sucks. rude flight attendants. ugh. I've flown too places before many times, and this has got to be the worst experience ever. so miserable on the plane. I usually LOVE LOVE air flights! I got all excited for nothing. So disappointing. I asked for a water as soon as I got onto the plane, and it took them another 3 hours for them to bring me my water while we were already settled in the air.. and was given the ok to unbuckle our seat belts. Even then, I still didn't get any water. read more

I normally fly BA to New York but on this occasion the BA price for Premium Economy was excessive so I switched to Virgin. I have to say the whole experience was excellent especially when compared to the equivalent BA service at more than twice the price. I commented to friends that the Premium Economy seat was similar to business class 15 years ago. The food was excellent, the flights were punctual, and next time I fly to New York it will definitely be Virgin. read more

I am absolutely horrified that Virgin Atlantic transferred 790,000 miles into someone else's account at Intercontinental Hotel. They are not doing anything to help and after such good experiences, they have completely damaged their reputation in my eyes. My account was hacked and they don't care! read more

I will never travel on Virgin Airlines again. Our flight left on time but 2 1/2 hours into flight we were told we were turning around and back to SFO. After landing we sat at the airport for repairs (not allowed off the plane)- with nothing to eat or drink for 3 hours. When we were about to leave we were told the food was now spoiled and unable to be served but we would continue on anyway. We were served a cold roll and chewy bar for the now 17 hour flight (originally 10 hours). It was AWFUL and cold and truly a miserable experience. Once we arrived in London we tried to get some sort of compensation and ended up (after MUCH discussion) with "generously" offering us the 2 extra inches on the flight return - which seemed like no difference at all. At Heathrow everyone boarding the plane was complaining about their flights including one woman who had arrived at SFO (after calling to see if there were delays) only to see the flight was cancelled as the flight from London had never departed from LHR. That should have been updated as Virgin obviously new the flight was not arriving for at least 10 hours! I was truly disgusted with the rules and regulations and the disruption to everyones travel with little concern from the staff. I would say the same for Virgin Trains in London if you go. Their service was just as bad and we were served the same cold roll! Disgusting...stay away. Back to British Airways! read more

I wish I would have read the reviews before I flew. This was one of my first time flying this Airline and my last. I traveled on your airline Easter Weekend and had a problem with your service and lack of responsiveness to resolve, or even entertain my concerns. I am writing to obtain compensation. On April 2, 2015 I chose to fly Virgin Air Lines for my vacation trip to London. I arrived in London on the morning of April 03, 2015. My plans were to begin participating in several scheduled pre-wedding events beginning mid-afternoon. However, approximately thirty minutes after my arrival at Heathrow airport I discovered that my baggage had not arrived on the plane with me. Immediately, I was alarmed because all of my personal items were in my checked bags, including the dress that was hand made for me to participate in the wedding. I was unable to get a resolution to my problem. I was offered the opportunity to purchase new items and wait for re-imbursement. By 5:00 pm, which was seven hours after my arrival this issue was still unresolved and I was still at the airport to make matters worse the exchange with your associates was less than lackluster at best. I was traumatized at the lack of urgency and overall poor quality of customer service rendered by your associates. The situation was exacerbated for several reasons, it was my first time in London therefore I had absolutely no since of direction, I was due to arrive in Birmingham first and I missed that train, stores were closed, and transportation was limited due to it being Good Friday/Easter Weekend, all of these factors left me frustrated and in tears! As a result, I did not have clothes, toiletries, nor my items for the wedding until after the wedding. Certainly, it was my intention to write this letter immediately upon my return to the United States. However it was a challenge for me to gather my thoughts after experiencing such a horrible experience. Nevertheless, due to the inconvenience, stress, and horrid service displayed by your associates I am contacting you requesting compensation for the following items: There response 2 1/2 weeks after I wrote the complaint was that I didn't send the complaint to them timely. So they are not responsible for my luggage being delayed. read more

