Virgin Atlantic Reward (Free)

The free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard earns 0.75 Virgin Points per £1 with no annual fee. It offers the same reward voucher as the paid Reward+ card — identical value, identical two-year validity, identical companion and upgrade options — but triggers it at £20,000 annual spend rather than £10,000. The card charges no FX fees in the Eurozone, making it one of the cheapest ways to spend in Europe while earning airline points. For Virgin Points collectors who cannot justify the Reward+ fee, or whose spending naturally exceeds £20,000, this is a solid zero-cost earner.

Free Card vs Reward+ — When Free Wins

At 0.75 VP per £1, the free card earns half the rate of the Reward+ (1.5 VP per £1). On £20,000 of annual spend, the free card generates 15,000 VP and the voucher. The Reward+ on the same spend generates 30,000 VP and the voucher — 15,000 more points — for £160/year. At ~1p per VP, the extra points are worth ~£150, which nearly covers the £160 fee. The Reward+ is marginally better value at this spend level.

The free card wins when your Virgin card spending is low or when you hold both cards. If you primarily use a BA Amex for most spending and only route non-Amex transactions through the Virgin card, you may only put £5,000–£10,000 through it annually. At £10,000, the free card earns 7,500 VP for free — the Reward+ earns 15,000 VP for £160. The extra 7,500 VP (worth ~£75) does not justify the fee. Below £10,000, the free card is clearly better.

The Dual-Card Strategy

Virgin Money allows you to hold both the free Reward card and the paid Reward+ simultaneously. Each has its own sign-up bonus and triggers its own voucher independently. A household with one Reward+ (18,000 VP bonus, voucher at £10,000) and one free Reward card (3,000 VP bonus, voucher at £20,000) can earn two vouchers per year — enough for a companion discount on both legs of a trip, or for two separate upgrades.

This dual-card approach works particularly well for families. Two adults each holding a card (one paid, one free), each triggering a voucher, each using the voucher for a companion ticket = a family of four covered with two companion discounts on the same flight.

The Eurozone FX Advantage

Like the Reward+, the free card charges 0% on Euro, SEK, and RON transactions within the EEA. This makes it one of the cheapest credit cards to use in Europe. A week in Spain with €1,000 of spending saves approximately £30 compared to a 2.99% FX card — and you earn 750 Virgin Points on top. No other free UK credit card offers this combination of airline point earning and zero Eurozone FX fees.

Outside the Eurozone, the standard 2.99% FX fee applies. For non-Euro overseas spending, use a zero-FX debit card instead.

The Voucher

The voucher earned on the free card is identical to the Reward+ voucher in every respect. Same companion and upgrade options, same two-year validity, same value cap based on Flying Club status (75,000 VP for Red members, 150,000 VP for Silver or Gold). The only difference is the spend threshold: £20,000 versus £10,000.

If you earn the voucher as a Red member but later achieve Silver or Gold status (through flying, a status match, or a challenge), the voucher’s cap automatically increases to 150,000 VP — it is assessed at the time of redemption, not when earned. This makes status matches particularly valuable for free card holders: a BA-to-Virgin status match can instantly double your voucher’s value.

Virgin Points — Where They Go

Points earned on this card deposit directly into your Flying Club account. Virgin Points never expire. They can be used for Virgin Atlantic flights (dynamically priced — costs vary by demand, with some Upper Class one-ways as low as 29,000 VP), SkyTeam partner flights via the Virgin partner chart (Delta, Air France-KLM, and others), and partner airlines including ANA.

Virgin Points can also be transferred in from Amex Membership Rewards (1:1), making the free card complementary to an Amex strategy. Use Amex for general earning, Virgin card for Eurozone spending and the voucher threshold, and transfer Amex MR to top up your Virgin balance when a redemption appears.

Shops Away Stacking

Like the Reward+ card, the free card stacks with the Virgin Red Shops Away portal. A purchase at a retailer offering 8 VP per £1 on the portal, paid with the free Reward card, earns 8.75 VP per £1 total (8 portal + 0.75 card). This stacking is the highest-return earning behaviour for Virgin Points collectors. Making it habitual — portal first, then card — is worth more over a year than any single bonus. The Reward+ card earns more per transaction (9.5 VP per £1 in the same scenario), but the free card’s zero cost makes the portal stacking a genuine bonus at no investment.

Switching to Reward+

At some point — perhaps after hitting the £20,000 voucher threshold, or after realising your spending justifies the lower £10,000 Reward+ trigger — you may want to move to the paid card. There are two ways to do it, and they produce different outcomes.

Apply for Reward+ separately (hold both). Because Virgin Money allows both cards simultaneously, you can simply apply for Reward+ without cancelling the free card. This earns the full 18,000 VP sign-up bonus on the Reward+ after first purchase. The two cards then run independently — separate earn rates, separate voucher clocks, separate anniversaries. You cancel the free card whenever it suits you, ideally after its current voucher has been triggered or the year has turned. The catch: any spend accumulated towards the free card’s current £20,000 voucher threshold does not carry over to Reward+, so the Reward+ voucher clock starts from zero.

Upgrade online (carries over your spend). Virgin Money offers an online tool that converts the free card to Reward+ while preserving progress. The full £160 fee is charged immediately. The card anniversary date stays the same — meaning you pay the full annual fee regardless of where you are in the membership year. In exchange, a compensatory points credit is applied: the difference between what you actually earned this year at 0.75 VP per £1 and what you would have earned at 1.5 VP per £1. On £8,000 of spending in the current card year, that equates to a 6,000 VP top-up. Crucially, any spend already counted towards the £20,000 free card voucher threshold is transferred across and benchmarked against the Reward+ threshold of £10,000 — so if you have already spent over £10,000 in the current year, the Reward+ voucher triggers immediately on conversion.

There is also a time-sensitive incentive within this route: converting from free to Reward+ within 90 days of originally applying for the free card earns an additional 15,000 Virgin Points bonus. This amount is fixed — it does not increase if an enhanced promotional offer happens to be running on Reward+ at the time.

Who Should Get This Card

Yes, get this card if: You want free Virgin Points earning on a Mastercard with zero annual cost. You spend in the Eurozone regularly and want 0% FX fees. You can hit £20,000 in annual spend (or close to it) and want the voucher for free. You want a second Virgin card alongside Reward+ for the dual-voucher strategy.

Get Reward+ instead if: You can only route £10,000–£20,000 through the card and want the lower voucher threshold. You value the higher earn rate (1.5 vs 0.75 VP per £1). You want the larger sign-up bonus (18,000 vs 3,000 VP).