Virgin Atlantic Anmeldelser 511

Virgin Atlantic changed my flight times on a flight from London to Johannesburg (D72LNP) meaning the flight arrives in Joburg 90 mins later than originally scheduled which means I will miss my proposed onward flight to Kasane in Botswana ( which admittedly I had not booked yet, but that was my plan and I booked the Virgin flight on that basis!). As Virgin had moved the goalposts, I asked Virgin if they would kindly book me on the preceding days flight, which was on the normal flight timings and would allow me to make the connection I planned to take, and despite the fact they changed the timings on the original flight they felt they needed to charge me an extra £200 to make the alteration. Why do they feel the need to do this when it was there change that caused the situation. Why can they not show good Customer Service and change me to the preceding day. It would cost them nothing to do so, and would make me a big fan, and instead I will now never fly Virgin again unless I absolutely have to and I will tell everyone I know who customer unfriendly they are! Makes no business sense!!

The sad thing for anyone booking with Virgin Atlantic now is under the new CEO ,the staff you deal with before you fly just don’t care anymore so any issues you’ll just have to lump it.
The new app is appalling when it actually works!

Booked in VA Holiday store. Was the first customer to book and pay for any seats on the whole plane a year in advance.
2 months before we fly, they change our seats in premium that we specifically paid for and wanted due to having nervous flier, disabled person and an infant with our party. They gave our seats to other customers and couldnt change it back to our seats, didnt tell us either, I happened to notice is 6 months later.
We then paid an extra £6k to upgrade to upper class as there were seats that were together, where we wanted, to resolve the predicament virgin had put us in.
It is currently the day before the flight, have checked us in and they have randomly moved my whole party again to random seats in the upperclass cabin. Nobody is next to anyone else in the party, including my 18 month old daughter who is now on her own at the front of the plane?
Called customer service to try and resolve and have been told all they can do is send a request to pre flight team to try and change the seats? In the meantime, our old seats that we have booked have now been taken by people who have clearly just upgraded. So we are most likely going to have to have awkward conversations with other passengers to move around.
Completely unacceptable Virgin!! We will not be flying or booking again with you. 2nd time this has happened for this booking, on a £40something grand trip.

I am a stroke patient with multiple underlying health issuea. have been awaiting a refund from Virgin Atlantic since March 2026.

I have begged them to issue my refund but it has not yet been paid.

As a single mother of 3, this has caused me so many issues directly after my children.

This is a clear violation by law as they have gone past the period ot should have done.

Virgin has continued in a non chalant attitude while trying to resolve this matter.

Please I am calling on all executives who understand what it means to be in my position; take a bold step as this is causing us alot of distress.

First and last time I will travel Virgin. Have arrived at the airport in Johannesburg four hours early only to be told that although open, I am unable to use the facility until three hours before the flight. WHO MAKES THESE IDIOT DECISIONS. Needless to say, you expect more after spending £6,000 on tickets. I thought I would give them ago versus the usual excellent Emirates, but NEVER AGAIN.

It’s never easy flying long haul economy class but the staff at virgin are terrific and do their best. My only teeny complaint is that the wine they serve isn’t South African (!!!)and even the red is freezing cold. Otherwise all is a good as it could be

Virgin sat my disabled husband on his own next to strangers from miami to heathrow despite weeks of emails in advance
Absolutely disgusting
Will be taking action

I want to share my experience with an airline that I decided to try out due to their social media claiming to be one of the best.

On upgrading to upper class on a flight from London to New York, my seat was broken and didn't work, my entertainment system couldn't be used due to a broken headphone socket and the power socket also didn't work.

I always judge a company on how they handle issues with their customer care. Virgin have been shocking. Despite the crew raising an engineer report, the customer care team tried to issue me 20,000 points to close the case and won't listen.

Having raised a new complaint under the Consumer rights 2015 act, I am still waiting for resolution of a refund.

Wish I had stayed with BA. Even if they have issues there customer care team take issues seriously. Poor show and very disappointing.

Flew with VA in March. Great experience and would recommend. Cabin crew were amazing. We were travelling with a wheelchair user and they made a difficult journey very easy.

My flight going to Cape Town wasnt too bad,food was very poor and I did have a laugh with one of the stewards who happened to be from Wales same town as me!!

As for my flight coming back was absolutely disgusting the staff were rude and didnt seem to care about anything! Again food very bad.
I am diabetic and I ordered a dietary meal well what can I say, it was not even edible so in 12 hours I never ate and when I asked for water it was as if id done something wrong! The steward was reluctant but I finally got it but as they were very small plastic cups I asked for 2 (if looks could kill) so in a total of 12 hours I had 2 small waters and a water with the meal if you can call it that ( as I couldn't eat it)
But for sure I would never ever fly with them again and wouldn't recommend it either.

I pre-booked very expensive seats for a long haul flight. I have a medical issue that means I need to use the bathroom very frequently, so need an aisle seat. At check-in the seats I purchased were not showing and I had been given a window seat. A one hour call to try and sort this out ended with the agent putting the phone down and no solution so I can't take the flight. Honestly a disgusting experience.

