Redeem Virgin Atlantic Miles for KLM or AirFrance Flights

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Booking AirFrance or KLM operated flights with Virgin Atlantic miles may require less miles than what AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue requires for their own flights.

Virgin Atlantic is based in the UK, but their frequent flyer program is good for flights all over the world!  Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is an important program to consider because you can transfer both of my favorite currencies, Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, to Flying Club. Then you can use Virgin Atlantic Flying club miles to book flights operated by Virgin Atlantic or their partner airlines.

Virgin Atlantic has changed the name of frequent flyer miles from Flying Club miles to Virgin Points. I’ll try to stick with Virgin Points, but if you see a reference to Flying Club miles in older posts, it’s the same thing.

As of March 2023, Virgin Atlantic is part of Sky Team.  There are also a few non-alliance partners.  This post will focus on KLM and AirFrance, but here are Virgin Atlantic Flying Club’s other partner airlines:

Earning Virgin Points is easy

The best credit card rewards points are bank points that transfer to airline and hotel programs. You can transfer points from these programs to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club at a 1:1 ratio

• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• American Express Membership Rewards
• Citi ThankYou Rewards

Redeeming Virgin Points to book AirFrance or KLM flights is subject to availability

Using Virgin Points to book AirFrance or KLM flights can be a great value, but never transfer any points to Virgin Atlantic without first checking for availability.

• Most transfers are instant, so there is no need to transfer ahead
• Once you transfer your points to an airline partner, you’re subject to that airline’s award ticket policies and pricing. In other words, your Amex MR or Chase UR points become Virgin Points.
• You cannot transfer those miles back to Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards

Never transfer your points until you have confirmed that the ticket or tickets you’re trying to book are available for your date and destination.

Very important: KLM and AirFrance have a combined loyalty program called Flying Blue. I know, Flying Club and Flying Blue. It’s easy to mix up. I’ll try to type out “AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue” or “Virgin Atlantic Flying Club” rather than just Flying Club or Flying Blue. The name change from “Flying Club miles” to “Virgin Points” will help.

Also important: You can actually transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards (and Citi ThankYou Rewards and miles from the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card) directly to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. But I’ll explain why Virgin Atlantic is sometimes a better way to book flights operated by AirFrance and KLM.

The best way to check for availability is to search Virgin Atlantic’s website

You can create a free Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account to search.

KLM and AirFrance may make more seats available for KLM/AirFrance Flying Blue awards than they do for partner airline bookings, so finding a seat on their website does not mean that seat will be made available to book with Virgin Atlantic miles.

In other words, if you use the website of KLM or AirFrance to search, you may see a seat available to book with KLM/AirFrance miles. That seat may not be available to book with Virgin Points, though.

Award ticket pricing

The amount of points or miles you will need to redeem to book an award flight is determined by the program with which you are booking.

If you use Virgin Points to book an AirFrance or KLM flight, the amount of points you will need is determined by Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, not KLM/AirFrance’s program, Flying Blue. This is because you’re using Virgin Atlantic’s loyalty program, Flying Blue to book, not KLM/AirFrance’s program.

Most airline award ticket pricing models fall into one of 4 categories

1. Region/Zone based 
2. Distance-based
3. Fare-based
4. Dynamic pricing

Click here for more details about the different types of award ticket pricing, including advantages and disadvantages of each.

The amount of Virgin Points required for a Virgin Atlantic operated flight is going to be different than the amount of miles required for partner operated flights. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club has a different redemption chart for each airline partner.

Although KLM and AirFrance have separate charts on Virgin Atlantic’s website, they are exactly the same for economy and business class. The only difference is that KLM has no premium economy.

Long haul vs. short haul

When you use Virgin Points to book short-haul flights operated by KLM or AirFrance, the redemption price is calculated based on distance. This is mostly going to be intra-Europe routes.

For long-haul flights, the redemption price is zone-based. This means that a flight between any city within Zone X and any city within Zone Y requires a designated amount.

Peak vs. off-peak

There are peak and off peak (also called standard) dates for most routes.

