Virgin Atlantic Cancels Riyadh Route, Adds Extra Flights to Montego Bay, Bengaluru and Las Vegas — Here's What It Means for Your Virgin Points

Virgin Atlantic has today confirmed what many suspected was coming, their London Heathrow to Riyadh route is done. Permanently.

In an email to affected customers, the airline said: "Following the escalation in the Middle East, we have been continuously reviewing our flying programme, based on the latest intelligence and regulatory guidance, and to ensure we can operate a stable and reliable schedule, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel our services between London Heathrow and Riyadh from 7 April."

But what does this mean for you and your Virgin Points? Where are the bargains going to be now?

 I flew Riyadh to Heathrow in Upper Class on the A330neo and called it "the most interesting flight I've ever been on".

A route that barely got off the ground

To understand why Virgin (and seemingly every other airline on earth) started flying to Riyadh, you need to understand the "Saudi Air Connectivity Program", stay with me here. Essentially the deal is fly to Riyadh, and the Saudi Arabian government will cover your losses. Just to name a few, Air France, Delta, and Singapore have all piled in for similar reasons. When one of the richest countries in the world is throwing you a big bag of cash, you catch it.

But subsidies can't fix everything. The Middle East situation has caused repeated disruptions, and Virgin hasn't actually flown to Riyadh since 5th March. The two-week "pause" announced in early March quietly became three weeks, and now it's become a full cancellation.

If you read our Bargain Bin series, you might remember Riyadh popping up with some absurdly cheap Upper Class redemptions, with returns for under 50,000 Virgin Points at one point.

This is a personal disappointment too, I have to say. I flew Riyadh to Heathrow in Upper Class on the A330neo and called it "the most interesting flight I've ever been on". It genuinely was, and it's a shame it didn't last long as Virgin clearly put a lot of effort into the little details for that route. Riyadh also served as a cheap way to springboard your way east, by connecting through Riyadh to the Maldives, for example, and you'd have paid a fraction of what a direct redemption to Male would cost.

Virgin will retain a codeshare with SkyTeam partner Saudia, so you can still earn and redeem Virgin Points on flights between London and Riyadh via Saudia. It's not the same, obviously, but the it does mean the route isn't completely gone, if you get me.

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Where is the capacity going?

This is where it gets interesting for those of you who collect Virgin Points.

Bengaluru will jump from seven to thirteen weekly flights from 1st June. That's a serious commitment to the Indian market, and it sits alongside double-daily services to Mumbai and Delhi. Mumbai will also see its aircraft upgraded to the A350, boosting seat capacity by 30%. Already one of the cheapest destinations in India for Virgin, Bengaluru offers a good opportunity to springboard your way to the Maldives, Sri Lanka, or even Thailand (Indigo offer a silly amount of routes from Bengaluru).

Montego Bay goes from four weekly flights to daily from 1st June. More on this in a moment, because this is arguably the most exciting change for Virgin Points collectors.

Las Vegas will increase from seven to ten weekly flights from September. I raised an eyebrow back in August about British Airways doing the same thing at a time when US tourism numbers from the UK were heading in the wrong direction. If both BA and Virgin are piling into Las Vegas, they clearly know something the rest of us don't. Or at least, they think they do.

Montego Bay: already one of the best Virgin Points destinations, and it just got better

Here's where I want to focus your attention.

Montego Bay is already one of the best-value Caribbean destinations in Virgin's network. We obsessively look at pricing using vseats.io's Return Flight Finder, and right now, Montego Bay dominates the cheap Upper Class results, and to a lesser extent the Premium ones, across the entire Caribbean.

Looking at November 2026 in Upper Class with six to seven night trips, the 17 cheapest return combinations across every Caribbean destination are all Montego Bay. The cheapest comes in at 265,000 points return (3-10 November). For context, Upper Class to Barbados is the next cheapest Caribbean destination, and for the same period starts at 535,000 points.

Now, those Upper Class prices aren't what I'd call cheap in, as Virgin's dynamic pricing means Upper Class to the Caribbean in November is always going to be punchy. But relatively speaking, Montego Bay consistently undercuts every other Caribbean route Virgin flies, and with daily flights from June, there will be significantly more reward seat availability to play with.

The extra Montego Bay flights will be added to booking systems on 4th April, so if you're planning a winter Caribbean trip in Upper Class, that's the date to have circled.

And if economy or Premium is more your speed, we'll be releasing another edition of the "Bargain Bin" in the coming days.

What should you do now?

If you had a Riyadh booking, Virgin will be in touch with options to rebook via Saudia or get a refund.

If you're sitting on a pile of Virgin Points and fancy the Caribbean, 4th April is the day to start searching Montego Bay. More flights means more reward seats, and Montego Bay's pricing already makes it the standout Virgin Points destination in the region.

And if you're short on points, remember that Virgin's 70% bonus purchase promotion runs until the end of today (31st March). It's not a strategy we'd recommend for speculative stockpiling, but if you're a specific amount away from a redemption you've already identified, it could be worth a look.

Sam

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