How to use Virgin Atlantic’s reward seat checker to find cheap Saver seats

The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program recently switched from fixed-rate to dynamically priced redemptions, including new Saver fares, which offer excellent rates on off-peak dates. But as with many loyalty programs, finding the lowest award prices can be tricky.

Luckily, Virgin Atlantic offers a handy tool called “Reward seat checker” to simplify the process.

Here’s how to use Virgin Atlantic’s reward seat checker to find your next great flight redemption.

How to use Virgin Atlantic’s reward seat checker

First, log in to your Virgin Atlantic account, scroll down and click “Reward seat checker” along the left toolbar.

On the next screen, enter your origin and destination airports and preferred month of travel, and a calendar will pop up. Here’s what I found when I searched for flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR) in May 2025.

The lowest rates are easy to spot, denoted by the red Saver tag.

However, these may only appear on the cheapest economy fares; other great deals may be found in higher fare classes.

For instance, premium economy seats are available May 5 for only 29,000 points, even lower than the economy price the same day. Check the red tags first, but it’s worth sifting through the calendar for other deals.

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You can easily toggle between months, too. I found far more Saver fares on this route in April than in May.

One downside of this tool is that it only shows award seats on Virgin Atlantic-operated flights; partner flights are excluded. When inputting your departure and arrival airports, you’ll notice that the options are limited to places Virgin Atlantic serves.

Another downside is that you can’t click on a date from the reward seat checker calendar and see flight options on that date or the taxes and fees you’d pay. To do those things and book your trip, you must go back to your account page and click “Book reward flight” on the left side, then reenter your search terms.

Still, the reward seat checker is a great starting point — it can help you quickly narrow your search by showing you which dates and locations are most affordable. For example, now that I know there are cheap Saver seats in both economy and premium economy April 2, I could enter that date into the reward flight search and see the available flights, the itineraries and the associated taxes and fees.

Bottom line

If you’re considering booking an award flight with Virgin points, be sure to start the process with the reward seat checker. And always check to see if there’s a transfer bonus you can use to save even more points.

For instance, you can currently get 40% extra Virgin points when you transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards. Due to a transfer bonus, one TPG staff member recently booked a lie-flat seat to London for just 21,000 points.

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