New partnership: Switch Wells Fargo Rewards factors to Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership and Virgin Purple

Wells Fargo Rewards has added a seventh switch choice to its rising listing of airline and lodge companions. Shoppers can now switch their reward factors to Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership or Virgin Purple at a 1:1 ratio.

There is no such thing as a minimal switch quantity, so you possibly can switch as little as 1 Wells Fargo Rewards level to grow to be 1 Virgin level. Nonetheless, transfers aren’t reversible, so ensure you discover flight availability or have a use for the factors earlier than transferring.

In our September 2024 valuations, TPG values Virgin factors at 1.4 cents every and Wells Fargo Rewards factors at 1.6 cents every.

The Virgin applications are carefully intertwined, with a single Virgin factors steadiness shared between them. So whether or not you switch to Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership or Virgin Purple, when you hyperlink your two Virgin accounts, the one Virgin factors steadiness will present in each, and you may simply redeem the factors by way of both program (with lots of the similar rewards accessible by way of each).

Virgin factors may be redeemed for a variety of rewards, together with upgrades on Virgin Atlantic, flights with Virgin or its SkyTeam companions (together with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Strains), Virgin Atlantic Holidays (trip packages), live performance tickets, meals excursions and duty-free merchandise.

Associated: Virgin Atlantic’s new redemption sale is providing 25% off all routes, however is it price it?

Must you switch your Wells Fargo Rewards factors to Virgin?

Whereas redeeming factors for flights operated by Virgin Atlantic comes with steep carrier-imposed surcharges, Flying Membership makes use of a peak and off-peak award chart, in contrast to different airline applications, which value flights dynamically. So, when you could also be charged greater than $2,000 for a round-trip business-class flight from the U.S. to the U.Ok., it is at all times finest to double-check the money fare in opposition to the award ticket value to see if it is price redeeming your factors.

Plus, Flying Membership presents networkwide redemption reductions a number of instances yearly, which may help your factors go even additional.

It’s also possible to use Virgin factors to e book SkyTeam associate awards, corresponding to worldwide flights from the U.S. to Europe on Delta. Reserving a one-way Predominant Cabin Delta flight from John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) by way of Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership ought to value you 15,000 factors plus round $200 in taxes and charges. Although the unavoidable charges is usually a bit steep, Delta might cost triple the quantity of SkyMiles for that very same flight.

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Plus, if you happen to fly Delta from the U.S. to different European locations outdoors of the U.Ok., the taxes and charges are considerably decrease, although it’ll value you extra Virgin factors.

Once more, it is at all times finest to match a number of applications to see which presents the most effective worth. For instance, if Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership expenses 30,000 factors to fly from JFK to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) on a Delta-operated flight in Predominant Cabin, and Delta SkyMiles expenses 110,000 miles for that very same flight, it is a greater deal to e book by way of Flying Membership than by way of SkyMiles.

We advocate checking and discovering availability earlier than transferring your factors or miles.

Associated: Wells Fargo Rewards program: The best way to earn, redeem and switch factors

The best way to earn Wells Fargo Rewards factors

Although Wells Fargo presents a number of kinds of bank cards, together with money rewards playing cards, you possibly can at the moment solely earn Wells Fargo Rewards factors with the next playing cards:

With the brand new switch possibility, Wells Fargo Autograph and Journey cardholders can now switch their factors to the next applications at a 1:1 ratio:

Associated: Why I received the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card — and the way I plan to make use of the welcome bonus

Backside line

It is nice to see the Wells Fargo Rewards switch associate listing slowly however certainly rising with the addition of Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership and Virgin Purple.

Hopefully, an enormous participant like Air Canada Aeroplan or Singapore Airways KrisFlyer shall be subsequent to be added to the switch listing. A Wells Fargo card might not have been on the high of the listing so as to add to your pockets, however the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card is a stable new contender within the transferable factors area with a beneficiant welcome bonus, spectacular class bonuses and an more and more helpful listing of switch companions.