Virgin Atlantic Avis 2 215

Booked flights via Expedia including internal US flight on Delta, added flights to my Virgin App. All flights were Premium Economy looked to book seats on my first flight London to Orlando price per seat was £65 thought I would wait, on 25 December got an email from Virgin about booking seats this time seats were £40 per seat, unfortunately did not have my credit card with me, later that evening again tried to book seats price changed to £75 per seat!

Virgin why do you try to rip off your customers in this way?

First time I've booked with Virgin & a total disaster so far. Problems with original booking, the app, website, recognition of email address, membership number, booking reference number, ticket numbers & locator reference number. Due to a problem with the etickets, now having to check in with a piece of paper. Customer service via phone have been friendly but unable to explain any of this. Great first impression 👍

Terrible customer service typical computer says no culture,unhelpful and unwillingness to engage with problem booked day before the unable to cancel waited on phone over an hour to be told unable to help as now 2 minutes over 24 hour cooling off period

A step ahead of competition ! Great lounges / very good service and pleasant staff ! Can’t believe when I see other reviews ! It has been great from start to finish 🙌🏻

Worst Long Haul Airline! Avoid! Avoid! Avoid! Family Christmas Holiday start ruined by a totally avoidable issue! We boarded Heathrow on time and was ready for take off when captain announced left engine had not been inspected so legally we couldn’t take off!! So we de boarded (1st time ever in 35 years for me) then waited for another aircraft to be made ready! So anyway we missed our connection in LAX even though we gave ourselves +3 hours to catch it!
The check in process was poor and long and the food and airline staff were also poor! What has happened to this airline! You should definitely change your TV adverts as that doesn’t tell the reality!

The flights were on time, the seats were comfortable. We booked Premium seats but then had to pay significantly more to select seats which were as a pair together. This seemed underhand. Much fuss was made by VA about their food which was only average. The aircraft air filtration system did not prevent us getting filthy colds, almost certainly from the flights.

Virgin Atlantic’s customer service in relation to flight disruption compensation has been extremely poor. A claim that should have been resolved straightforwardly (Jan 2025) instead involved months of delay, repeated chasing, and generic responses.
Throughout the process, Virgin Atlantic repeatedly directed me to Delta, while Delta redirected me back to Virgin. This circular approach meant no one took responsibility for a claim that was clearly due under UK261.
Ultimately, I have had to issue court proceedings in order to recover compensation that should never have required litigation. The claim has now been listed for a hearing, which I find wholly disproportionate given that it would have been far quicker and cheaper to resolve the matter directly.
Virgin Atlantic’s use of a third-party legal firm has resulted in significant delay rather than resolution. I would strongly advise other passengers to be aware of their rights and be prepared to pursue them firmly if necessary.

Schedule change 3 months in advance. Flight now arrives at 02:00, but as this is less than 5 hours delay, I can't rebook onto a more convenient time, even though that flight was the same price when I originally booked. Indeed, they want a £250 per person change fee on top of the fare difference, even though it was their schedule change. Customer service was polite, but completely intransigent. Unbelievable for a supposed proper airline. When Wizzair did a similar "minor" schedule change, they offered a full refund, 120% in credit, or a change of flight to one of my choice within 7 days either side.

Cancelled family holiday with no fair alternative or compensation

> We booked a family holiday nearly a year in advance. Virgin later cancelled our flight due to reducing their schedule.

The only alternatives offered were significantly more expensive, indirect flights with no contribution towards the difference. No price protection and no compensation were offered for the inconvenience.

After months of planning, being told to simply take a refund felt dismissive and unfair. This experience has completely changed how I view Virgin as a brand.

This was my first trip on Virgin Atlantic since around 2003. I flew LHR to New York, and selected Virgin because all of the US carriers, and BA, are pretty awful (especially the food).

The trip from Heathrow to NYC was good. The Airbus plane was nice and new, good entertainment options, and good food.

The trip from NYC back to Heathrow was fully packed, but was also fine. Food and drink were acceptable. The plane I think was the same (new with good entertainment).

Overall, it was MUCH better than my flight from Heathrow to Florida back in 2003. On that flight, the crew weren't particularly friendly, the food was awful, and I was very disappointed in general.

My star rating is 3.5 / 5, and not 3. I think on this trip there was a BIG improvement from my last experience with Virgin Atlantic which I'd give a 1-star.

