Virgin America has a new offer for buying Elevate points and getting 50% bonus. This bonus is valid for purchases made until March 8, 2016.
You can buy up to 60,000 Virgin America Elevate points per calendar year before any bonuses. Under this offer 20,000 points are upped to 30,000 points with the bonus (if you buy the maximum).
You can access this offer on Virgin America’s website here.
The price of 26,000 Elevate points is $1040. The price of a point purchased under this offer is exactly 3.47 cents each.
Buying Elevate points to use them on Virgin America flights makes absolutely no sense at all. All the awards are priced dynamically and the maximum value that is attached to the point is capped at 2.15 cents each.
You can, however, also use Virgin America Elevate points for flights with Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and on Emirates.
There are some deals for Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia flights (practically no fuel surcharges outside of VA’s US flights) that may make buying Elevate points worthwhile for you.
You can use Virgin America’s partner award calculator to find out the number of Elevate points and charges required for awards using various partners.
Conclusion
Buying Elevate points for using them on Virgin America is a horrible value proposition (no value at all). If you buy to use them for flights on Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia (maybe on Emirates as well), the value proposition could be there.
Virgin America offered points at up to 80% bonus at one point last year. If you do not need some right now, it may be worth waiting for a better offer.
Here are the terms and conditions of this offer: