the price of one with miles or points—or 73% off with cash if you don’t have any—and you’ll never look at Delta miles the same way again or normal published fares.
In our last two Upgrade Advisor reports, FCF drilled deep down on what we call the Delta-Virgin Amex-Chase Loophole. It’s all about using Virgin Atlantic miles for Delta flights (instead of Delta Miles) because they open up low-cost award space not offered by Delta.
Why It’s A Game Changer
It’s a game changer because using miles on Delta for low-cost awards was like winning a lottery, given they release so few low-cost mileage seats.
Sure, there are full price options using Delta miles between 300,000 and 600,000 miles in Business Class but that just goes against the grain here at FCF.
This month we look at the loophole from the perspective of short-notice travel to Asia, and how you can use Virgin Atlantic miles to get there.
When Being Short-Sighted
is Actually Being Long-Sighted
Retirees, business owners and other flexible travelers with their eye on the short-term have an advantage: they can move on a good deal fast. (We wrote about it in a previous report here, including two travel paradoxes that have always fascinated me.) That’s because very often, the best free Business Class award availability often opens up a week or less before a departure date.
In this report, we’re talking close-in availability wins to Asia, and oh how the numbers stack up in your favor if your bags are waiting at the door and you’re ready to fly.
If not, maybe they should be – read on…
Example: Atlanta – Shanghai
The savings you’ll realize can be extraordinary as in this example that can save you 180,000 to 300,000 miles, each way.
The screenshot below from April 30 shows one-way space using Virgin Atlantic miles when traveling on short-notice from Atlanta to Shanghai.
There’s a clump of great short-notice deals on offer that’ll only cost you 60,000 miles one-way with Virgin Atlantic miles flying Delta.
Try to book the same flight using Delta miles and you’ll pay between 240,000 and 360,000 miles as shown in this screenshot:
The next screenshot below was also taken on April 30. At a glance you can see lots of affordable availability for the near future when using Virgin Atlantic miles on Delta flights based on a round-trip ticket Atlanta–Shanghai.
But, push out further into the future and it all disappears for both departure and return trips. So, what does this tell us? To make the most of the loophole, we’ve got to have those bags packed and be ready to pounce when the opportunity is there.
As well as that short-notice availability, the cost is only 120,000 miles round-trip when booked using Virgin Atlantic miles, instead of booking with Delta miles (when, you’ll recall, you’re paying between 240,000 and 360,000 miles!) See why we called it a loophole?
It’s kinda loopy.
Happy recap: A round-trip short-notice ticket booked using Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Delta for Atlanta-Shanghai will cost you 120,000 miles, plus $36 in taxes. That same ticket using Delta miles would be 600,000 miles for the same dates, plus $36 in taxes. Calculator please: that’s 5 times the cost.
I mean, would you rather pay this…
How To Land this Awesome Loophole
Not all routes can be booked online with Virgin Atlantic because its booking engine doesn’t have all Delta routes loaded (don’t ask us why). So, you may need to call Virgin (800-365-9500) to check for Delta partner space on some routes.
Non-stop Delta routes that can be booked using Virgin Atlantic miles online for travel to Asia:
To/From Atlanta: Shanghai, Tokyo
To/From Detroit: Beijing, Nagoya, Shanghai, Tokyo
To/From Los Angeles: Shanghai, Tokyo
To/From Minneapolis: Tokyo
To/From Portland: Tokyo
To/From Seattle: Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo
Non-stop Delta routes that can be booked using Virgin Atlantic miles by phone for travel to Asia:
To/From Atlanta: Seoul
To/From Detroit: Seoul
To/From Minneapolis: Seoul
To/From Seattle: Osaka, Seoul
KEEP IN MIND: the main downside to using Virgin Atlantic miles is that you can only use them for Delta’s non-stop routes. All connecting flights would require you to purchase a second mileage ticket. In this case, it still might be a good idea to just buy a separate ticket to the gateway to be able to take advantage of the Virgin opportunity.
The math on that is pretty easy: pay 600,000 using Delta miles or 120,000 with Virgin Atlantic. It still gives you a ton of miles to get a second ticket, or depending how far your gateway from Delta’s non-stop flight is, just buy a ticket with cash.
And the same also holds true if you’re traveling beyond Delta’s non-stop route to another destination in Asia—use the Virgin loophole to get to Asia, then plan to get a second mileage ticket or buy a ticket to get to your final destination.
Getting Virgin Atlantic Miles Fast
Credit Card Partnerships: Virgin Atlantic has more credit card point transfer partners than Delta (Amex Rewards, Chase, Citi, and Starwood/Marriott). Delta only has two (Amex Rewards and Starwood/Marriott).
Don’t have any Amex points? No problem.
You can buy up to 500,000 points annually at a cost of 2.5¢ each. Using this approach, buying 120,000 Amex Rewards points and then transferring them to Virgin brings the ticket cost down to $3,036 (including award taxes). To put this in perspective, a published Business Class ticket on Delta from Atlanta to Shanghai is $7,000 to $11,000 r/t; so even by purchasing the Amex Rewards points and transferring to Virgin Atlantic you’re saving between $4,000 and $8,000 (57% to 73%).
For more on How to Buy American Express Membership Rewards Points, go here, and for more on When to Buy Miles Instead of Purchasing a Normal Published Fare, go here.
Be a Last-Minute Opportunist
If you have something already booked with Delta or another airline at a much higher cost using miles, cancel your booking and redeposit your miles, even if you have to pay a few hundred dollars to do it (the cost varies by airline mileage program). It’ll be well worth it, considering the savings short-notice opportunities can offer which were not available when you booked that original mileage ticket months in advance. Just check with the airline before you do so as restrictions on airline tickets vary.