Comenity is the issuer of the Virgin America credit cards, they currently offer the following two cards:
- Virgin America Visa Signature® Card (Black)
- Virgin America Premium Visa Signature® Card (White)
They are usually refer to the color of the card (black or white) to make distinguishing between the two easier. It’s possible to get double the sign up bonus on both of these cards, I’ll show you what these bonuses are, how to get them and some other details.
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Virgin America Visa Signature® Card (Black) – 20,000 Points
- Annual fee of $49 is not waived
- Receive a sign up bonus of 20,000 Virgin America points after $1,000 in spending (standard bonus is 10,000 points)
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 3x on all Virgin America purchases
- 1x on all other purchases
- $150 off a companion ticket every year
- First checked bag free
- 20% off in flight RED purchases (RED is their in flight entertainment system which you can also use to order snacks, meals, drinks and more. WiFi is excluded)
Virgin America Premium Visa Signature® Card (White) – 30,000 Points
- Annual fee of $149 is not waived
- Receive a sign up bonus of 30,000 Virgin America points after $1,000 in spending (standard bonus is 15,000 points)
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 3x on all Virgin America purchases
- 1x on all other purchases
- Earn 5,000 status points for every $10,000 in spend (limit of 15,000 points)
- No change or cancel fees
- $150 off a companion ticket every year
- First checked bag free
- 20% off in flight RED purchases (RED is their in flight entertainment system which you can also use to order snacks, meals, drinks and more. WiFi is excluded)
How To Get The Higher Sign Up Bonuses
The public sign up bonuses are 10,000 (black card) and 15,000 (white card). But as previously mentioned it’s possible to get bonuses of 20,00 (black card) and 30,000 (white card). Here’s the different ways to get these offers:
- Receive a targeted offer. Current targeted offers are valid until May 31st, 2015. To be eligible for a targeted offer you’ll need to be a Virgin America loyalty member
- Apply in flight. During Virgin America flights it’s possible to apply and get these higher sign up bonuses, it will usually be advertised if you join the WiFi network but you can always ask one of the flight staff and they should have paper applications as well.
- Third method. There is a third method which doesn’t require taking a flight or receiving a targeted offer, for some reason my brain is escaping me at the moment (and I stupidly didn’t save the idea when I came across it) but hopefully a read will be able to prompt me in the comments?
How Much Are Virgin America Points Worth?
The price of a Virgin America flight in points is directly related to the price in cash (e.g the more expensive the flight, the more points it’ll cost you and vice versa). You’ll usually be able to get around 2¢ per point, although this will depend on the route and what cabin you want to fly in.
Anyone have a working link for this?
The promotion ended already, you’ll have to wait for the next one.
I think the following link gets you the targeted offer:
https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/elevate-frequent-flyer/promotions/double-bonus-points-offer
I finally got the targeted emails today, and the offer ends 5/31. But when I clicked on the links to apply, the application page showed the lower 10k and 15k bonuses. When I messaged Virgin America on Twitter, this is what they said: “Hi there, we don’t see a VX CC attached to your Elevate account. Are you a Virgin America Visa card holder? In order to get the higher point bonus, you have to already be a VX card holder. Apologies for any confusion.”
Yeah the application also shows the lower 10k/15k bonuses, if you read the fine print it says if you were targeted then you’ll automatically receive the higher bonuses. Just take a screenshot of your targeted offer and then you can file a complaint if you don’t receive the higher bonus.
CSR via Twitter apologized for giving me wrong information regarding the targeted offer: “Hi there, I would like to apologize for the earlier info given. When you go to sign up for the card, you will be shown the regular point bonus for the card. However, as long as you sign up before tomorrow, upon approval, once you use the cc, the bonus points will be applied. Apologies again 4 the confusion, you are shown the regular bonus point amount on the web.”
I went ahead and applied for the Premium card and was instantly approved. I tried to also apply for the regular card at the same time, but that one went to pending. Do you know if VX cards are churnable and is there a minimum time period between applications (i.e. Citi’s 8 day policy)?
VX points are among the most underrated points currencies out there IMO. I frequently use them to fly business class on Virgin Australia (now that they don’t impose hefty fuel surcharges). Also, Round-trip to Honolulu from the west coast is just 20k points in coach. If you can avoid the partner airlines that impose hefty fuel surcharges, it’s pretty easy to earn redemption values up to 5/6 cents per point quite easily.
I’ve always wanted more VX points! The Virgin Atlantic points (from Chase UR) are super hard to use on Virgin America flights. I’ve called at least 10 times now for various flights and dates and they can never find award availability for me. I wish there was an easier way than having to call every time!
Not a huge deal, but during a booking, it offers a $50 credit + 10K pts for the lesser card.
Nice! Not as good as the 20k offer but maybe useful for some. Basically just first year fee free.
Not sure if third method is a coy “wink wink” but I would really like to know the third way as I am booking a Virgin America flight today to take advantage of the Ebates “$16 cash back + $16 rebate” on VX flights today only. Do I have to pretend to open an Elevate account, or have someone give me their targeted offer? Any help is appreciated!
No it’s not, I legitimately can’t remember :(.
Are the bonus one time offers like AMEX or is it possible to cancel the CC, wait for a bit, and reapply to get the bonus again?
Not sure if they are churnable or not.
Virgin America also has zone based redemptions which are great for west coast flights to Hawaii (20k RT) and Australia (40k OW, surcharges have been reduced recently too)
Is it possible to transfer these points to Virgin Atlantic?