Why I have just transferred my Virgin miles to Hilton (and how to do it)!

I have just transferred my Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles to Hilton. Find out why--and how you can initiate the transfer (Virgin does not offer the option on the website).

Photo credit: Virgin Atlantic.



I have covered Virgin Atlantic's fantastic new business class product here: Virgin Atlantic unveils impressive new business class.

Another reason why I like Virgin is that it has also been relatively easy to rack up miles in the UK without flying. I am a big fan of Virgin's shops away shopping portal for example. Until recently I earned miles on grocery shopping at Waitrose! I repeatedly bagged 1,000 bonus miles for registering to auto-convert Tesco vouchers into Virgin miles. And the Virgin credit cards offer generous miles-earning rates, earning me 0.75 miles per £1 on the free card. It is undoubtedly one of the most generous Mastercard products in the UK. I put all my non-Amex spend through it. Until recently.

The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has created financial difficulties for Virgin, with the Financial Times reporting on 27th March that the airline is 'set to to ask for state aid'. If--and admittedly this is a big if--the airline goes belly up, Virgin miles may become worthless. I remember all too well what happened to my topbonus miles when airberlin went into administration...

As a precaution, I have just transferred my Virgin miles to Hilton at a rate of 1:1.5. Admittedly, a Virgin mile is worth more to me than a Hilton point. I value a Virgin mile at 1p and a Hilton point at 0.3p. But it was the only sensible option. I can't see Hilton go bust. And I will put the points to good use. I have been promising my significant other to return to the impressive Waldorf Astoria Waldorf--on points of course!

Virgin Atlantic doesn't offer an option on its website to transfer points out. Here's how to do it:

1. Send a text or WhatsApp message to 07481339184 from a UK phone (or +447481339184 from overseas). Make sure to include your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Hilton Honors account numbers as well as the amount of miles you wish to transfer. Virgin only allows transfers in increments of 10,000 miles.
2. Virgin will text back asking you to confirm your date of birth and the address your Virgin account is registered at.
3. Virgin confirms that the transfer has been initiated. The points should arrive in your Hilton account within 30 days.

Do note that it may take a while for Virgin to reply to you. I'm sure they have more urgent enquiries to deal with at the moment...