SkyTeam and Virgin Atlantic announced in September of 2022 that the airline would join the alliance in early 2023 and the exact date was just confirmed to be March 2, 2023.
Members of Virgin Flying Club will then be bestowed with SkyTeam status and alliance-wide benefits and likewise, SkyTeam Elites will enjoy reciprocal benefits when flying Virgin.
Recognition of benefits is, of course, contingent upon the respective airlines accepting each other’s frequent flyer numbers into the system and hopefully this will work a lot better with Virgin compared to the “soft member” ITA Airways which is not officially recognized by anyone other than Korean Air.
Virgin Atlantic is owned 51% by the Virgin Group and the rest by Delta Air Lines (a reason why some call the airline Virgin Atlanta).
Flying Club Silver will receive SkyTeam Elite, and Flying Club Gold are to be assigned SkyTeam Elite Plus, the latter coming with lounge access and more premium benefits.
While the official joining date is now set to be March 2, I wouldn’t expect everything to work well right on this date. Expecting a seamless experience right in the first hour including the technical ability to accept and read out alliance partner status is probably overly euphemistic. Great if it works but I’d hold my horses when it comes to expectations.
You can access Virgin Atlantic to check their routes, fares, and Flying Club program here.
Virgin Atlantic Route Map:
Here is a previous interview with Virgin’s CEO Shai Weiss on joining the Alliance:
We covered the initial announcement back in September when the news first broke:
Virgin Atlantic held out a long time without joining any alliance but the airline has quite a few partnerships in place, including for earning and redeeming miles. Many of these partnerships such as the one with ANA All Nippon Airways have been highly coveted for premium award redemptions. It remains to be seen what is going to happen to these cooperations in the long run.
Conclusion
Virgin Atlantic is now officially slated to join the Sky Team Alliance on March 2, 2023. Existing Flying Club Elite members will receive a corresponding Elite/Elite Plus SkyTeam status added and benefits conferred. Likewise, the airline will honor the benefits for other alliance elites as per the benefits chart, however, it is rumored that the London Clubhouse will be exempted from the lounge access benefit.
Three more weeks to go until we know more and see what form the new SkyTeam membership of Virgin Atlantic takes.
