Virgin Atlantic Avis 2 215

William Vasinathan is a star! ⭐ helped me with so many details for our upcoming wdw trip, loved speaking with him, 10/10 service 👏

Poor quality web service- charged three times and hours trying to get hold of any service support

Whistleblowing Abusive Crew Perks! We Paid full fare in Premium class for our extended family of 6 from Bridgetown to Manchester - VS78 - flight less than half full so should have been great BUT was completely taken over by the crew taking personal family & friends out of economy and placing in Upper and Premium - then giving them preferential treatment including slyly passing some of them bottles of spirits to hide in carry on luggage - openly disrespecting full fare paying Premium passengers - disgraceful and dishonest - Virgin should investigate!

We've been flying with Virgin for years, not my idea I should add. We've accumulated a large number of point as a result. I've been trying to find out what I can do with them, what a nightmare. Use is very restrictive, you need a massive amount of points to get a small discount, it takes ages to get through and I keep getting cut off. I don't know why so many people like them, it always comes across as everything is run a shoestring budget, customer service is awful.

I booked an early flight for around 10:00 because my destination was another 2hr from the airport. I received an email to advise my flight had been moved to the afternoon. I contacted Virgin and was informed because it was a minor change under 5hrs there was nothing they could do. There was an earlier flight and there were seats available so I asked to be relocated to the earlier flight. I was shocked when they requested another £260 to move me to the earlier flight. I questioned why would should I have to pay when they moved me and there was seating available. The customer service have their hands tied they are basically useless even when you request a supervisor. I do not believe the person in spoke to was any better than the first agent I spoke to.
My last flight was too the same destination with United Airlines who have a shocking reputation but they provided me with a much better service and I will be using them from now on.
My ESTA had not cleared in time and without hesitation they moved me to another flight the following day following the ESTA clearing and they did so at NO extra cost even though it was clearly my fault.
The only positive I can find where the flight crew, they were amazing.
On my return we had to disembark to the side of the runway and be transported by bus to the terminal, not sure if that was Virgins fault but just added to a faulty experience.
I filled out a customer survey they sent me and received a very poor sorry about your experience thank you for completing the form!!!

I recently flew with Virgin Atlantic on Flight VS166 from Montego Bay to London on Friday 23rd October, and I can honestly say the crew were exceptional. Since being involved in a car accident, I’ve developed a real fear of flying, but the air stewardesses and pilots on this flight went above and beyond to help me feel calm and safe.

From the moment I mentioned my fear, they treated me with so much kindness and reassurance. They even arranged for me to meet the pilots before take-off, which really helped to ease my nerves, and just before landing, they surprised me with a handwritten note congratulating me for facing my fear, such a thoughtful and personal touch.

I’ve flown a few times since my accident, but this particular Virgin Atlantic crew were truly special. They showed genuine care, empathy, and professionalism throughout the entire journey. I’ll always remember this flight for how supported I felt.

For our SA flight, we booked particular Premier Economy seats (at a cost of £100 months in advance, but were placed in the the centre of the middle section of 3 seats, looking into the toilet & hearing it flush all night.
Then for the evening meal the table came apart, so I had to eat, with difficulty with the food tray on my lap. Finally the entertainment system to my seat kept freezing, despite the crew rebooting on 3 occasions.
Customer service was slow & unhelpful when I complained. As my experience was not up to premier economy standard, but only “economy” I requested some compensation but it was refused.

Looks like Virgin don’t take any notice of this site or reply but I’ll leave my experience anyway for anyone maybe researching whether to fly so called Virgin “premium”.

*DON’T* would be my advice - it’s no better than economy and the price difference is ridiculous you end up paying a small fortune for nothing.

The proof being on my way back from USA a passenger in my row in premium got up and took a blanket to lie down far back in economy as he was obviously unable to get comfortable in the premium seats. Basically Virgin give you a plate and cutlery and that’s supposed to make it better than economy 😂 I had a very uncomfortable seat on the way out ie 22D within smell range of the toilets (yuck) and a pole between my feet so I couldn’t get my bag under the seat either- oh and don’t forget the seat in your face so you have to limbo in and out of your seat - I spent most of the 10 hour flight standing - I can’t stress enough how much you should avoid Virgin airlines- the staff in customer service are atrocious one ie Sally in LA saying to me “well THAT’S not going to happen” when I asked about a refund.

What a joke

UPDATE

This company doesn’t seem to stop giving 😡

Now withholding a P45 this is not the actions of a trusted employer ‼️ a 6 week wait and no response.

A lesson in how to manage a bad reputation and make it worse. 😡

We were not able to fly due to a fault on our side. Analia from Heathrow support services London was extremely helpful and kind. She tried various tactics to address our problem with a reassuring smile. We didn’t get our problem resolved, but we were listened to, at a stressful time and that was invaluable. I hope she see this post.
Thank you very much Analia.

