One of the great hacks in points and miles is using Virgin Atlantic to save on Delta flights. It always boggles my mind that you can book on one site and fly another airline for even fewer miles than booking on the airline’s site. (This has happened when booking United flights to Maui on Turkish Airlines, flying AA flights by booking on British Airways, and also by booking on Avianca’s site for a United flight and paying less than on the United site).

These same “magic tricks” can be used by redeeming Virgin Atlantic miles for Delta flights. This is nice because the only bank that transfers to Delta is AMEX, but ALL four major banks transfer to Virgin Atlantic. Let’s check out a few options.

 

Salt Lake City to Atlanta

Let’s take two Delta hubs, Salt Lake City and Atlanta. When I look on Delta for a flight on September 6th, it costs 24,500 miles. The same flight booked on Virgin Atlantic is only 12,500 miles. Crazy, huh?

 

 

These are the Virgin Atlantic flights:

 

 

Atlanta to Paris

Okay, let’s check out a flight from Atlanta to Paris on a Delta flight in economy. It is a direct flight, and you’d expect the cost in miles to be fairly comparable, right? Look at these shocking results!

 

 

 

Does that just not blow your mind? 🤯 It does mine!

 

 

Los Angeles to Sydney

Let’s check out another international flight. This is a popular destination—Australia! Unfortunately, I was not able to find business-class availability on these flights.

 

 

 

There is such a difference in booking the same flight on Virgin Atlantic!

 

 

 

 

 

Transfer Bonuses

To make things better, the transferable currencies often have transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic! If you can book when those occur, you can really score some cheap flights!

 

Bottom Line

If you love Delta or are going somewhere that Delta flies, it is worthwhile to check out Virgin Atlantic. Using Virgin Atlantic to save on Delta flights is a travel hack that just might work for you!