I’ve flown with more airlines than I care to remember and Virgin really stand out as the best. We always fly economy and find Virgin to be the most comfortable with the best leg room. The cabin crew on our most recent 2 flights were fantastic. So friendly, kind and professional. Didn’t have any issues at all from check in through to baggage claim. I’ll always choose Virgin if they fly to my destination.

Absolute horror show start to finish. Travelled quite a bit as a family and for our 1st long distance flight, a truly a nasty experience. Staff rude and inconsiderate. Only plus is my daughter slept the whole journey. I would of too if the coven of witches oh I meant flight attendants didn't nudge me every time they walked past. Clearly on purpose! Id rather attempt to swim the Atlantic and drown than fly with VA again. If you dont like ur job change it! Didn't even want to use the toilet or stand up on a 8.5 hour flight. Food was horrible, inedible almost. 10 minutes after seat belt light went out was asked to put belt on my sleeping daughter because "it was going to be a bumpy ride" only to have no turbulence the whole flight. And she asked if my daughter was a boy on purpose too. You can't make this up. Stay away at all costs. Still had an amazing holiday regardless and manged to recharge, but God help whoever has to endure that bunch. Flight from Mexico to Heathrow.landed midday on the 15th. VA should be ashamed to employ such people.

The flight from London to New York was $500 dollars, but they still make you pay for internet. $30 dollars for the hole time!?!?!?! After you paid $500 dollars!?!?!? And the seats were terrible like how you expect me to sleep on a seat that feels like a ROCK. And they make you pay to choose your seat!?!?! Never fly virgin Atlantic.

Our flight, scheduled to depart Miami at 5:10pm, was cancelled at short notice after we were initially told it would be delayed by one hour. What followed was appalling customer service and an unacceptable level of disorganisation and delay. After the cancellation we were told in one short Tannoy message to reclaim our baggage, return duty free and return to the check-in desk. We all scuttled off to discover two young members of staff who were very stressed and out of their comfort zone. With no information at this time other passengers helped us by accessing their Virgin app to locate our rearranged flights, but it still took over two and a half hours to reach the front of the queue and discover which hotel had been allocated to us overnight. When we were finally given the hotel name we were instructed to catch the shuttle bus, but the directions provided were incorrect; this resulted in passengers waiting 45 minutes at the wrong location. Fortunately, one passenger familiar with the airport redirected people to the correct place. A member of staff should have overseen this operation. Only one Virgin employee engaged with the queue solely to find passengers who had tickets for the later scheduled Heathrow flight. Four other members of staff ignored the stranded passengers and instead stood at the check-in desk laughing and joking with nothing to do as very few passengers had arrived at this point for the next flight. This was despite the fact that there were a number of vulnerable passengers who needed help and they were just waiting around. My partner and I both suffer from high blood pressure, and there were passengers in the group who were clearly much more vulnerable than us, they had no knowledge of technology or access to their phones to inform their relatives of the flight cancellation. Virgin offered no assistance so myself and others took on this role and guided them through this distressing situation. Surely Virgin had a duty of care to ensure no one was left feeling anxious and isolated. this was not the case. No drinks or reassurance were offered to anyone one waiting in the queue. This was totally unacceptable. We were left dangling in a queue for information for an unacceptable length of time, whilst Virgin management should have taken charge of the situation and reassured us of an action plan as a group. The atmosphere was austere and full of anxiety. A pleasant vacation ended with stress, uncertainty and unhappiness. This should not have happened. I expected far more respect and organisation from Virgin. My view of Virgin has been shattered, my trust in Virgin has disappeared. This chaos was appalling and unacceptable. Finally reaching our shuttle bus, the driver informed us that our coach and an additional fully loaded coach which had been waiting for over an hour could not depart until authorised by Virgin. We had no idea of departure time. That caused another long wait; the bus only left after all passengers had arrived. Consequently, we all arrived at the Element hotel together after 9pm despite it being only a short drive from the airport, yet another long queue awaited us to check-in, followed by the long queue to obtain drinks and meals. The hotel did have a water dispenser in the lobby but it was empty by the time we arrived and there was also stone cold coffee we therefore had to queue up for a drink and didn’t get one until 10:43pm the food did not arrive until 11:30pm, we were fortunate! Others report receiving their meal at 1am, 8 hours without refreshments!

In response to my complaint Virgin offered a poultry £100 voucher as compensation but refused to pay any additional costs incurred as a result of the cancellation.

