Virgin Atlantic Reviews 511

Flew Virgin Atlantic Upper return to Atlanta from Manchester and never having flown them before was really looking forward to the experience. To say it was underwhelming would be n exaggeration and the only reason for 3 star is the crew. The interior of the Upper Class cabin was dated as where the seats which are either lie flat or seats not fully reclining seta should get on other airlines. When seated there is a small shelf behind your left shoulder so unless you have your table up there is nowhere to store anything. The vanity bag looks cheap and nasty in its recycled bag, others manage to do it in style, I suppose Virgin has gone for shabby chic but just looks shabby.
The seating is arranged 1-1-1 with the left side being 1 and then right side having a herringbone with the middle and window at an angle to each other. All seats have aisle access. On the RHS the seats opposite each other are not the same number so middle 4 is opposite window 3 not 4, for example. Pretty much every couple, unsurprisingly, booked 3 & 3and where not opposite each other!
The food and drink is very good and the staff are brilliant, much better than Emirates, for example.
The bar/meeting area is good but hardly ever manned so if you want a drink you have go chasing a member of the crew, whereas the bar on Emirates is always manned with snacks readily available and better seating.
Overall, because we got a good price by booking through Delta (a SKY Team) partner the experience was OK but I wouldn’t rush back and would rather go via AMS or CDG airports. Takes a bit longer but better overall experience.
The only other “issue” is if you are Platinum SKY Tem and expecting a decent amount of UXP on your way to Ultimate you will be disappointed because you only get XP and no UXP.

Having been loyal BA customers for many years following so many delayed flights with the UK flag carrier we decided to give Virgin Atlantic a try.
Flew LHR-JFK and thoroughly enjoyed the flight on a virtually empty A350. In the Premium cabin the service was excellent leading to a very comfortable and enjoyable flight.
However returning MCO - LHR was a different story entirely. Again in the premium cabin although this time on a clapped out A330. During online checkin I noticed that my wife had been moved to a seat across the aisle with no explanation or apology. At the airport we discovered that this was due to a broken seat, again with no apology, offer of re-locating or compensation. Bearing in mind we had paid a considerable amount extra to sit together in the premium cabin this was not acceptable. I wouldn't have been happy but it would have made a huge difference if we had received an apology and compensation (perhaps in the form of air miles). Instead I am having to battle with the faceless, uncaring and unsympathetic Virgin Atlantic customer care.
Interestingly after talking with the ground staff and cabin crew, it would appear that that particular seat on this aircraft had been broken for several days, surely enough time to get it fixed?
Then on landing at LHR the nose wheel steering failed. So having exited the runway with the crew presumably using the rudder pedals and differential braking to steer we came to a halt. We then waited 25 minutes for a tug to tow us to a remote stand where busses took us to the terminal. Arriving well over an hour late.
I am just curious as to what other defects these aircraft have and what state Virgin Atlantic's maintenance program is in.
Needless to say I will be carefully checking the type of aircraft used for my next flight, if I have the misfortune to fly Virgin Atlantic again.

Booked premium economy for our flight out to India on 13th March 2024 from Heathrow.
The service we received from the cabin crew was nothing short of abysmal.
They were rarely visible throughout the flight, which was only about half full.
The premium economy is an absolute farce, apart from the legroom. For a start we received our food last & when we we stated what we would like we were told there were no more left and therefore had a choice of either curry or veg curry.

3 hours before landing I requested an apple juice but was told they had run out & only had orange juice.

I happen to know a bit about airlines & the way they operate - The airline would have gone out with what is called a bonded bar, which means that they would have departed with enough drink for a full flight- Strange that they should have run out of apple juice.
The snacks that were provided as part of Premium economy were laughable - No crisps - seriously.
A sighting of a member of cabin crew was rarer than a hens tooth -
This was the worst flight I have ever been on & I have been on quite a few over the years

Unfortunately I have to leave a bad review for the first time. Outbound we flew Premium Economy and we were given no " packs " and inbound we were in normal coach and were given no packs either. My husband and I are shielded COVID risks and after 4 years of dodging the virus we Both tested positive 5 days after getting back. I am now having to have specialist treatment for my lungs.I fear I have permanent damage. Why did you not provide masks on VS77 & VS78?