Standard season travel dates:

• 26 April 2022 – 29 May 2022
• 6 June 2022 – 17 June 2022
• 5 September 2022 – 20 October 2022
• 2 November 2022 – 9 December 2022
• 5 January 2023 – 23 March 2023
• 18 April 2023 – 17 June 2023

Peak season travel dates:

• 1 April 2022 – 25 April 2022
• 30 May 2022 – 5 June 2022
• 18 June 2022 – 4 September 2022
• 21 October 2022 – 1 November 2022
• 10 – 31 December 2022
• 1 January 20233 – 4 January 2023
• 24 March 2023 – 17 April 2023
• 18 June 2023 – 30 June 2023

Change/cancellation fees on award tickets booked with Virgin Atlantic miles

The date of any flight scheduled to begin travel before 30^th April 2022 can be changed as many times as you need. Also, you can change the destination or make one name change. This is all free, which is great because change fees were previously $50 each.

Changes must be made before your scheduled departure dates, and new travel must begin by 30^th April 2023.

As with any award booking, changing to a new flight would be subject to availability. If you wish to make a change to a flight with a higher redemption cost, you would need to “pay” (redeem) the difference in miles.

Any award flight booked after March 3, 2021 would be subject to these new and improved policies.

Fuel Surcharges

You will have to pay fuel surcharges when redeeming Virgin Atlantic miles for flights operated by AirFrance or KLM. This may or may not be a deal breaker. It really just depends on the paid fare and what other options you have for any given route.

I actually have a whole post written about whether or not it makes sense to redeem miles if you have to pay high fuel surcharges. Click here to read the post.  

Short haul flights operated by AirFrance or KLM

Virgin Atlantic miles required for one-way flights operated by Air France or KLM:

How do these prices compare to other programs?

Another distance based program in Europe is British Airways. Just to give you an idea of how Virgin Atlantic’s chart stacks up to British Airways, here is British Airways Executive Club’s chart for flights operated by British Airways or Iberia.

To be clear, you cannot use British Airways Avios to book KLM and Air France flights. I’m just using British Airways to compare intra Europe award flight pricing.

You can see British Airways and Iberia’s full award charts here.

• Less than 600 miles (e.g. London to Paris) is very similar.
• 601-1249 miles (e.g. Amsterdam to Rome) is more with Virgin Atlantic.
• 1250-1749 (e.g. Paris to Athens) is also more with Virgin Atlantic.

The real value in the Virgin Atlantic and KLM/AirFrance partnership is going to be on long-haul flights.

The sweet spots for Virgin Atlantic redemptions on flights operated by AirFrance or KLM are going to be long haul flights

Virgin Atlantic’s chart for Air France

Since most of TMG’s audience is US based, I’m going to focus on US-Europe routes. But AirFrance and KLM serve several destinations around the world and may be useful for other routes.

Nonstop AirFrance or KLM routes between the US and Europe are going to be US-Paris (Air France) or US-Amsterdam (KLM). But even if neither Paris nor Amsterdam are your destination, you can connect to several European cities.

The best part is that connecting flights do not add to the redemption price. This is not always the case when you’re booking award travel. For example, if you use Virgin Atlantic miles to book a flight operated by Delta, a connecting flight would require more miles.

Long haul charts

All redemption prices below are for one-way flights. Roundtrip is double.

Virgin Atlantic miles required for one way economy flights operated by AirFrance or KLM

Economy off-peak

• Zone 1 (Western and Central Europe)
• Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa)
• Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia)
• Zone 4 (Central Africa)
• Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Indian Subcontinent)
• Zone 6 (East Coast North America & Caribbean)
• Zone 7 (West & Central North America and Central America)
• Zone 8 (South America)
• Zone 9 (Far Eastern Asia and Eastern Russia)
• Zone 10 (Oceania)

Economy Peak

Virgin Atlantic miles required for one way premium economy flights operated by AirFrance (premium economy is not available on KLM operated flights)

Premium economy off-peak

• Zone 1 (Western and Central Europe)
• Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa)
• Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia)
• Zone 4 (Central Africa)
• Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Indian Subcontinent)
• Zone 6 (East Coast North America & Caribbean)
• Zone 7 (West & Central North America and Central America)
• Zone 8 (South America)
• Zone 9 (Far Eastern Asia and Eastern Russia)
• Zone 10 (Oceania)

Premium economy peak

Business class off-peak

Virgin Atlantic miles required for one way business class flights operated by AirFrance or KLM

• Zone 1 (Western and Central Europe)
• Zone 2 (Eastern Europe and North Africa)
• Zone 3 (Middle East and Russia)
• Zone 4 (Central Africa)
• Zone 5 (Southern Africa, Indian Ocean and Indian Subcontinent)
• Zone 6 (East Coast North America & Caribbean)
• Zone 7 (West & Central North America and Central America)
• Zone 8 (South America)
• Zone 9 (Far Eastern Asia and Eastern Russia)
• Zone 10 (Oceania)

Business class peak

Fly between the US and Europe for a fraction of what other programs would require

Remember, these redemption prices are subject to availability.

