Virgin Atlantic Holidays Reviews 

My spouse and I booked our wedding and honeymoon through Virgin Holidays because we believed we were choosing a reputable company that would provide exceptional service for one of the most important occasions of our lives. Unfortunately, our experience was deeply disappointing, and what was even more upsetting was Virgin Holidays' complete lack of support when we raised our concerns.

The issues we encountered surrounding our wedding left us feeling stressed, frustrated and let down at a time that should have been filled with excitement and happy memories. We placed our trust in Virgin Holidays to help ensure that everything ran smoothly, but when problems arose, we were left feeling as though we were simply expected to accept them.

What has disappointed us most is not just the issues themselves, but the way our complaint was handled afterwards. Rather than taking ownership of our concerns, showing empathy, or making any meaningful attempt to resolve matters, Virgin Holidays appeared to wash their hands of the situation. We were met with a defensive response that left us feeling completely undervalued as customers.

A wedding is not just another holiday. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event that carries enormous emotional and financial significance. We expected far better customer care from a company with Virgin's reputation. Instead, we felt that our concerns were dismissed and that customer satisfaction became irrelevant once payment had been made.

We invested a significant amount of money in what should have been a memorable and joyful experience. Sadly, Virgin Holidays' handling of both our wedding arrangements and subsequent complaint has left a lasting negative impression. Whilst we cannot change what happened, we believe prospective customers should be aware that if things go wrong, they may not receive the level of support, accountability or customer service that they would reasonably expect.

We would not book another holiday or flight through Virgin Holidays and, based on our experience, would struggle to recommend them to others.

Over the past four months, I have travelled with Virgin Atlantic, paying for each flight and an extra £100 to sit beside my partner. For my return to London, my seat has been removed and replaced with a random assignment. This is unacceptable, and the same issue occurred in June. I feel ill at how Virgin is simply taking people’s hard-earned money. I am currently in Miami caring for my 98-year-old father in hospital, sending this message when I should be focusing on him. I am flying back this Sunday, 1st November, from Miami to London, and once I am home, I will not let this go. From Trustpilot to BBC Watchdog, it is my mission to expose how you are taking from the public.

Before virgin I used to fly with BA and they never did this and IF they change my seat, BA had the decency to get hold of me to inform me.

I expect an apology. An explanation as to why paid for in advance seats have been removed. And I want refunding for the 2 occasions this has been done to me.

Ref. VSCR-00924067

I am returning to the UK on Sunday; ten days is insufficient. The customer service provided by Virgin Atlantic during my two trips to Miami has been poor and unacceptable. I would appreciate a response before Sundays flight.

Trip to New York, Boston and Las Vegas.
Overpriced for the rooms we were given and on our return flight we were travelling in a group of 4, upgraded 2 of the travelling party to upper class and not the other 2.
Would they split a couple? Probably not so why split a group.
Pathetic response when I got home.
Not impressed.
I have sent them my complaints as requested, no one has come back to me!

I've used Virgin four times in the last five years. I've had mixed experiences but after some good customer services most things were corrected. Sadly, my annual holiday with them will now stop i think due to the volatile price changes ive seen of up to 40% extra on a holiday in summer next year. I'm not interested in speaking with customer service as nothing changes having done so and im aware of the 'subject to change' dynamic pricing excuses, which is modern day robbery.
Virgin holidays used to be my 'go to'holiday provider for Vegas and other US locations and ive spent thousands on upgrades in that time. How can a holiday go from around £950 to £1400 in the space of a few weeks. Not even my 30+ thousand points can offset the high price for 4 days holiday.

Our booking agent Maria was excellent, she was polite, patient, knowledgeable and able to provide a really first class service.
During my booking Disney Cruise Line and Disney World process I changed my requests a number of times but this caused no problems for Maria. She researched my options for me and responded promptly with the required information. I was never rushed or pushed into making decisions. The result was that I booked my holiday with confidence knowing that everything was correct and in order.
I was given a first Class service. Thank you Maria.