Probably the most uncomfortable 10 hour flight from USA I have experienced. The cabin crew work hard but the standard of the service, food and drink is poor and the seat space is on par with a short haul seat you would expect from a budget airline.

Last year I flew with Qatar airways and there is no comparison, Virgin appear to have become the long haul budget airline the likes of Qatar, BA or Emirates could easily show how it should be done.

I won't be flying long haul with Virgin again.

suprised by the bad reviews.

I got through to a welsh call centre 3 times.

call centre is 24 hours, lovely people. very friendly.

One of the only airlines that will not allow you to extend your ticket due to a medical issue that arose during your trip, even with a doctor's certificate.

In order to change our flight by a few days date due to an infection accompanied by a medical notice Virgin required £1000+ in additional fees which is insane.

The issue was handled appallingly by Philip - ID - 453827

Absolutely fantastic incredible experience especially thanks to Mariama & Aicha Ba who were so kind and helpful with my situation, they were informative, polite & really reliable, thanks to them I had a great flight and really can't thank them enough, 10/10, 5 Stars, Strongly Recommended

Collected loads of points over the course of a few years but redeeming them is beyond painful and not worth the hours of phone calls/being on hold.
Also the Flying Club online account is really poor to use:
1) No record of 2 for 1 vouchers issued/used/expiry date - instead you have to look for a long digit code obscurely hidden in your virgin credit card statement!
2) No accurate record of points accumulated/spent - I asked the LiveChat to help (they couldn't help but understood the issue from the screenshots I sent them). They promised to follow up via the Flying Club team who have simply sent me the same inaccurate information on the online account from a "no reply" email.

So thousands of points could be missing and I can't prove it and Virgin conveniently aren't keeping an accurate record/can't reconcile the points earned/spent to my current balance.

Virgin Atlantic are a perfect example of a corporation whose only interest is to extract money from you with zero interest in customer care.

I booked a flight with them and then they proceeded to cancel the route in its entirety, effectively cancelling my flight.

I then had to spend 19 months trying to get my money back!!! Virgin used every underhand trick in the book to get out of refunding me monies. They ignored, lied, misrepresented, misdirected and did everything possible to try to wear me down so that I’d give up.

After wasting six months dealing with Virgin and getting knowhere I passed the matter to ADR (who were even worse!). After wasting another nine months with that corrupt organisation I finally took legal action against Virgin via the small claims court. The threat of a county court judgement forced these thieves to repay me the money owing, compensation and interest.

I will never use Virgin again for anything (I’ve already cancelled my other Virgin products).

I implore not to use this company, they have zero interest in providing you with any kind of customer service and they epitomise disgusting corporate greed.

I had a flight to London with my family.
The flight came on time, the service was very high and we enjoyed our flight.

Their App is so easy to use, and saves time (I'm using an Android phone).

Virgin Atlantic had my wife and I held up and stuck on the runway for a minimum of 4hrs on December 10th JFK before making us leave and vacate the plane due to one of the engines was over heating and pilot was worried it would CATCH ON FIRE ! . At near midnight we had to search and find our own taxi, find our own accommodation and find our own flights home from JFK to London Heathrow!!!!!! (American airlines, so grateful ) We had Absolutely no help from VA staff !!!!! With all customers panicking and racing around all trying to do the same thing. VA still have not contacted us , claims forms have been ignored and we have not been offered the refunds that’s due and no compensation has been offered ! With it being Christmas we find this Totally unreasonable and unacceptable!
unreasonable, unacceptable customer care !!!!! Your company will never survive. We have contacted all 'chats' 'help' online forums because we can not get through to any human and the telephone number is a computer number ! when we did make contact with someone online they lied ! every word in their email was a complete lie . Our next step is going to solicitors tomorrow and let them handle this.
Anyone thinking of using VA , please please do not! they are the worst airline ever ! we fly a lot !