I’m going to focus on Air France and KLM economy seats booked with Virgin Points. For US-Europe, there are better ways to book business class seats.

Houston to Vienna operated by Air France

This route on Air France would require a connection in Paris. But since connections do not add to the cost, we just need to figure out the zone of departure and the zone of arrival and then refer to the chart. Houston (IAH) would be zone 7 (central North America) and Vienna would be zone 1 (western and central Europe).

According to the chart, zone 1 to zone 7 requires 15,000 miles each way in economy for off-peak dates. The dates I am using for this example are off peak. For peak dates, the amount increases to 25,000 miles each way.

If you’re departing from an Eastern US airport, the amount required would be even less! Zone 1 to Zone 6 is only 12,000 each way in economy on off peak dates.

Houston to Europe is as low as 30,000 miles roundtrip

An AirFrance economy seat on a Houston to Vienna itinerary with a connection in Paris requires 30,000 Virgin Atlantic miles roundtrip. Of course, there is a catch, though.

The issue is the fuel surcharges. Fuel surcharges are about $400, but here is another way to look at it:

No one likes paying fuel surcharges, but if you think of the redemption as more of a cash and points type redemption, it doesn’t seem so bad when redemption costs are low. As you’ll see below, 50-60k points/miles or more roundtrip is typical for a US-Europe economy seat.

Also, this particular AirFrance operated flight on these dates is over $1000. The lowest priced flight on these dates is $888 so I’ll use that to calculate the value.

Paid Fare ($888) minus fees on the award ticket ($399)=$489

You’re redeeming 30k points for $489.

Convert to cents (489 x 100=48,900)

Divide by number of points to be transferred from Amex/Chase, etc (30,000)

48,900/30,000=1.63

Your cents per point value is 1.63, which is better than what you can redeem for using other redemption methods such as the portal or purchase eraser. When you redeem like that, you would get 1 cent per point with Amex Membership Rewards or Capital One Venture. Another way to look at it is that at a value of 1 cent per point, 30,0000 points would only be worth $300. With Chase Ultimate Rewards, you would get 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point in the portal, depending on which Chase Sapphire card you have. Either way, this redemption method is a better value.

I always suggest looking at your other transfer partner options for booking if you have flexible points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards, too. Virgin Atlantic is one of a few transfer partners with which you can book Delta operated flights.

Look at your alternatives using Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Amex Membership Rewards points:

IAH-Vienna on Air France booked with Air France Flying Blue miles:

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points or American Express Membership Rewards points directly to the program of AirFrance (Flying Blue). But Flying Blue has a different pricing system and redeeming Flying Blue miles for this route would require significantly more miles.

This is the EXACT same flight as the Virgin example above.

But booking it with AirFrance miles would require 50,500 miles plus ~$241 USD in fees. The fees are better than Virgin Atlantic but the amount of points required is significantly more.

The other option is to use Chase or Amex points as cash:

If you search for fares using google flights, prices are at least $1200 for IAH to Vienna on this date, and that’s looking at all airlines, not just this Air France flight. If the fare is $1200, you would need:

~120,000 Amex points (Amex points are worth 1 cent per point when you redeem them for flights at amextravel.com)

For more info about redeeming Amex Membership Rewards points at amextravel.com, click here.

or

~96,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the card_name card or card_name card (UR points are worth 1.25 cents per point if you have either of these cards and redeem the points through the Ultimate Rewards portal)

or

~80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the card_name card (Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.50 cent per point with this card if you redeem points through the Ultimate Rewards portal)

For more info about redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points at Ultimaterewards.com, click here.

To summarize, here are the options:

You can also look at other Chase and Amex transfer partners that can be used to book award flights operated by other airlines. I’m only considering the options for Air France flights here.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points:

• Pay $1200
• Redeem through the redemption portal for ~96,000 or ~80,000 points and no fees, depending on which card you have.
• Transfer Ultimate Rewards points to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. Total cost: 50,500 miles plus $241
• Transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Total cost: 30,000 miles plus $431

American Express Membership Rewards points

• Pay $1200
• Redeem through amextravel.com for ~120,000 points and no fees
• Transfer Membership Rewards points to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. Total cost: 50,500 miles plus $241
• Transfer Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Total cost: 30,000 miles plus $431

At the peak redemption prices, using Virgin Points would require 50k roundtrip instead of 30k. So in that case, you would probably want to go with Air France Flying Blue so that you can get the lower fuel surcharges. But for off-peak dates, even with high fuel surcharges, redeeming Virgin Atlantic miles for this route seems to be your best option in this case. It’s always good to check your other options when you have a flexible currency such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards.