4 minutes ago Flight good but customer services poor My partner and I were due to get married in Vancouver in September 2013 and we thought we would go the extra mile and fly with Virgin to get the experience. I had initially booked to fly with air transit but they cancelled the flights and couldn't fly us out on the 1st September hence we then decided to fly with virgin. I phoned virgin and explained what had happened and they said if I booked with them, their flights were confirmed and therefore they could fly us out on the 1st and therefore this is what I did. To my suprise a moth later I get an email from virgin saying the flights had been cancelled and they could now not fly us out until the 3rd September. I phoned their customer services department to explain this was no good as I would now have to rearrange my entire itinerary. I was told there was nothing they could do. After 30 minutes of begging them to do something they eventually agreed to upgrade us to premium economy for the flights on the 3rd as a apology for the inconvience and also because we were getting married. I accepted this and rearranged my plans. On the 3rd September, we arrived at the airport and on check in I mentioned the upgrade. The women said not to worry this would be sorted at the gate. Great I thought. When we arrived at the gate, I spoke to a male who said only one of us could have the upgrade. I told them not to be so ridiculous, there was no way my partner and I wanted to be separated for a 10 hour flight from the UK to vancouver where one of us was in premium economy and the other in economy. He said there was nothing he could do, there was only room for 1 of us but that he could give me a form to complete to complain. I said what's the point in complaining about the original complaint and we boarded the place both sat in economy. The flight crew supervisor then came over and explained she knew what had happened and was very apologetic. She said there was not room for both of us in premium economy but that her and the cabin crew would give us the premium service where we were sat to try and make the flight better and start out wedding holiday off to a good start. I have to say the staff were brilliant. They could not do enough. They brought my partner and I champagne before we even took off, which we sat there drinking while we were making our way to the runway. They then continued to top our glasses up with champagne for the entire flight. We were given our first choice of meals and our meals first and when we landed, the flight crew have us another bottle of champagne to take off the place with us. Fantastic service and flight from that crew. I then telephoned customer services to firstly complain about the fact we were not given the upgrade and secondly to praise the cabin crew on that flight. I was told they will now give us the upgrade on the way home which we are due to fly with them today. I will wait and see if we get it but I won't hold my breath. On top of this, my father was due to fly out to Vancouver with Virgin for my wedding about a week after we flew out. Unfortunately he came down with vertigo and the doctor advised he was unable to fly. As if it wasn't bad enough that my own father could not make my wedding, I telephoned Virgin to explain who said tuff the ticket was non refundable. I asked if I could change it into someone else's name and was told no. I asked if I could take a credit note for the balance so my partner and I could fly next year with them for our honeymoon and was told no. They did not want to do anything to help. I have written to then to complain and all they have offered is 5000 miles to fly with them in future. I highly doubt I will be flying with them in future after this experience. This should had been the happiest holiday of my entire life but has been made nothing but a stressful experience by Virgin who did not want to do anything to help. Even when I found a loop hole in their terms and conditions to get a credit note, they changed the rules. This is a mutli million pound company that have made their money by ripping customers off. They are meant to prize themselves on customer service, what a joke. Richard Branson you should be ashamed of yourself. read more

Love love love! @VirginAtlantic is still the best but it's dropped a star since I last travelled on it, a remarkable 4 years ago. That's not because I didn't want to, it simply doesn't got the places I go! No more ice cream! We used to get a choc ice after dinner to have with the movie but now there is a Gu dessert instead. Not the same but I like that they serve it after, not with dinner. They still have the best selection of film and TV although my system had issues both ways. On the way back they just had to move us to other (better) seats. There was coffee dropped on a passenger with barely a 'sorry' which is VERY UNLIKE Virgin. They forgot to give water out too - just waved it instead of asking individual people and there was not much water at all for an 11 hour flight. I did figure out for myself you have to ask for it but it's not noted. Come on Virgin, get back to your 5 star plus status. I miss you! read more

I'm a fan of VA...what can I say. I've flown first class with a few airlines and though VA is not as good as some of the others, it's a fun experience and I do enjoy the staff. They're all beautiful and make you feel the same all while making the worst experience in world a.k.a. 'commercial flying' as good as you can possibly make it. Twice I've had Richard Branson himself on my flight and he did the announcements and took time to speak with the passengers individually. The best is the Terminal 3 lounge at Heathrow Airport... it's like a resort...I had a 12 hour layover there and oddly did not want to leave...the hair salon is great and the bartenders are fun and make a great drink...the sushi bar is fantastic and again... I loved the staff...I had an issue with my ticket and they fixed it right away..."hello gorgeous!" read more