My sister and her husband and I recently flew from Manchester to Atlanta which took 10hrs.
The seat cushioning was very flat and no use at all,
I had to use my blanket and pillow pack to sit on to try and get some comfort, but was still uncomfortable.
I have never been so uncomfortable on a flight before.We had 5 more flights during our 2 week trip with other airlines and they were very comfortable.

Refund! I paid extra for the option of changing/cancelling my flight. I had to cancel due to a close family bereavement. I filled in all the relevant forms to get a refund. This was accepted and a full itinerary and breakdown of the full cost was emailed to me. However the money never reached me! Having called/emailed several times over the last 2-3 months Virgin Atlantic customer services say you were paid and that’s the end of it. I have offered to send them statements of the account they said they had paid it into. They are not interested. They are thieving in plane daylight! DO NOT FLY VIRGIN!

The club house lounge at Heathrow is very good, staff are lovely, no complains. However as soon as you get inside the plane is a bit of nightmare…
Everything is hidden!
You can’t find the TV…
Once you find the TV you can’t find where to plug the phones…
Then you find the phones the TV will not work till you are in the air.
When I asked the flight attendant, he asked me if I flown business class before… which actually I have not flown economy long haul… but what I told him is normally the other planes it is easy to find everything. Despite every plane is different. And it was the first time ever in my life I had to wait a plane to take off to be able to watch tv. Will never use Virgin Atlantic again. Very disappointing

staffs working with Premium Clients checking-in lack of education and basic manner. it's really uncomfortable to have a conversation with them. The old lady sneered at us when we ask nicely if we could change our seat. really shocked.

Used to enjoy this show but now the adverts have taken over plus the afternoon show with Eddy Temple Morris is really off-putting, too much talking this guy loves his own voice its a boring show.

I love flying Virgin. I booked a flight yesterday to NYC and was going to use my points as I have many. They sorted a deal out which was actually cheaper than using points. I have called them so many times when I need a flight and they are always brilliant. Wish they flew to more places!

I missed a flight with Virgin Atlantic due to delays on my public transport. I contacted their customer service to ask them to clarify their "Events Beyond Your Control" policy, as this information would help me to determine whether I would be entitled to compensation through my insurance.

Unfortunately, the advisor repeatedly provided wrong information about the policy (talking about events beyond Virgin Atlantic's control, whereas the policy wording clearly refers to events which are beyond the PASSENGER'S control). When I politely pointed this out and asked them to double-check, the response became completely childish. First they ignored my questions, then they became rude, then they suggested that if I wasn't happy with the response I could lodge a formal complaint with Aviation ADR, and then they just ignored my messages completely.

I have no idea why Virgin Atlantic were so determined to avoid providing the answer that I was entitled to, nor why they lied about the policy in the first place. But it was a really disappointing and frustrating process - I won't be booking with Virgin Atlantic again, and I suggest you don't either.

I will never book with Virgin Atlantic again, I'm kicking myself that put faith in a brand I've flown with in the past without checking reviews of recent experiences.

Every negative review is the truth, took payment at the speed of light when making a booking. Then, a couple of days later, changed itinerary with total disregard.

Was flying for a wedding and so alternative flights offered were not suitable, so had no option to request a refund.

Not only did I have the inconvenience of arranging alternative flights (now with additional transfer costs as flying from an airport further away) but they 12 to 18 working days for refund with the potential of another 30 days for processing depending on who you bank with.

This is totally unacceptable, I am owed £2k and the end is nowhere is sight. Customer Service promise to follow up but just tell you that to get you off the phone hoping you will not bother to wait in a 30min+ call queue again.

They are just taking and holding people money, if you are reading this don't be a victim.

Rebooked for the dates needed with British Airways.

I would say Virgin Atlantic is dead to me but I need my refund before they see the back of me. Preparing to request a charge back with my bank.