Last week, Virgin Atlantic announced it would join the SkyTeam alliance in early-2023 almost 10 years after Delta Air Lines purchased 49% of the self-proclaimed second flag carrier. This is a big move by the airline with ramifications on consumers who are flying with Virgin Atlantic or use its frequent flyer programme, Flying Club. 

A potted history

Virgin Atlantic is always seen in the UK as the up-start airline challenging British Airways’ dominance on long-haul flights since being founded in the mid-1980s. Even today, despite being deeply entrenched at Heathrow, Virgin Atlantic still gives off this impression after almost 40 years in existence. 

The airline’s topsy-turvy alliance relationship has primarily been driven by their partial owners. Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) owned 49% of Virgin from 1999 until 2012, which at the time led many to believe they would join SIA’s alliance, Star Alliance. That decade came and went with no deal in the making to join and by 2008, Singapore Airlines’ signalled its intention to exit from Virgin Atlantic. Until this day, Singapore Airlines’ and Virgin Atlantic still maintain a relationship which includes:

• Mutual recognition of frequent flyers including Clubhouse and KrisFlyer lounge access, priority boarding, and extra baggage. 

• Limited award access (Economy on all routes, Business only on intra-Asia)

• Virgin codeshares with Singapore Airlines on routes from London and Manchester to Singapore and Australia.

• Singapore Airlines codeshares with Virgin from London and Manchester to several key US destinations.

The relationship still exists despite the formal ownership from SIA ending in 2010. While I can’t find the article, I believe that 

Singapore Airlines eventually sold their 49% share to Delta Air Lines which made for a far greater fit to Virgin’s core markets. Together, they formed a joint venture that competes directly against the oneworld alliance joint venture for Transatlantic flights. This joint venture effectively means that on UK to US flights, the two airlines share all revenue regardless of whether Delta or Virgin operates the flights. This expanded to include Air France-KLM, who initially were going to buy part of Virgin but decided to only expand the joint venture for UK/EU-US. 

Virgin joins SkyTeam

At a glitzy event at the top of London’s famous 30 St Mary Axe, otherwise affectionately known as The Gherkin, Virgin announced it would join SkyTeam as the ‘first and only UK member’. That statement is not particularly surprising considering British Airways is the only other airline that would be UK-based and likely to be in an alliance - others are low cost carriers or do not have the scale to make an alliance worthwhile.

Other SkyTeam members include the likes of AeroMexico and Middle East Airlines, who already codeshare with Virgin, as well as Korean Air, which is partially owned by Delta, Saudia, ITA Airways as well as 13 others in addition to Delta, Air France, and KLM. Aeroflot, Russia’s flag carrier, is currently suspended from the alliance because of the Russian war and invasion of Ukraine.

What are the benefits for frequent flyers?

For Virgin Flying Club members, the announcement touts the usual benefits of SkyTeam membership. Virgin Flying Club Silver members will match across to SkyTeam Elite which grants the following benefits when on the new partner airlines:

• Extra baggage allowance.

• Priority check-in and baggage drop-off.

• Priority seating, boarding, and airport standby.

Flying Club Gold members will receive Elite Plus recognition including the above in addition to:

• ‘Guaranteed’ reservation on sold-out flights’.

• SkyPriority recognition (but unsure how this differs to priority check-in etc…)

• Priority transfer desk access, immigration, and security lanes.

• Priority baggage tags

• And, most importantly, lounge access on all international itineraries.

SkyTeam members, outside of the Virgin’s existing partners Delta, Air France, and KLM, will attain access to the above benefits when flying on Virgin Atlantic. There is a contradictory statement between Virgin and SkyTeam press release with the latter stating they have the ‘ambition…that all Elite Plus members will have access to every one of the Clubhouses’ as well as the Heathrow Upper Class Wing. According to Head for Points, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss suggested that Clubhouse access would not be allowed for SkyTeam member airlines. 

Here’s how I think Clubhouse access will be divided:

• Non-UK Clubhouses, which are operated by Plaza Premium, will be accessible to SkyTeam Elite Plus members providing the traveller meets the international itinerary criteria. There is a precedent for this in that Singapore Airlines passengers with status flying who depart from New York access the Virgin Clubhouse at JFK and Newark.

• London Heathrow Clubhouse will be accessible to passengers who are travelling on a Virgin Atlantic or Delta flight either in Business/Upper Class or have SkyTeam Elite Plus status on any SkyTeam airline. 

• Terminal 3 SkyTeam airlines will use another lounge. Air France and KLM currently use the Club Aspire…quite a poor relation to the Clubhouse.

• The remaining Terminal 4 SkyTeam partners will use a third party lounge, such as Plaza Premium, following the closure of the SkyTeam Lounge during the pandemic.

While this is by no means confirmed, it is based on precedents from other partner airlines of Virgin Atlantic. It seems unlikely Virgin will have a free for all allowing passengers with Elite Plus status flying any SkyTeam airlines to access the Clubhouse.

More partners to redeem Virgin Points

For those who collect Virgin Points, this will open a lot more options for award redemptions using Virgin Atlantic’s air miles scheme. Virgin Atlantic have stated that most of the IT integration with SkyTeam has already occurred meaning that online award booking for partner awards should be possible early on. This would effectively allow you to book an award flight on Vietnam Airlines, Korean and many others. I say this theoretically because I’ve had a multitude of issues when it comes to Virgin’s IT… 

SkyTeam partners should get access to Virgin awards in much the same way that Delta, Air France, and KLM do today.

Benefits for regular passengers?

While alliance membership makes it easier for frequent flyer scheme members to access all their benefits, non-status passengers will have more-limited benefits. These will surround the ability to book intra-alliance itineraries that combine multiple carriers without the other airline having a codeshare with Virgin. 

The alliance should boost Virgin’s Asian connectivity. While Shanghai flights are unlikely to restart any time soon, Hong Kong will come back online in April at the latest. Flights into Hong Kong will enable smooth connections to SkyTeam partners onwards to Vietnam, Taiwan, China, South Korea, and Indonesia.  The IT integration work should allow for smooth check-in processes, including using Virgin’s website to check-in across a whole itinerary despite having multiple partners (as Delta and Air France-KLM’s websites do today). 

We could also see Virgin Atlantic launch flights to new destinations in partnership with other airlines with SkyTeam - but this is yet to materialise into anything firm. 

Partially concluding thoughts

On the surface, Virgin Atlantic joining SkyTeam would appear to be a great benefit to passengers but only time will tell if that is the case. In my article out on Thursday, I’ll share some of my reservations about this move - and my real thoughts on what this move will mean. Stay tuned…