Flying Heathrow to LAX on the 15:45 flight. My flight over was fantastic! Premium Economy is just like Business Class! Check In was extremely helpful and fast. Looking forward to a great flight today as well! read more

I was pretty disgusted with a recent flight from LHR to LAX. I am stuck with Virgin because I have been building up air miles with them. But I was very upset. I purchased a Premium Economy seat. When I arrived there was trash by the side of the seat, the tray table hadn't been cleaned etc. It was almost as if the whole plane had barely been cleaned. And since we were about to embark on an 11 hour flight, this was gross. I asked the attendant, who picked up some trash but said to do a decent job they would have to call the cleaning crew on, which would delay the flight an hour (no thanks!) By the time we reached LA, the plane was like a flying trash can (smelly, bathrooms disgusting etc). I am so upset. Tried to file a complaint but Virgin just offers you a drinks voucher (no thanks). Virgin needs to PULL UP THEIR SOCKS! They used to have pride in their product. Now, it's becoming as bad as some of the worst airlines in America. An absolute disgrace. And being a Brit makes me even more upset. read more

I have traveled a significant amount in my life around the world, and throughout it all, I have experienced good customer service a vast majority of the time. However, the one exception was last October when I went through the most perplexing and horrifying customer experience at the Virgin Atlantic check-in counter at Heathrow Airport (flying London to Washington-Dulles) and subsequently with VA customer service. Putting aside the fact that the actual flight was bizarre (e.g. very odd in-flight rules like what headphones brands can be used), the check-in crew at Heathrow acted like a bunch of back alley bullies. To begin, I booked my flight on Delta, yet through a new partnership between Delta and VA, I was involuntarily pushed onto a VA flight. Ok, fine by me, but wish you guys told me. On the first leg of the flight flying from the US over the Atlantic on Delta, my bags flew free given my frequent flyer status. However, the VA crew at Heathrow informed me that I would have to pay for one of my bags. This premise is ridiculous and illogical...my bags fly for free one way, but not the other way on the same partner company? After arguing with them for 10 minutes, I decided to pay and go on my way. This is where it gets crazy! After waiting for them to give me a receipt after about 10 minutes waiting, a manager comes out and opens with this line "if you do not re-sign this receipt, I will not let you on the flight" WHAT! He claims my signature is not legible enough. Now, I lost it. After arguing with this manager where I refused to re-sign, another customer service rep peered over my shoulder from behind me and into my wallet and said "hey, he has a license here with a signature on it, compare it with that!" Feeling intimidated, overwhelmed and angry, I just re-signed the receipt and asked for the manager's name so I could report him. It is at this point that the craziest event of the entire ordeal occurred...a fellow crew member started to berate me as a "bully", "mean American", and continued to do so while following me up until about 100 yards away from the check-in desk!!! It was the most ridiculous and absurd customer service experience of my life! The only thing that made me feel better was that a VA crew member when I was boarding the plane said the check-in crew was a bunch of jerks normally. To add insult to injury, once I finally found a customer service phone line to use when I returned home to the US (they only have a UK phone number for customers to give complements and complaints), I was basically given the run around with flowery language after they said they did an "investigation". Of course, if they really did an investigation, they would uncover just how unprofessional their staff acted. Had they offered some restitution to rectify the situation, I would have chalked it up to a bunch of bad apples. But given that the customer service department was nonchalant and indifferent about my whole situation, it is clear to me that this is a systemic problem with VA's customer service. read more

After a perfect flight from Heathrow to Boston last Thursday my high regard for VA was changed by a representative from baggage claim. I inadvertently took the wrong bag and that started a disappointing experience. I had traveled with a group who was touring gardens in West Sussex. We were on a bus from Logan heading to Little Compton, RI when I got a call on my cell. The VA baggage rep said I had taken the wrong bag and I needed to turn around and bring it back to Logan. I explained I was on a tour bus and that was not an option. She told me I had twenty-four hours to return the bag or it would be considered theft. I explained again that this was not in my control and it was an unfortunate situation but I would have the bag back in the morning as I had been awake for 18 hours at that point and was not going to drive it back that night. This was followed by two more calls with getting nastier each time. When I was being driven back home I received a call from the Little Compton police department stating that I had stolen a suitcase. Once I told the officer the full story he said he would call VA back and assure them it would be retuned in the morning. A dear friend offered to drive me in the morning to deliver the bag. The woman from baggage met me and we switched bags with no apology for involving the police. I am 72 years old and have never been called by the police. This poor handling of a customer diminished what had been a great trip and flight. I went from being embarrassed that I had made a mistake to being angry about how I was treated. Customer care does end at the gate. There is a need for training post flight. M.E.C. read more

