Double Virgin Atlantic miles for flying Virgin Blue, V Australia or Virgin America

Flying on Virgin Blue, V Australia or Virgin America? If you're a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club frequent flyer member, you can earn double miles from now until the end of May if you put the flights towards your Flying Club account rather than Virgin Blue's Velocity or Virgin America's Elevate programmes.

This deal isn't for everyone: Australian travellers who don't travel frequently on Virgin Atlantic should probably continue to funnel their flights into Virgin Blue's Velocity Rewards.

But if you fly regularly from Sydney to Hong Kong on Virgin Atlantic, or onwards from Hong Kong to London (or if you'd like to get hold of some free flights -- or even better, upgrades) this is a great opportunity to boost your Flying Club miles.

The offer is open for flights on any of the Virgin family of airlines -- Virgin Blue, V Australia and Virgin America -- and runs from 1 March to 31 May this year. 

The extra miles will be especially useful to upgrade long-haul flying: a frequent flyer top tip for using Virgin Atlantic miles is to use them for upgrades rather than to buy the ticket. 

A round trip upgrade to Hong Kong from Economy to Premium Economy is only 20,000 miles, and from Premium Economy to Upper Class (with flat business class beds) is 40,000 miles. It's 60,000 miles to go all the way from Economy to Upper Class -- and if you're upgrading all the way from Sydney to London, you'll need to double the miles needed.

Very frequent flyers -- elite Silver and Gold Flying Club members -- will be disappointed that point earning will not be doubled. But the range of eligible ticket types is quite wide across all Virgin airlines.

If tickets and upgrades for long-haul travel on Virgin Atlantic takes your fancy, you'll need to register for the promotion before you fly.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.