Good morning. The service at the Norwich Virgin branch in Chantry Place is outstanding. The staff are superb. I always come away feeling happy reassured and confident. Sydnee, Emily and more recently Evie have been so incredibly helpful and polite, they are a credit to your company. Looking forward to booking many more holidays with you all. Yvonne Hyde.

We booked with Virgin Atlantic because they are great to deal with, always helpful and guide you through the booking step by step.Friendly staff.

The booking process was done extremely efficiently with your adviser Heather! She was very friendly, professional and patient which put me at ease during our call, and therefore she's great asset to your company.

Virgin prices for Ryanair standards—Zero duty of care on our anniversary
I booked our flight through Virgin Atlantic to use my points and was passed to Virgin Holidays to book our accommodation. What should have been a special trip for our anniversary turned into a complete nightmare. We paid premium Virgin prices, but we received absolute Ryanair standards of service and comfort.
Our flight to Washington DC was scheduled for 8th September at 15:50. We boarded at 15:00, but the second we sat down in the incredibly cramped economy cabin of the Airbus A330-300, we were informed of a delay. The legroom was shockingly tight, with my knees pressed directly against the seat pocket in front of me. One hour later, we were told we were behind a staggering 85 other planes. To top it off, the pilot openly admitted over the tannoy that once the air traffic problem was eventually sorted, it would still take two hours just for the queue of planes ahead of us to take off. It begs the question: why on earth did they pack us onto the aircraft in the first place? Despite the pilot and aircrew trying their best, we were left trapped in those claustrophobic, restrictive seats on a stationary plane for about 5 hours before the flight was ultimately cancelled.
We were reassured that Virgin staff would assist us once we deplaned, but the moment we stepped off, the "service" vanished. We were told that because it was an air traffic control issue, Virgin would not provide any duty of care whatsoever—no hotels, no cabs, nothing. What made it so much worse was hearing the British Airways announcements over the airport speakers right next to us, openly reassuring their passengers that BA would be covering all cabs, hotels, and expenses upon receipt. Meanwhile, Virgin left us completely stranded.
To make matters worse, we were told our luggage would arrive on belt 3. After waiting there for an hour, we discovered our suitcases had been dumped further down on a completely different belt. Desperate for support, I walked back round to the check-in desks. When I asked for help, a Virgin staff member callously pointed out that there were disabled people in wheelchairs and they weren’t helping them either—as if that justified their total abandonment of passengers. Another staff member suggested I go to the Virgin lounge instead of sleeping on the floor, only for the lounge staff to turn me away, stating: "You’re not business class, so you can’t come in." Because our flight was pushed back 24 hours, we were left with no choice but to sit on the airport floor for most of the night.
The nightmare continued when we finally arrived in Washington. We got to The Watergate Hotel only to be told they had given our room away because Virgin Holidays failed to notify them of our flight delay. After a stressful argument explaining we had already paid and demanding a refund, they magically found us a room—but then hit us with a $1,000 security fee that we had never been made aware of.
We lost a whole day of our holiday, slept on an airport floor, endured knee-crushing seating, faced hidden fees, and had our anniversary completely ruined. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays showed zero accountability or compassion. I will never book with them again.

The two star rating is based on the experience my husband and I have had trying to get back nearly £400 that one of the hotels, Tenaya Lodge in California incorrectly took off his credit card and didn't inform him they were doing so. After contacting the hotel they advised that Virgin Holidays had not paid them for one night's stay, even though we had pre-paid Virgin Holidays in advance. After phoning and emailing both parties whilst in California and continuing since returning in July of this year, along with logging a complaint, and even having it acknowledged that we were due a refund, my husband has not received the funds back. My husband has now made a formal complaint to ABTA as we have not had a response within 28 days. It's a shame as the rest of the holiday experience and flights with Virgin were great.

To be honest, it wasn’t “what” but “who”.
Karrie has been in our lives since we booked last September for June 26 to Florida and with her expertise and wonderful assistance, we have just booked again for May 27!

