Virgin Atlantic joined Skyteam in March 2023, and the integration has progressed rather seamlessly and efficiently since. One exception is China Eastern (MU) – earning on MU metal wasn’t possible until November last year, and redeeming was for long like an unreal promise – we were told it’s “coming soon” in January, right before the Chinese New Year.
There’s a breakthrough finally – you can now redeem Virgin points on MU’s award flights. Not online however, and you must call Virgin to do it.
MU’s award flights were actually showing online for a couple of days, but they were all fake tickets and it’s not possible to book at all. A reader called Virgin recently and managed to book a domestic flight in China.
The award chart is as follows, which is the same across all Skyteam partners except AF, KL and DL.
The “First” column however, is unique to China Eastern. They might be the only Skyteam partner that opens First redemption space.
China Eastern’s most important hub is Shanghai, but like in the U.S. Chinese airlines operate through many hubs across the country. From Shanghai you can expect to pay the following price for a one-way flight (economy / business / first):
- Beijing 7,000 / 15,500
- Urumqi 11,500 / 35,000
- Taipei 5,500 / 14,500
- Hong Kong 7,000 / 15,500
- Tokyo 10,000 / 21,500
- London 31,000 / 85,000 / 123,000
China’s domestic flights have fixed taxes and fees (around £10 per leg). MU’s surcharge on international flights is generally quite reasonable compared to European airlines. You can find out with China Eastern’s award search on their website (no log-in required).
Virgin points are great value when flying short- and medium-haul routes especially in economy. Even if you don’t plan to visit China, it creates new opportunity to transit to or travel between other Asian countries.
Paying 123,000 points for a first-class flight isn’t a bad idea either. China Eastern doesn’t have an excellent product, but their first-class suite converts to a double bed which is still uncommon nowadays.
Recent Comments