This was our first time flying Virgin Atlantic. Check-in experience went smoothly. We enjoyed the lounge. The service and food were terrific. The service and food on-board the flight was great. Good menu options. Seat was comfortable. I did not use it as a bed, but it would have been a little tight for me to stretch out. Very good entertainment options. The on-board bar area is nice, especially as an area to just stand up. We definitely consider Virgin Atlantic in the future. Airport - Courteous, professional staff member checked us in and handled our luggage very well. I was very disappointed that I was unable to check in the previous day. Although flying home on Virgin Atlantic, I attempted to check in through the Delta web site as all our flights were booked through Delta and had a Delta flight number. I successfully stated the process on Delta.com, but received an error message when I was transferred to the Virgin Atlantic web site to complete our check-in. The message implied there was a problem or that I could not check in more than 24 hours before our flight. I tried to check in multiple times, all well within the 24 hour window, but always received the same message. Fortunately, the check-in at the airport went smoothly. Lounge - Overall, very pleasant staff. Very comfortable seating. The food options were all very good. Restrooms were very clean. read more

I flew to St Lucia a couple of weeks ago. I worked a cabin crew for BA many years ago & now would only fly with them if absolutely necessary - mainly due to the attitude of cabin crew during my last Club class flight. I flew out PE & returned UC - both sectors were excellent. Food on both sectors was very good. I was worried as I had read many poor reviews before travelling. It was so good I have booked the same upgrades for my next holiday. You get what you pay for. read more

I purchased a round-trip BUSINESS CLASS flight from Heathrow to LAX recently. A week after my purchase, I was informed via email that now I will be flying on Delta. I was misled and deeply disappointed that the Company would do a bait on switch. I was paying to fly on Virgin Atlantic NOT Delta!!!!! This is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As one fellow passenger eloquently said, "THIS IS CRAP!!". Travelers thinking about flying on Virgin Atlantic, BEWARE! read more

Horrible customer service. One of the worst decision i ever made booking my tickets with this airlines. what kind of airlines hung up on you and be adamant. I requested to transfer the call to supervisor. The customer service rep didn't want to and kept on nagging about their policy. I am surprised to know that how come this airline still exists with such attitude of their customer service. Any task takes forever to get done working with them. Unless you have too much time to spare, this one is not the best kind of airlines you want to deal with. read more

We're very disappointed with Virgin Atlantic. It was our first time with Virgin. They lost our double stroller during our connection in London Heathrow when we needed badly. My husband was traveling with our two little kids. When he landed in London to connect his Barcelona flight. Flight attendant couldn't find the stroller. We made a claim, we haven't heard a word from them. They lost our stroller and didn't even contact us back. We need at least our money back. Now, he is coming back to US with no stroller, and he has a long connection again in London with two kids on his arms. Very disappointing and bad service. I don't recommend Virgins to anyone. Also, bad meal service. read more

Virgin Atlantic it is indeed the most unfair airline, I was flying from LA to Belgrade and I went to the Airport 3 ad half hours early and I almost miss the flight thanks to the land supervisor that did not want to let my wife on the plane because her passport had my last name and the ticket her maiden name, she have her green card with my last name, her driver license with my last name and she had also our married certificate available for him to look, but he didn't care although my travel agent said that he could correct the issue. Long story short we had to buy one more ticket, also she (my wife) have now a problem to come back as well since he (the supervisor) didn't record the trip to Belgrade with the original ticket but instead with the new ticket we purchased (one way only) so now she probably have to buy the 3d ticket to come back, this is absolutely wrong and unfair it is an authorized robbery. Also I have asked the hostess for some water she took about 25 minutes to come back with it, I have been flaying all over the world and this is indeed the worst experience I ever had 5 words for you; STAY AWAY FROM VIRGIN ATLANTIC. read more

