Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card-holders to get £40 rebate

The card lets customers earn Flying Club miles as they spend, in return for a £160 annual fee (there's also a fee-free Virgin Atlantic Reward card, which lets you earn these miles at a lower rate, and without an introductory bonus).

Flying Club miles can be spent on Virgin flights, upgrades and companion tickets, as well as with 'reward partners' such as Eurostar and Hilton.

But with flights and holidays around the world cancelled due to coronavirus restrictions, customers won't have been able to use these rewards over the last few months.

So if you're a customer, you'll now receive a £40 refund into your credit card account. It'll be paid automatically, so you won't need to do anything to claim it. If you've already paid your fee in 2020 you'll get the refund "in the next few days", though if you're due to pay your fee later this year you'll get it once you've paid.

Flying Club miles also aren't expiring at the moment, and the expiry date on any Flying Club vouchers will be extended by six months. Your Flying Club status – which is usually determined by how much you fly, and affects the miles you earn and the perks you can get – will also be extended for six months.

It's worth noting that Virgin Atlantic is currently seeking a bailout after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. At the moment, Virgin's Flying Club miles are not completely tied to Virgin Atlantic – as explained above, you can also spend them with other partners and Virgin companies like Virgin Wines and Virgin Experience Days. But there's no guarantee this will continue in the future (eg, if Virgin Atlantic were to go bust).

See our Airline Credit Cards guide for more info, including fee-free options. And see our Coronavirus Travel Rights guide for full info on how travel's been disrupted during the pandemic.

Will other airline credit card-holders also get rebates?

We've asked Amex whether it's considering similar partial refunds for its British Airways Premium Plus Amex and Amex Preferred Rewards Gold cards – which have respective annual fees of £195 and £140 (though the Gold card is fee-free for the first year). We'll update this story when we know more.

However, it's worth noting that if you opened an Amex account on or after 29 January 2020 and are eligible for a welcome bonus, Amex has extended the period where customers can make purchases to earn their bonus by three months.

And if you have a British Airways Amex account, any companion vouchers you've earned or earn before 30 September 2020 will have their expiration dates automatically extended by six months.