She was so helpful and knowledgeable and listened to what we were looking for.

What a lovely experiance it was booking our Disney holiday next October 2027,Lucinda was just lovely she explained everything to us .i would highly recommend using Lucinda to book a holiday to Disney .

Not what it used to be!

Flying with Virgin was always a joy and I long considered them the premium option but not any more.

We flew with them (for the fourth time) in August for a three week holiday in Florida, we booked the whole thing through Virgin. We stayed for a week in Portofino Bay which was fantastic and then two weeks in Carribean Beach which was disappointing to say the least, our room was filthy, miles from anything and featured hair in the bathroom (not ours) and a lot of dead bugs, the air conditioning unit was so loud, old and leaking brown fluid, we ended up coughing! This was disappointing but the agent on the Virgin WhatsApp was worse, they honestly didn’t give a damn, attitude was it’s the hotels problem, even though I pointed out we needed help as hotel weren’t doing anything! They’d had our money and washed their hands of us.

The flights were also awful, food was mediocre and no help when a drink went flying all over me, not to mention the air crews attitude when my husband dared to ask for another drink!

Used to be our go to for travel, not any more!

Miriam was absolutely fantastic , helped look at different options , found the best deals , shared personal experiences and worked on what was supposed to be her day off to help complete my booking

Still waiting for a response from my previous review on 17 August 2026. VAH initially reached out by email, to request further information but I have not received anything further, despite following up

Booked my 60th birthday trip to Jamaica back in March 2026 travel March 2027 premium economy outward bound and upper class inbound….. flight times been rescheduled twice ….. so instead of afternoon arrival it’s now evening arrival
…. So effectively I loose 1 whole evening of a 7 night trip ….. asked if cancel can I get a refund on deposit ( explained circumstances) …. Answer was no … no apologies…. So cancelled and took the hit , booked with BA holidays during their sales business both ways and saved £1000 …. Would never deal
With Virgin holidays again …. Save your money and book B A in my opinion

We have received exceptional service from Eshaa. Five stars given

Very disappointed with Virgin Atlantic Holidays and the way my booking has been handled.

In May I booked a holiday to Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, paying a £150 deposit, specifically choosing this hotel because of its retro vibe and these dates for our January holiday because it is my partner's birthday.

Three days ago, I received an email from Virgin informing me that Universal’s Volcano Bay will be undergoing refurbishment during the period of our stay. Virgin’s own email states that, because Cabana Bay is so close to Volcano Bay, guests may experience noise and visibility of the refurbishment works, with works expected to take place on weekdays between 7am and 10pm.

Had I known about the extent of the disruption when booking in May, I would have been able to make an informed decision about whether I wanted to book this hotel. Instead, I have now been told about potentially significant disruption only a few months before our holiday.

I therefore phoned Virgin and asked to cancel the booking and have my £150 deposit returned. I was told that this could not be done. The agent offered to look at other hotels or hold my deposit for a future trip.

That isn't what I wanted. I specifically chose Cabana Bay for this holiday and these dates. I don't want to swap hotels or put my deposit towards another holiday. I booked this particular holiday because it was the holiday I wanted, and the newly disclosed refurbishment has changed the circumstances of what I booked.

I appreciate that refurbishment work can happen, but I am extremely unhappy that I was only informed about it three days ago and that, when I contacted Virgin because I no longer want to take the holiday under these circumstances, I was not offered the option of cancelling and receiving my deposit back.

I have now raised a dispute with ABTA and will be pursuing this further.

This has been a very disappointing experience with Virgin Holidays. I expected much better customer service and a more reasonable approach when a significant issue affecting the hotel I specifically booked was brought to my attention after booking.

Sally was great , answering questions and finishing off booking from home .
Main Virgin site did not allow for more bespoke trip so needed quick answer and assistance .

Well worth the visit to talk over a few things..
All got sorted with peace of mind..
Great friendly chap!