My kids flew unaccompanied minor on Virgin Atlantic. First off they are extremely expensive and they rarely have a sale on their prices. At the beginning of August 2016 my kids flew from London Heathrow to Los Angels (LAX) to visit me their father. My daughter mentioned to me that her and her brother aged 12 and 9 were put by the window and middle seat and this big guy was placed at the aisle seat. Every time my daughter or son had to go to the bathroom he huffed and puffed and my daughter was too afraid to say anything because he gave her a dirty look. Anyways it was a bad experience and Virgin Atlantic should not be doing this. Anyways I reached out to Virgin and talked with them on the phone and wrote on their website and still have not received anything from them. I will not be using their airline in the future until this is resolved. By the way Virgin in the past three years I spent well over $8,000. This is no way to treat a customer. read more

Lost most reviewers here, I'm pretty well travelled for both business and pleasure. The flight I am reviewing is the LGW to LAS flight. Whilst the flight was on time and the the IFE good, some of the crew were frankly rude. I had an aisle seat and was regularly knocked about with no word of apology, I was left to fix my own headset with a folded up meme card and when I needed assistance my bell was left unanswered for 30 mins at which point I just gave up. read more

We booked round trip from Manchester, UK to Denver, CO on Virgin/Delta. This was our first time with Virgin. Manchester to Atlanta was with Virgin Atlantic, and the seats were without a doubt the worst, most uncomfortable seats I've ever experienced! The seat was very short and hit the back of my mid thigh (I'm 5'9"), and felt as if the seat was sloping down away from me, and was evidenced by the fact that I had to continually pull myself back into the seat. Ten minutes setting in the seat I was developing a sore back, and we hadn't even left the gate yet. Not good when I have a 9 hour flight ahead of me. The seat back entertainment screens were okay, not a lot of movie choices, and it would have been nice to be able to adjust the orientation of the screen, as other carriers have, when the seat in front decides to recline. Also, the volume control of the screen on the Virgin flight back was difficult to adjust on the screen, as it didn't have the push button controls provided on the first flight. Continuity goes a long way Virgin. Overall, staff were friendly, however, meal service prior to landing was frantic, and our meals were literally thrown onto the seat tray which caused the thrower to have to catch them in mid air to prevent them from hitting the floor. Food overall was like any other airline, pretty unforgettable. We enjoyed the complimentary alcoholic drinks, but that alone is not enough encouragement to fly Virgin again. Staff came around frequently with water, and were friendly and willing to provide more if asked for. Something else that hit me strangely is when it was announced that Virgin's first class customers were provided with air bags in the event of an accident. Well, classism never sets good with me, and just because someone is willing to foolishly pay more money to elevate themselves above others does not make them more important, or more deserving of good customer service. Plenty of people, like ourselves, have the money to fly in a higher class, but choose not to pay. Every life matters Virgin! Not impressed at all. Virgin, you're customers pay a lot of money to fly, even to fly economy, you might want to make changes to encourage them to become repeat customers! our US domestic flights were with Delta, and hands down were much better than Virgin. Seats were very comfortable in economy. If I could get all my flights with Delta, I'd rather fly with them. Our overall experience with virgin wasn't good, which is sad, as we were looking forward to the experience. I expected soooo much more Mr. Branson! This has greatly diminished the Virgin brand for us. Still looking for a winning airline who truly appreciates our business. read more

The Worst ever first Air Canada dishonored our reservation then Vigin Atlantic did the same. Unethical.

My family travels internationally at least once a year. There is no comparison between the airlines we have flown and Virgin Atlantic. From checking in at the airport, to the friendly greeting entering the plane, you feel very welcome; and we received excellent service our entire trip, regardless that we were traveling Economy. Even more impressive, was how stress-free it was to arrange for an earlier flight home from our vacation in Europe due to the tragedy in Paris. Our customer service representative was able to re-book us on a flight home with one day's notice, and even arranged for bulkhead seats as we were traveling with an infant. I wish Virgin Atlantic flew everywhere that we travel. read more