Customer service is appalling. I called to enquire about upgrading with points to check the previous quote of over 500,000 I got the previous day was correct as it seemed very high. The person on the phone made me feel unwelcome and like they did not want to deal with me, they immediately told me whatever I was told would be correct before even checling for me. When they did check the cost had changed so I was right to call but it left me feeling like they already had my money and was not interested, or possibly they just could not be bothered.

I then called again as due to the coldness of the call I forgot to get a cash quote, what a joke. You go through the menu and select if you want to upgrade with points or cash, the person I got through to this time was annoying, once again it was like they could not be bothered and wanted to get rid of me. I told them I wanted a cash quote and all they kept talking about was points and that I need to call another department. Eventually they accepted I wanted a cash quote only to tell me that I have to call my travel agent.

Come on Virgin get your act together, it should not be this hard, all I wanted was to find out what it would cost to upgrade to upperclass.

Because I am assisted passenger I can't even see what other seats are available, because they allocated me a seat in the cabin I paid for, I cannot even check online what it would cost to upgrade by hovering over an upperclass seat on the plane seating map. Apparently I have to phone and check each time, talk about not being inclusive, if this is how you treat disabled travellers I think it will be better not to request assisted travel so I have the same access to seat availability as able body passengers, and yes I am happy to pay to select my seat.

Talk about a bad start.

I've travelled with Virgin many times in the last 25 years. Before this week's flight, my most recent experience was in 2021. I was surprised at the difference.
Our flight was delayed 'due to the inbound plane being late'....big fib for a start as the difference between times was 10 minutes which clearly is not enough time to unload, refuel and load up again.
We bid for Economy delight seats and got them on the way out, this included priority boarding or was supposed to.....economy delight boarded LAST!
Other airlines upgrade you if they have empty seats in the next level but Virgin expect you to bid for them.
Only tried 1 meal which was OK. White wine was unpleasant, red wine was cold!
Just an overall feeling of a budget airline. Back in the day I would have chosen Virgin to fly with but not any more.

Website terrible if i have put in the booking reference once i have put it in 20 times, why is it not saved under my login, I go to the website put in my booking ref first name and last then my flight is there then i login and its gone, i add it again and its there then i logou or close the page and its gone again, round and round and round !!!

When my LHR-BOS flight was cancelled on the BOM-LHR-BOS route on Feb 23, Virgin flew me on the BOM-BOS route with an explicit promise that I would be given all assistance in LHR, including a hotel. On arrival at LHR, Virgin first tried to re-book me to BOS and/or YYZ, but when that didn't work, they were willing to cover hotel and ancillary expenses in LHR. Then, suddenly, a spot opened up on LHR-YYZ, and I was re-booked on it without hassle and made it back to North America - instead of getting stuck at LHR for 3 days. Thanks, Virgin! You've earned my loyalty and goodwill!

A dreadful flight in Upper Class from Cape Town to Heathrow on VS479 ,7th February 2006.
We upgraded to Upper Class for the experience, but received one not expected. Vary poor cabin staff, limited choice of drinks and food. Even the Captain made a public announcement at Heathrow and apologised for the experience as it was not up to Virgins usual standards. The problem arose because the aircraft did not have enough staff to provide normal service, but enough to safely operate the flight.
The problems with the beverages and food would have been the same regardless of crew shortage.
First time I have been on a flight where the Captain made a public announcement to apologise for the quality of the product. Upper class it was not.
I complained twice to Virgin by e mail, but still waiting for a meaningful reply addressing the issues I raised and not a general, sorry letter.
Avoid this airline.

Bad food, very little if it, poor baggage handling, damaged my bag and items and wouldn't do anything about. My first and last time flying with them. Emirates/ Etihad much better and cheaper.

I booked with Virgin Atlantic did not know until I arrived at the airport that my flight was with KLM & Air France. My luggage was delayed due to a transfer. I received a message to say that it was at the arrival airport & would be delivered as soon as possible yesterday. There has been no other communications & I am still waiting for my bag which contains much needed items. I have tried to contact Virgin Atlantic, KLM & Air France & it is impossible. Terrible disrespectful customer Service.

I’ve been today, two version Atlantic first class disc is very bad. Customer service from desk name Paul he don’t know Andy you know help for people attitude is very bad. I pay too much money. at least nice company like version for first class. you have to be nice, Customer service because somebody like bull you don’t have experience enough

Note:Virgin cannot even be bothered to reply to complaints to see if they can rectify. How arrogant have they become. I read someone elses comments ref the website and app being dreadful and have to agree. Clunkier than a clunkier thing from clunky land. When you consider Virgin are in bradband and TV comms etc makes you wonder how many balls they can drop.
Shocking in flight service and food
Flying premium to and from Barbados 10th to 24th January 26. Ran out of most dishes, ran out of rose wine at beginning of the flight, attendants ignored the call button and were scruffy. Food was school dinner standard at best! no bluetooth connectivity or wifi, absolute pants as standard. £7k for tickets shame on you Virgin. Will be looking at other airlines going forward. Flown loads with Virgin premium in last 6 years taking friends too. Amazing how one can be put off by the steady very noticable decline in standards. Especially over the last 18 months.
To top the whole thing Virgin are flying around with some old plane stock, atmospheric pressure required compared to new aircraft of TUI and the like makes you arrive more fatigued than carriers using newer aircraft. A330 we were on I estimated to be 12 years old and then some. If I am wrong then maybe Virgin can comment?