IAH to Paris on Air France (nonstop)

AirFrance has a nonstop IAH-Paris route. IAH would be zone 7 (central North America) and Paris would be zone 1 (western and central Europe).

Zone 1 to zone 7 requires 15,000 miles each way in economy for off-peak dates. For peak dates, the amount increases to 25,000 miles each way.

IAH to Paris requires 30,000 Virgin Atlantic miles roundtrip for an economy off peak award seat.

Again, fuel surcharges are high. If you search for fares using google flights, prices are around $1,200 for nonstop IAH to Paris on this date. I’d rather redeem 30k points and pay $400 than save my points and pay $1,200. But again, I’ll show some other options.

Alternatives using Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Amex Membership Rewards points:

IAH-Paris on Air France booked with Air France Flying Blue miles:

58,000 miles plus ~$250 USD in fees. The fees are better but the amount of points required is almost double what Virgin Atlantic requires.

Flying Blue has some weird redemption pricing sometimes, and the nonstop flight is actually more than the flight to Vienna that includes this exact segment.

Using Chase or Amex points as cash:

If the fare is $1200, you would need:

~120,000 Amex points (Amex points are worth 1 cent per point when you redeem them for flights at amextravel.com)

For more info about redeeming Amex Membership Rewards points at amextravel.com, click here.

or

~96,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Chase Ink Business Preferred card (UR points are worth 1.25 cents per point if you have either of these cards and redeem the points through the Ultimate Rewards portal)

or

~80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card (Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.50 cent per point with this card if you redeem points through the Ultimate Rewards portal)

For more info about redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points at Ultimaterewards.com, click here.

To summarize, here are the options:

Chase Ultimate Rewards points:

• Pay $1,200, save your points
• Redeem through the redemption portal for ~96,000 or ~80,000 points and no fees, depending on which card you have.
• Transfer Ultimate Rewards points to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. Total cost: 58,000 miles plus $250
• Transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Total cost: 30,000 miles plus $404

American Express Membership Rewards points

• Pay $1,200, save your points
• Redeem through amextravel.com for ~120,000 points and no fees
• Transfer Membership Rewards points to AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue. Total cost: 58,000 miles plus $250
• Transfer Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Total cost: 30,000 miles plus $404

Atlanta to Amsterdam operated by KLM

KLM has a nonstop ATL-AMS route. ATL would be zone 6 (eastern North America) and AMS would be zone 1 (western and central Europe).

Zone 1 to zone 6 requires 12,000 miles each way in economy for off-peak dates. For peak dates, the amount increases to 22,000 miles each way.

Atlanta to Amsterdam requires 24,000 Virgin Atlantic miles roundtrip for an economy off peak award seat on a KLM itinerary.

Fuel surcharges are also high when redeeming Virgin Atlantic miles for a KLM operated flight. If you search for fares using google flights, prices are around $1,200 for nonstop Atlanta to Amsterdam on this date.

24,000 miles for a ticket that has a paid fare of $1,200 is a great deal, even if it means paying fuel surcharges.

Alternatives using Chase Ultimate Rewards points or Amex Membership Rewards points:

Atlanta to Amsterdam on KLM booked with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles:

58,000 miles plus ~$230 USD in fees. Fuel surcharges are more reasonable when you redeem AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue miles for flights operated by KLM. The fees are better but the amount of points required is significantly higher (more than double) than what Virgin Atlantic requires.

Final thoughts

It’s always nice to have flexible points such as Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards that give you several redemption options. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles may not always be the best partner to book flights operated by KLM or AirFrance, but it’s a good idea to look at all of your options.

Transatlantic flights are notorious for fuel surcharges when booked with certain airlines. No one likes paying fuel surcharges, but if you think of the redemption as more of a cash and points type redemption, it doesn’t seem so bad when redemption costs are low.

You cannot get around fuel surcharges when you use Virgin Atlantic miles to book flights to Europe operated by KLM, AirFrance, or Virgin Atlantic.  You can get around them by using Virgin Atlantic miles to book Delta flights, but you’re probably going to spend more miles.  

For more ways to get to Europe, check out the post about using Ultimate Rewards transfer partners for Europe flights.

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