Hi We have been trying to use our air miles at Virgin for an upgrade. All throughout Virgin site it boasts and brags about air miles and their use but when you try to use them its a no. The site says you can get an upgrade subject to availability. In normal English ine would understand that to mean that if seats are available then you could upgrade to one.They use this subject availability term all over the site - BUT tucked away in the small print it says that mileage seats availability is at the sole discretion of Virgin. In other words you do not get to upgrade unless we say so and that will usually be towards the fight date when we know we cant sell the seat. Frankly we the customers are being misled to believe we can use our air miles easily which is frankly wrong. How many of us have not been able to use our air miles ? On top of all this one must question the whole system of air miles. Presumably once the miles are issued they become a liability in the company accounts which means they reduce the company profit which means the airline pays less tax. Over the years this liability must get to a very high figure which will never in fact be expended because we cant get to use our miles in the first place because the airline stops us and controls that expenditure. In other words it is a massive tax saving to the airline. Perhaps the |Government should investigate these schemes where we are it seems given a gift that cannot be used whilst they get tax saving on that same gift that will probably never be used. I have found that frankly I have been misled by the iste and I am sure thousands more have too. The travel industry should investigate this too! Kind regards to all - Derek Mott read more

Oh..what an experience!! I bought 4 tickets for my family from Virgin Atlantic's UK office back in 2011. I was assured my Flying Club membership # is taken and I finally credited with the mileage covered from US - INDIA and return! The booking agent was good enough to assure me on the phone that the system will automatically update and credit any mileage points...that never happened! I never bothered so much to check until I looked in carefully at my statement and saw that the points are missing!! I called up the Customer Services who mentioned they can only validate it for the last 6 months of travel!! Can't believe they don't have a process to match the flying club member's missing credits that were not punched into the system by their own agent! Who bears the brunt... the customer ! No way they could help, no process that would cover and ensure the passenger's interest!! What a farce! Richard Branson, you need to be educated on Customer Services before making those videos and boasting about your airlines. At the airport as well, at the ticketing counter, the person changed our seat numbers and I had to travel with a 11 months old next to the restroom for the longest sector! Totally feel cheated by the airlines and their workers! read more

1. Online check in "not available". 2. Check in with Delta who are running my Virgin flight at Seattle/Tacoma in good time - not given boarding pass for JFK to LHR leg of my journey - told I will be able to collect my boarding pass at JFK gate. Assured that my bag is checked all the way through to LHR 3. Arrive at gate in JFK - told there is no seat for me, told that I have a choice of flying the next day or downgrading to economy. I choose an economy seat. They did take the trouble to find me a front of cabin window seat with extra leg room - not all bad. 4. I witness the ritual humiliation of a passenger who has brought (and successfully stowed - there was plenty of room) five carry-on items. They remove one of her bags from the overhead locker and send it to the hold, without a tag of any kind (I later see it on the belt when I am waiting for my own bag). At least three of the cabin staff are involved in this episode which seemed more about punishment than the claims made by cabin staff that it was because of weight distribution. The item removed was a blue canvas bag containing a coat. It seems to me that this could have handled far better by not letting the customer past the gate with five items in the first place. 5. Treatment by the staff was frankly comical and amateur. When the dated video-tape based entertainment system jammed on some channels after being paused by an announcement. I was told to press play (there is no play button). Eventually the system was re-started, but some of the channels had continued and some stuck in pause. 6. The young lady next to me was to told "Yes there is a choice, you either have it or you don't have it" in a very sarcastic tone when she enquired about breakfast options. The breakfast, by the way, contained only a small muffin and a biscuit. 7. After 24 hours, I get a call from the bag handling department. They have still not found my bag, which did not get onto the JKF to LHR segment. read more

Worst baggage experience ever! We flew from London to Vancouver and they lost a bag. Anyone can lose a bag, no big problem, but what kind of service to you get after that? Well, the bag was found the next day and flown to Vancouver. Four days later the bag has not been delivered and we can't get to the bag and no one answers phone calls to the baggage service. It is so frustrating to know that the bag is 25 km away but we can't have it. read more

