The 30% bonus on Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Points is back, again!

Virgin Red and Tesco Clubcard have restarted the 30% bonus on voucher exchanges. It runs from today until 23:59 on 23 September 2026, and it works exactly as it did before. The bonus sits on top of the standard 1 Clubcard point = 2 Virgin Points, so 1,000 Clubcard points come out as 2,600 Virgin Points instead of the usual 2,000.

Manual and auto exchange are two different things

Tesco gives you two ways to turn Clubcard vouchers into Virgin Points.

Auto-exchange is the set and forget option. You link Virgin Points to your Clubcard account once, and from then on your vouchers convert on their own every quarter. Virgin and Tesco pushed this method hard in the last few years with 5,000 point sign-up bonuses for setting it up, which is why a lot of people have it running in the background.

Manual exchange is the opposite. Your vouchers sit in your Clubcard account and nothing happens until you go in, choose an amount and convert it yourself.

Both routes double your points at the standard rate. Only manual exchange currently earns the 30%.

If you cannot remember which one you are set up with, we'll cover how to check, and how to switch it off, at the bottom of this article.

What you get

The minimum manual exchange is £1.50 in Clubcard vouchers, which is 150 Clubcard points. Above that you can convert in 50p increments. A few examples:

• 400 Clubcard points = 1,040 Virgin Points

• 1,000 Clubcard points = 2,600 Virgin Points

• 2,500 Clubcard points = 6,500 Virgin Points

Spent as vouchers in Tesco, your Clubcard points are worth 1p each. Converted to Virgin Points at the standard rate they are effectively doubled, and the 30% goes on top of that.

One warning. There is no way to move the points back once you have exchanged, so be sure before you convert.

What can you actually do with Virgin Points?

Flights are where they work hardest. Virgin Atlantic pricing moves around constantly, but at the cheaper end of the range you are looking at:

• Economy returns from London to the US East Coast (Boston, New York, Washington) from around 12,000 points

• Economy returns to the Caribbean (Barbados, Montego Bay) from around 12,000 to 16,000 points on the right dates

• Premium returns to New York or Boston from around 21,000 points

• Upper Class returns to New York from around 46,000 points if you catch a bargain

Partner redemptions on Delta, Air France-KLM and ANA open up the rest of the world if you are willing to spend time hunting for availability. You can check the Virgin Points cost of any Virgin Atlantic flight here.

Two real examples:

• Helena flew Upper Class one-way from London to New York on the A350 for 35,000 Virgin Points (full review here)

• I used 26,000 Virgin Points to fly Air France Business Class from Budapest to Athens via Paris CDG (review here)

You will pay a cash element for taxes and fees, and this is where Virgin Atlantic redemptions catch people out. Depending on route and cabin it runs from around £60 to over £700, which can take a real bite out of the value. The full list by route is here.

Away from flights, Helena and I spent 40,000 Virgin Points on a pair of Red Room box seats at the O2 for RÜFÜS DU SOL in May. Our full write-up of the Red Room is here.

New to Virgin Red?

Virgin Red's standing refer-a-friend offer gives 2,000 Virgin Points each to the referrer and the new member. If you would like to refer someone you can do it from the Virgin Red refer-a-friend page, and if you do not know anyone with an account and want the points anyway, you are welcome to use my referral link.

How to switch off auto-exchange and convert manually

If you have auto-exchange set up, turn it off before you try to convert anything. Sign into your Tesco Clubcard account, select "Clubcard Account" from the headings at the top of the page, click "Clubcard management" in the drop-down, then select "Voucher schemes". Find Virgin Points in the list of active schemes and remove it.

With that off, your vouchers will sit in your Clubcard account each quarter rather than converting on their own.

To convert manually, go to the Tesco Clubcard partner page for Virgin Points, enter the value of vouchers you want to exchange and your Virgin Red ID. The points should land within 24 hours, and any leftover voucher value goes back to your Clubcard account.

Then, if you like, switch auto-exchange back on.

Sam

Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.