Virgin (MBNA) Visa/Amex Airmiles 10K What To Do?

yellowduck123

My brother had signed up for a Virgin credit card,accumulated 10'000 Virgin air miles which are no good to him as he would like to go to Spain(Benidorm) etc

He went onto their site realised its more for long haul holidays Florida,New York etc

Hes looking to close it down,apply for a air miles credit card??

Could he get something for the 10k accumulated before closing the account down?Perhaps a hotel in the UK,spa etc??

Fully appreciate he should have done his homework prior to applying,so please no negative comments.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

jfdi

He needs to log on (register?) with virgin flying club.

There are loads of offers, like a posh version of Tesco club card!

yellowduck123

Thanks,he has registered,do you have a link for the site your looking at?

Last time we had a look could not see much?apart from long haul holidays?There were hotels/spas showing but they were abroad?

Tesco seems like a shout!!He has cleared his balance in full,ideally if he can use the 10K for something then shut it down would be great!

yellowduck123

Brother just spoke with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club,advised the only way around it would be to go onto the hilton site,open a hilton honours account,call them back to request the 10K miles to be transferred to the Hilton account which would give him 15K,take things from there..

They also advised by closing the credit card account,miles would still remain in their system for 3 to 4 years etc

guesswho2000

The Hilton option is one way, he could also do the same with IHG, he'd get 10k IHG points, which can be used towards hotels (Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, etc.).

He can close the credit card now, the miles will stay in his Flying Club account for 36 months from date of last activity, this is completely independent from the credit card, which is operated by MBNA, the flying club account being operated by Virgin Atlantic.

yellowduck123

Thats grate,thanks, similar idea to Hilton i guess?

Just glad to find theres more of a realistic way in miles being spent V a long haul holiday which would run into thousands.

guesswho2000

yellowduck123 wrote: »

Thats grate,thanks, similar idea to Hilton i guess?

Just glad to find theres more of a realistic way in miles being spent V a long haul holiday which would run into thousands.

Yes, more or less - there's other way, such as buying virgin vouchers, or similar, but I think you need more than 10k - this way, you can get 10k (IHG) or 15k (Hilton) hotel points, which is enough for a free night or two in some hotels (IHG points breaks are 5k per night, and there are some Hilton properties which are only 5k, although at the top end you're looking at a lot more, in both cases).

yellowduck123

Interesting regarding IHG point breaks being 5K as my brother would prefer not to put anything towards a hotel room/night.

Thanks again

msallen

Before he jumps into a transfer to Hilton or IHG, or starts collecting "air miles" (I assume you mean Avios?) get him to do some research on them, or he may well just find himself in the same position again.

All of these options, like Virgin, can offer good value in certain circumstances if you know what you are doing, but can be a waste of time if you don't.

Neither hotel chain has that many properties for such a low number of points (Point break nights are special offers that are run every few months and typically only cover a small number of obscure hotels), and Avios are only typically worth using on either short haul or premium cabin long haul flights.