Over the last several years, Virgin Atlantic has demonstrated a pattern of devaluing awards without notice or notification. The latest such devaluation was noticed by Thrifty Traveler over the weekend, with fees increased on Virgin Atlantic awards across the board for the second time in less than a year, with increases of as much as 118% since last June. While this is presumably in response to rising jet fuel costs, it isn’t likely that we’ll see fees peeled back if and when those costs decrease.
Virgin Atlantic offers some great mileage deals from the United States to Europe (and beyond). The challenge comes in taxes and fees. Unfortunately, we’ve seen another big bump in taxes & fees on Virgin awards.
In June 2025, less than a year ago, Virgin Atlantic increased taxes & fees on economy awards from the US to London from about $75 to about $111. Today, those same awards now carry $164 in taxes & fees.
That’s an increase of more than 118% in less than a year (and nearly 50% over the fees to book just last week).
Taxes and fees have increased in other cabins as well. For example, while we had reported in June 2025 that Virgin Atlantic had increased taxes & fees on business class awards by more than 100% to $592 one-way from the US to Europe, we’re now seeing taxes & fees of $700 one way on the cheapest Virgin Atlantic business class awards.
While that is “only” an additional 18% increase, taken atop a previous increase of more than 100%, it elevates Virgin’s surcharges to the levels we used to see before they revamped award pricing. While the points cost of flights remains below that of competitors, the fees Virgin tacks on make their awards relatively uncompetitive. And when you add the additional taxes & fees to depart the UK, awards leaving Britain look even worse.
Similar increases can be found on other awards departing the United States, regardless of destination. For instance, I saw Atlanta to Johanesburg from 15K + $290 in economy (previously $238 in taxes & fees as of last September). Washington (IAD) to Bangalore, India, saw a similar increase from $238 in taxes & fees to $290 in economy class. Premium economy awards on the same routing increased from $469 to $526. Connecting business class itineraries have taxes & fees exceeding $1,000 one-way, in many cases.
While it isn’t necessarily surprising to see airlines respond to the rising cost of fuel, it remains disappointing to see Virgin increase surcharges for the second time in less than a year without notice or notification. Those completely unannounced changes make me hesitant to book via Virgin, even if I find a deal, for fear that plans could change and I could be stuck with miles in a program that continues to devalue without warning.
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