Combining a transfer bonus and Virgin’s Saver fares: How I booked lie-flat business-class seats to London for just 21,000 points

20.11.2024 - 14:21 / thepointsguy.com / John F.Kennedy

Fun fact: Even though I've worked at TPG for 5 1/2 years and have a nice stash of points and miles saved up, I've never booked an international lie-flat business-class flight ... that is, until now.

Most of the time, I'm an economy traveler. Even on international long-haul flights, I generally choose to forgo a lie-flat seat to save my points and miles. At this point in my life, the number of trips I can take per year with my points is far more important than splashing out on a luxury flight experience, even if that means sacrificing some sleep and comfort on longer flights. And honestly, I'm rarely on an international flight that lasts more than seven or eight hours maximum.

But when Virgin Atlantic Flying Club rolled out its new dynamic pricing for Virgin Atlantic-operated flights, I found a deal too good to pass up and started focusing on the Flying Club program properly for the first time.

Thanks to Virgin Atlantic's new dynamic pricing on award flights and a timely Chase transfer bonus, I booked my first lie-flat, round-trip business-class flight for just 42,000 credit card points (plus taxes and fees).

Here's how you can, too.

While some Flying Club points rates now skyrocket to 350,000 points each way for Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class (business class), flexible travelers can also score great deals via Flying Club's new Saver fares.

Related: Flexibility is key: Why I (mostly) like the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club changes

More out of curiosity than any actual plan to book a trip, I did a few sample searches in late October to help co-workers understand the new Flying Club changes.

Multiple dates throughout the first half of 2025 were available for just 29,000 points (plus taxes and fees) each way in lie-flat business class between New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London's Heathrow Airport (LHR).

For comparison, that's about what you'd pay to fly economy on American Airlines from New York to London in the spring of 2025. I've earned more than double that on rent payments alone this year with my Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees).

But what turned this great deal into a "you'd be silly not to book this" deal in my head is the current Chase transfer bonus in place. Through Nov. 30, you get an extra 40% when you transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Flying Club. That means this trip went from costing 58,000 points round-trip to just 42,000 points round-trip (or 21,000 points each way).

The downside is the taxes and fees, which are typically much higher for business-class seats than economy tickets. But while $870 in taxes and fees round-trip certainly isn't cheap, paying less than $900 all-in for transatlantic business-class seats that would have easily cost