I recently wrote about my upcoming trip to Japan and Maldives (review) and I booked Virgin Atlantic to return to the US from Maldives.
Maldives to JFK Flights
Virgin Atlantic business class flights from the Maldives to JFK via London require 115K points and taxes of $674 per person (see image below).
The price for the same flight after the switch to dynamic pricing (for points and taxes)
The points requirement went up by 5 times to 700,000 and surprisingly even the tax went up by $325 USD (see image below).
JFK to Delhi flights
Since the devaluation of Turkish Miles & Smiles, I have not seen a premium cabin redemption this low to travel from the US to India via London (see images below).
JFK to London flights
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw plenty of award availability for Upper Class seats from JFK to LHR for a mere 37K points and $254 taxes (see image below). This makes Virgin Club’s dynamic pricing even better than the Flying Blue for this particular route.
Boston to London flights
Atlanta to London flights
There is an upward change in both the points and tax requirement on this route (see image below).
Miami to London flights
There is an upward change in both the points and tax requirement on this route similar to Atlanta (see image below).
Does this affect Flying Blue Virgin Atlantic Redemption?
Flying Blue Virgin redemptions seem to be of the same value compared to past redemptions (see image below).
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club beats out Flying Blue for the JFK-LHR route with 50% fewer miles and the same taxes.
Changes to Virgin Flying Club Cancellation Fees
The new prices are $100 for outbound flights from the U.S. and 70 GBP for inbound flights from the U.K. You have the option to forfeit taxes if they are of a lesser value compared to the cancellation fee.
Conclusion
While I am happy that I booked this award redemption before the switch to dynamic pricing, I can’t help but wonder why taxes would increase from this change. This is the first time we have seen a dynamic tax pricing from an airline. However, it is a welcome change that points & taxes have gone down by a lot on nonstop flights from the U.S. to London (for advanced booking). Only time will tell if these changes will turn out to be as good as Flying Blue’s dynamic award pricing.