Fantastic customer service. You made a dreadful situation much easier. Thank you

Just wanna say a very big thank you for your crew on the VS0047 London Heathrow to New York JFK 17/19/2025 the crew on bored was absolutely amazing they were all very bubbly, friendly and ready to help. Everyone is always quick enough to moan when someone does something bad or something doesn’t go their own way but people are never quick enough to say thank you or congratulations to people when they do something right the flight was quite busy and the staff worked very hard to help everyone and still had time to go the extra mile for people I managed to get I think all of their names Lisa FSM Henry Sam Gabby Maddie Madison Aspen Sophia Jess and Kelly and obviously the captains but I did not manage to get their names

Our experience with Virgin Atlantic was devastating. We arrived at JFK Airport on time, but were denied boarding by Virgin Atlantic staff. When we asked, we were told our return flights would remain valid. Later, we discovered our return flights had been cancelled without any notification. This error left our family stranded and separated — our minor child was left behind temporarily, and we had to make last-minute, expensive arrangements to reunite and return home. Despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue, Virgin Atlantic refused responsibility, citing fare policy rather than acknowledging the misinformation and communication failure by their own staff. No family should have to endure separation and distress due to an airline’s lack of transparency.

Long term customer of Virgin Atlantic and flying club member, but the experience of booking flights with them is disgraceful.

The website constantly returns errors, signs you out at every turn, and is generally stressful to use. No other airline seems to have this issue. If I wasn't so invested in their flying club, I'd have moved to BA.

Think Ryanair but without the cheap prices and you won't be disappointed. Used once, never again.

I recently flew with Virgin Atlantic from Jamaica to London via New York in Premium Economy, and while the in-flight experience was generally comfortable, I was very disappointed with how my damaged luggage claim was handled after the trip.

Upon transiting from Jamaica to New York, I discovered that my suitcase had been damaged. I was advised to report the issue at my final destination, which I did promptly upon arrival in London. The case was referred to Virgin’s authorised repair partner, K2 Global. Unfortunately, the repair process has been frustrating and time-consuming. The company confirmed they could only replace one damaged wheel, even though the replacement would not match the original set.

I purchased my luggage as a matching premium set (bright orange), and they proposed to replace one wheel with black, which would completely spoil its uniform appearance and value.

Despite explaining this to both the repair partner and Virgin Atlantic, the airline declined to authorise a full wheel replacement. I found this particularly disappointing, especially as a Premium Economy customer, where I expected a higher standard of service and customer care.

While I appreciate that policies exist, I believe there should be flexibility and consideration for reasonable exceptions particularly when the customer is not asking for a full replacement, but simply for a repair that restores the luggage to its original condition and appearance.

Overall, this experience has left me disheartened. I hope Virgin Atlantic reviews how such cases are handled and empowers their customer service team to take a more empathetic and customer-focused approach in the future.

Very bad airlines. The flight schedule was change and no replacing flight, when we ask for refund it was told non-refundable as no show.

A short time before our departure, we were notified that our return flight had been cancelled due to an airline schedule change causing a missed connection. We were then left in limbo for two weeks with no information from the airline, no assistance offered by them and with us not knowing if and when we would be able to return. This was extremely stressful and spoiled our holiday. Eventually, a return flight was offered, but a day later than we had booked, involving a very early start and a lengthy layover for a connecting flight. We had no choice but to accept this as nothing else was offered, even though this delayed my partner's return to work which her employers were very unhappy about.

Virgin Atlantic refused to reimburse the additional hotel and meal expenses which we had to spend, blaming this on their code share partner, LATAM. LATAM also offered no assistance and refused any reimbursement of our expenses.

After this experience, I will avoid using Virgin Atlantic and their code share partners in future. In my view, Virgin Atlantic are the long haul equivalent of Ryanair, which I also avoid where possible. Airlines like this only offer an acceptable experience if nothing goes wrong and, if it does, they'll do their best to avoid giving you any help and you won't get them to pay any compensation. Sadly, things do go wrong quite frequently in air travel these days, so airlines with this attitude should, in my view, be avoided.

This is a belated and heartfelt thank you to Muhtasim, who made all the difference in helping us to resolve an issue with Homeland Security at JFK when we were returning from holiday in the US to our home in London.
We were travelling as a family of four. We had got our ESTAs well in advance and experienced absolutely no problems entering the US. However, as we were queuing to go through security, a member of Homeland Security staff stated that there was a problem with our 18 year old son's visa (although no similar problem was identified for the other three of us) and wouldn't let him proceed.
He was sent back to Virgin Atlantic (VA) to have his boarding card reissued. VA confirmed that his visa status was reflected as being fine on their system. but Muhtasim offered to accompany us back to security just in case there were further problems.
It was incredibly fortunate that he did so, as our son's new boarding card was also rejected by a different agent Homeland Security on the same basis. By this time, our son was extremely anxious, and I don't know what we'd have done without Muhtasim's support. He advocated for our son in a polite but persistent manner, insisting that the matter be elevated to supervisor level, and presenting the reasons why there was no logic behind allowing our son to leave the US to return to his country of residence.
Eventually the supervisor waved our son through. Muhtasim then stayed with him until he had cleared security just to ensure that there were no further problems.
I cannot express how grateful we are for Muhtasim having supported us through this traumatic experience and having gone the extra mile to advocate for our anxious son. It was a very frightening time for us, and we feel exceptionally fortunate to have been supported by someone so committed to customer care.

Daughters’ flights to Orlando were cancelled with Aer Lingus last week as we were at the airport. Their customer service was atrocious. Fortunately for us the Virgin Atlantic staff at Manchester Airport T2 were outstanding and helped them to find replacement flights. Think the young gentleman who helped them was called Ardn and he was an absolute credit to your company. We were incredibly grateful for all of his help.