Dumped off a Virgin flight with no help, yes believe it. It takes time to earn silver member status and yes you could say that you needed to be happy with Virgin Atlantic to have flown this much with them and yes we were. Then in February we flew to Barbados with them in premium economy not much to complain about other than the food quality has slowly got to the stage that one look made you leave it on the tray, I could just see Richard eating it. Getting the flight home was another story, standing and waiting an hour to get through to the airport entrance in temps of 80 degrees with four flights leaving at about the same times, was a problem and the heat caused my wife's feet to swell. So we tried to upgrade to upper class to be told no seats were available, my wife just wanted to put her feet up to reduce the swelling. We were already in premium economy and were told to ask for a little more leg room on the flight. We boarded the plane got shown to our seats and my wife asked the stewardess if there was a bit more leg room anywhere to put her feet up. Then was asked what was wrong with her she replied standing in the heat has made my feet swell, the stewardess said you can't fly with swollen feet as this can cause you a problem. My wife explained that we are silver members and to get that, have flown many times and assured her that she does not suffer with swollen feet when flying. The stewardess said she would ask for medical advice, on returning she said I have to put you off the flight, my wife said if you need me to sign a disclaimer saying I fly at my own risk, I will do so as I know the swelling will go down when I put my feet up. The stewardess said someone will come to escort you both off the flight and the Virgin rep will take care of you back in the airport, your luggage is now being removed and you will need a doctors letter before we will let you fly. We are taken to the airport customs and left in the middle with our cases my wife still standing on swollen feet. The Virgin guy that took us back to the airport said ok I am off, we said where is the Virgin rep that's going to help us, walking away he said there isn't one. Can you now imagine standing in an airport with no help no where to stay three cases and a wife with swollen feet, just think hard before flying Virgin we have just booked BA. The one really good thing was, we had stayed at Sandals in Barbados and phoned to tell them what had happened, they sent a car to collect us gave us a room took us to a doctor who said we were fit to fly, now this is service. Virgin just left us and on complaining about what happened they thought it so trivial that they gave us 8000 flying miles each. The problem with airlines is they think they are too big to get hurt by social media and as for customer service they tend to think it doesn't matter anymore. Virgin and their staff were at one time very customer friendly this has now changed, they now are very much take it or leave it and the service has gone and the staff think they are better than the passengers. I did send two emails to Virgin customer service and gave them a chance to give me an answer that I could at least get my head around. Maybe like, we will check into this and this should not have happened, you being left at an airport with no help after being told a rep would take care of you. Or we will check on who told you there was a rep at the airport to help when we were told later that Virgin don't have a rep at that airport. The Virgin answer was after my second email as good as, we have given you 8000 miles each and if this doesn't cover your extra costs claim off your travel insurance. To sum this up we are not complainers and were not looking for money back but answers. So remember if flying Virgin this can happen to you as they don't think its worth checking into but you may get 8000 flying miles to throw away, because you won't want to fly with them again read more

I so wanted to write a good review about Virgin after dreaming of flying Virgin ever since watching the only fools and horses episode when Richard Branson steps in front of Del Boy in the queue and del says "oi pal what's your game anyone would think he owned the plane" then reading Richards book and how he had to fight tooth and nail with BA, and I can for 50% of my journey it was like chalk and cheese my experience . Flew to Shanghai upper class on the new 787-900 which was very exciting and the outward journey was a real experience very friendly staff who couldn't do enough for me movies music great food a bed ! Brilliant the way to travel Virgin 5 stars everything I believe in when adopting my work, customer friendly great service felt I was special. Then the home trip 3 week old plane upper class seat with a broken tv that I had to touch every 2 minutes to keep on, ask for a latte and they could only do chocolate no big deal until the hostess spilt it over me wouldn't have been to bothered but she appeared either hungover or sick couldn't work out which. They then opened the storage above my head and out fell about 20 newspapers . . . . We haven't taken off yet ! Ok I have children but when working and need to write up the business trip it wasn't great having 4 children around me climbing over seats bored. My TV squeaked when I tried closing it so didn't as everyone looked around at me every time I did the only spare seat was already taken by a customer from economy who's tv didn't work and they had that seat because the table was bust ! Deep breath I haven't finished yet . Meal time only had two starters I chose one they forgot me and by the time they had they came back and said they had run out and the other I couldn't eat. The chap next to me ask for a sandwich from the top air hostess who forgot and 1 hour later I order a sandwich from another air hostess that went to do it and it came back and was given to the guy next to me by the other air hostess who said to him" I bet you thought I forgot !" He must of realised it wasn't what he ordered and was what I ordered ! But he eat it so I buzzed and ask for mine which really confused them ! Boy it was like fawty towers in the air. Got to say I will be travelling a lot internationally but I can't risk this again sorry Virgin. To top this off the head air hostess congratulated the team at the end for the good job they had all done , to be honest one of them out of the 5 was good she carried the rest an Asian girl who's name I only wish I had taken. read more