A customer of Virgin Atlantic for many years, and a flying club member, but the recent trip that we had returning from Mexico was SHOCKING!

Our nine and a half hour flight turned into 28 hour trip, with three flights (two connections).

We were given a hotel and dinner voucher for the additional night we had to stay in Mexico; however, when we got to hotel at 8pm, the buffet had closed at 6pm.

There are so many other challenges with this trip.

I emailed Josh Bayliss on the 3rd of December, then again on the 9th of December. He did not even have the decency to reply.
Experience - 1
Customer Service - 0

Return flight man to barbados. Food was awful and tbh staff did not seem to care.

Now waited months for flying blue points and only outgoing credited. Despite requesting thru book ref virgin says not recognised. Surprise surprise cant even admin points.

Will never use virgin again to fly. Utter rubbish

Customer service bots. When will companies realise these bots are rubbish

Crew friendly casual phrases used with passengers ie “ there you go my love “
I’ll fitting uniforms there appears a particular issue with female flight attendants blouses not fitting correctly looks tardy
Premium class seats in row 21 old tired pull out IFE Screens call buttons not working
IFE for a airline that was a pioneer now old poor content
Upper class bar removed sofa put in place

Overall aircraft inflight experience lacking the panache it used to have

Flew from Miami to Heathrow on the 6th of Dec at 17:10. Was sat in Seat 5A and Wendy who looked after us was a star! Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and very professional.

The Flight Manager was also great.

I have been locked out of my flying club now for 4 days. Was trying to book a flight, when I got locked out. Approached VA via email 4 days ago to correct the problem and let me back in again, nothing has been done to correct the problem. Atrocious service.

It is with sadness I have to say flying with Virgin was a huge disappointment. They started the flight with saying, if there is anything we can do to make your flight more enjoyable let us know. It seemed everything we asked for was outside of their robotic routine it didn’t happen. It was an early morning long haul flight, I was travelling with my elderly mother & all we wanted a nice cup of tea after a stressful airport experience on little sleep. They came round with the drinks & were serving alcohol & sugary soft drinks, that certainly didn’t appeal at that time, & we was told sorry no tea until later, so we ended up with water. The meal was the worst meal I’ve ever had. I got the pasta option, suppose to be Tomato & basil, it tasted like a watered down cheap tin of spaghetti hoops. Served with a hard white bread bun, like an uncooked ciabatta style yeasty subway bread. A wet side salad that seemed a bit off, with a brown piece of lettuce in it. I was starving too! I asked a member of the crew to change it please to the chicken option. He said I’m sorry you will have to wait until everybody has been served a meal, since you already have one, I showed him I had opened it had one small taste that’s it, the rest of the tray had not even been touched. I said I’m sorry but it feels inedible & i’m starving, he said I understand that but I’l get you one when I’ve finished the full service. I sat for ages, since the crew spend a lot of time chatting to passengers in what is suppose to be their customer service. It’s nice to be friendly, but I think sometimes people appreciate efficiency more & a lot were getting frustrated how long they were spending chatting instead of serving. I then got sick of waiting so got up & explained to another crew member could I please change my meal, she gave me the other option straight away, & thankfully it was nicer so I finally did eat the hot meal part. We still couldn’t have a cup of tea though, only alcohol & sugary drinks, so we ended up with water again. 4 hours into the flight we finally got a cup of tea & it was like a luke warm pale tea like water, awful! I waited for the other sides service & theirs was hotter so we finalllyyyy got a small tinyyyyy cup of tea after 4 hours! The seats are also very small, I was expecting something more elaborate for some reason being Virgin, but the space felt very budget & arm rest space was so tight. We got lucky & had the seat empty next to us, so was very grateful of the needed extra space. Otherwise our arms were always touching it was so tight & I’d of felt uncomfortable I think next to a stranger being so snug. The Wi-Fi didn’t work, I pressed the bell for assistance & sat ages but no one came, in I decided to fall to sleep instead. it was hugely disappointing & I wouldn’t choose them again. Richard Branson should fly it & see if he’d be happy to pay for that!! I think he’d be embarrassed to have his name to it in what we experienced. Having said that I love the brand identity all dressed in full red etc! You can always clearly spot who’s Virgin when the crew are walking through the terminal, it’s an eye catching sexy concept, but sadly the actual experience for me did not match up!