The Bank Of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card

The Bank of America Virgin Atlantic credit card comes in two tiers – white and black. Sounds pretty basic.

Both have the American Express logo on them, but it's important to not these are NOT managed by AMEX. Bank of America is the manager and issuer. The American Express logo is on them because that's the payment network used to process these credit cards.

For a $49 annual fee, the white card will get you 1 miles/dollar on regular spending and 3 miles/dollar on Virgin Atlantic purchases.

There's an anniversary bonus each year too based on how much was spent. 2,500 bonus miles for $5,000 in annual spending, and another 5k miles for spending $15k or more (so the Virgin Atlantic White card can earn up to 7,500 bonus miles per year). Virgin Atlantic Black Card

For a few bucks more you can move up to the black card for a $90 annual fee, it gives 1.5 miles/dollar on regular spending and the same 3 miles/dollar on Virgin Atlantic spending.

The anniversary bonus on the Virgin Black Card is a bit more tantalizing at up to 15,000 miles per year. It gives 7,500 miles for spending $15k annually. An additional 7,500 is awarded if spending reaches $25k or more. Cardholders can also earn 1 tier point per $2,500 spent each month (max of 2 tier points per month).

Regardless of which Virgin Atlantic American Express card you fancy, both of them have the following benefits:

•  Might qualify to get 2nd reward ticket for half the miles: When at least $25,000 or more in purchases is made per year, one companion ticket will be given. It can only be used when you cash out miles for an Economy reward ticket.

When you do so, the companion benefit will let you get a second ticket for half the number of miles as the first ticket. The credit card application on Virgin Atlantic's site isn't entirely clear but from what I can tell, you only get one companion perk per year (so spending $50k will NOT earn 2 of them).

•  The basic AMEX benefits: Even though these cards are issued by Bank of America, they still come with the basic AMEXbenefits since that's who processes them. These include retail protection, extended warranty, and common carrier travel accident insurance.

There's no denying Virgin is one of the best airlines on the planet. However, their award redemption fees are among the worst. For this reason, I'm not a fan of the Virgin Atlantic American Express cards, but truth be told it is one of the best mileage reward programs with one of the best airlines.

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