My wife and I left Heathrow on the V019 flight to San Francisco in economy. Check in was on line and from arrival at Terminal 3 to air side was the quickest I have every experienced As for the plane it was a new airbus and we found seats 36A and 36C very good and as the flight was not full there was plenty of opportunity to move around. Food was not brilliant but it was better than some although the Calzone snack was not pretty and not bad it was pretty bad. All in all a very good flight and attentive crew possibly because the flight was not full. I suppose my only compalint is that Virgin like so many others have still a fuel surcharge in place despite the vast reduction in fuel costs. However they have got around this by calling this a carrier imposed surcharge which is virtually the same as the fuel surcharge, some day an airline is going to break ranks from the high profitability aspect of this and then we will see what competition really does. All this nonsense they feed us about buying forward is now a very poor fairy tale and about time they reduced these fares once and for all. I hope their Chief Executive Mr Kreeger is taking note and also Mr George Osborne who promised us this rip off would be sorted. read more

This was the worst airline experience of my life!! The first departure flight from Washington DC was cancelled 2 hours prior to departure. We were thrown onto another airline which the flight cost less. My husband is disabled and requires bulkhead seating for his disability. The last minute airline was not prepared for us and would not provide him an upgraded seat for his disability because they stated they had to match Virgin Atlantic seating exactly in order to be paid. First problem: Vurgin Atlantic does not provide disabled bulkhead seats until boarding. This is where the first problem began. Return flight from Heathrow did not provided us with a confirmation email or text. We were not allowed to check in online and in fact had to actually go to the airport to get checked in and print boarding passes. The problem being when we were not given terminal information. Went online to VA website and was shown terminal 5. We arrived at terminal 5 and was sent back (30 minutes later) to terminal 3. Terminal 3 ticket agent refused to print out boarding passes because she said and hour and 5 minutes was not enough time to get us through security. What?? We had pre check. We had carry on only and flip flops. My husband required a wheelchair. This agent said it would not happen with a wheelchair. She refused this flight for us based on my husband being disabled. When a wheelchair is used, the agent goes straight to the TSA without any wait. No wasted time. She obviously had no knowledge of this fact or she just did not want to help us because of the disability. We were placed on "delayed flight" status and booked for the following day. I cried and begged to get us on another flight that day because our grandson was graduating the following day. We were left on next day flight. Well, we missed our grandsons graduation. Can never get that once in a lifetime experience back. My heart was broken. We were bused to a hotel for the night and bused back for the next day return flight. We were finally given our boarding passes and taken to a holding cell much like an emergency room of a hospital. Segrated from all regular passengers. When it was time to board my husband was allowed to leave via a wheelchair to the plane and try to get his needed bulkhead seat which was considered an upgrade and was allowed if we agreed to pay an additional six hundred dollars. No way, After boarding the pilot informed us that the flight would be delayed because we were waiting for five late passengers WHAT we had to wait for five non disabled persons when we were refused the day earlier and were not late, I smell a discrimination read more

I normally do not give poor reviews, in fact normally I do not post any reviews. However, this case warrants a 1. My father fell ill on the return from his trip in London and required two weeks of hospitalization overseas for a life threatening sickness. I went to help my mom and did not know when we would be able to return. Apparently, "Natalie" with Virgin assisted my mom for the first few days and was wonderful and understanding of the exigency circumstances. But, when we tried to arrange for return flights a new person, "Gita", was entirely unforgiving and refused to listen to our situation, refused to get her supervisor, and refused to cooperate with us in any way so that my mom and I could book the same flight using the refund for my dad's unused ticket, for which he paid a substantial amount. Instead, she placed roadblocks at every attempt to work out a reasonable flight in our emergency situation. I ended up booking through the front desk, paid an unnecessarily exorbitant amount of money for the ticket (luckily my mom already was able to get her ticket changed earlier) and was treated horribly. Gita was utterly worthless and unconscionably insensitive. Neither I, nor my parents who usually fly first class, will ever use Virgin again. If you do, just hope that an emergency does not occur, because they will give you the shaft in a heartbeat. read more