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On February 12, Virgin Atlantic announced loyalty program reciprocity, allowing customers flying either airline to credit their miles to WestJet or Virgin Atlantic. On the redemption side, the most interesting opportunity is redeeming Virgin points for WestJet flights at a reasonable price. The roll-out, however, has been janky at best. This adds to the ways WestJet can be booked with points, along with Air France KLM Flying Blue and Delta SkyMiles.
Virgin Atlantic points can be earned only through U.S. credit cards. Most major banks will transfer at a 1:1 ratio with transfer bonuses up to 40%.
Earn Virgin Points When Flying WestJet
Although you can continue to credit WestJet flights to WestJet Rewards, I would now list my Virgin Atlantic number instead, as Virgin Atlantic is a much more useful currency for redeeming for premium cabin flights. For example, I redeemed 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points last September for LATAM business class on Lima-New York JFK this July.
Comparatively, WestJet Rewards has a fixed value of 1 cent per point and cannot be used to gain any outsized value. If you are going for WestJet elite status, of course, you will need to credit flights to WestJet.
Here is the earning chart when flying WestJet and crediting to Virgin Atlantic:
For full details, head to the Virgin Atlantic website.
Redeeming Virgin Points on WestJet
Here is where things get more exciting (in theory): you can now redeem Virgin Atlantic points on WestJet flights. There is currently an issue booking WestJet flights with Virgin and awards are not bookable online.
I’ve tried the Virgin phone line 3 times over the past 7 days, but haven’t been successful. That said, there are scattered data points online of someone managing to push a booking through by phone. If you managed to book WestJet with your Virgin points, please let me know in the comments!
There is a fixed award depending on cabin and distance. The chart below shows one-way prices.
Quickly hopping to Great Circle Mapper, we can verify the price for a one-way flight in economy:
- Calgary-Vancouver: 6,000 points
- Calgary-Toronto: 15,000 points
- Calgary-Halifax: 17,500 points
But what’s more interesting is being able to redeem for WestJet’s international routes, such as London, Tokyo, or Seoul.
Rates could be decent, but remember Virgin’s chart is charged per segment:
- Ottawa-Calgary-Tokyo: 42,500 points one-way in economy (15,000 for Ottawa-Calgary and 27,500 for Calgary-Tokyo)
- Vancouver-Calgary-London: 33,500 points one-way in economy (6,000 for Vancouver-Calgary and 27,500 for Calgary-London)
I’ve only listed the economy price because while Virgin lists business class prices, I have yet to see WestJet release business class award space to partners. When the Virgin and WestJet partnership officially launched a few weeks ago, we were able to search for WestJet on the Virgin Atlantic website, but no business class awards were available.
Search results on February 12. Awards are not available online at the moment. Screenshot by Taurus25-YOW
Takeaway
When flying with either Virgin Atlantic or WestJet, points can be credited to either program. On the redemption side, the most interesting opportunity is redeeming Virgin points for WestJet flights. Currently, WestJet is only releasing award space in economy.
There’s currently an issue preventing awards from showing up on the Virgin website and you might have better luck on the phone (at least Virgin Atlantic agents are so nice). Redemption rates are fairly decent, especially if you earn Virgin Atlantic points via a transfer bonus.
