Want to Fly Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to Space? You Could Do it With Points – A Lot of Them!

Yesterday, Richard Branson went to space aboard his Virgin Galactic spacecraft. This was a big deal for him and the many people who watched this event that was 17 years in the making. There are many people who are awaiting their chance to head 53 miles above the earth and there is a way to do it without spending $250,000 for the chance.

Flying Virgin Galactic with Points

Courtesy of Virgin Galactic

Link: Virgin Galactic with Points

While this is something you can do with points, it is likely easier (or maybe even cheaper!) to outright pay the $250,000 for a place on the list as a Virgin Galactic then use points. The reason for that is that it costs 2 million Flying Club points! I wrote about this years ago and people had to wait for it to open to commercial travel. Well, it just took one giant step closer yesterday!

The 2 Million Points and What it Gets You

Get this – having 2 million points is not even enough to get you onboard! That is just the amount you need for the drawing to determine if you are allowed to head to space aboard Virgin Galactic! That’s right – it costs 2 million points just to be in the drawing for this ride to the edge of space.

Let’s make it even more difficult! You can only earn those 2 million points by flying Virgin Atlantic! Those points cannot be earned from credit card bonuses, earnings, or even transferred over from flexible point programs or from other accounts. You yourself need to have earned all 2 million points by flying, butt in seat, on Virgin Atlantic.

What it Could Take to Earn 2 Million Points

Here is an example of what it would take to earn those 2 million points. If you flew round-trips from London to Los Angeles in Upper Class and you were at Gold status (which you would have from this amount of flying), you would earn 34,905 miles. The cost for such a ticket (on a random set of dates) is $5,800.

It would require you to fly that trip 57 times! Doing it in business class would end up costing you $332,000 – and a whole lot of time in the air! So, this is definitely not an award you want to do a mileage run for – at least at these prices!

So, let’s wrap up:

• You can fly Virgin Galactic using just points but…
  • It will cost you 2 million points
  • They must all be earned by the account holder on Virgin Atlantic flights
  • This just gets you in the drawing to be selected for the chance – and then the flight would cost you the 2 million points

I cannot imagine there are a whole lot of people on such a list right now! I would think that, instead, they would rather just pay the cash – or use those 2 million points for some other flights that take place just at 40,000 feet but taking a lot of them in some very nice comfort!

Featured image courtesy Virgin Galactic