Virgin Atlantic Airways Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

Heathrow to Boston. Reception, plane and service very good - food was of mediocre quality. Return from Orlando to Gatwick on 24th October was a great disappointment. 24 hours before departure we had booked seats and printed boarding cards. On checking in we were given without any explanation different seats and a boarding card showed a different departure time. Turned out this was due to technical problems 3 days previously - no notification of this at the time of printing boarding cards so we had an extra 3 hours to spend at Orlano airport - not a place with any comfort or even reasonable shops to wander around. Check in staff at Orlando were far less customer concerned that those at Heathrow! The 747 - was a poor substitute for the Airbus of the outward flight. The seats were uncomfortable and narrow, though leg room was adequate. The leg support was useless. In short Virgin needs to upgrade its standards - it is nowhere near as good as it used to be. If you have choice fly with them from Heathrow but come back on another airline!

We travelled to Cuba and returned with VA. The service on the plane was ok. The food not exciting for a long haul flight. The breakfast and snacks poor. Long waits with requests for drinks. Staff on the return flight not very friendly. VA must not charge full fare for its passengers sitting near toilets and galley.

Economy cabin - HKG to Sydney - VS200. Seating was quite good, although when people in front reclined, it left very little room to eat and inflight entertainment screen had to be adjusted. Food was quiet good for economy and beverages were offered quiet often during the flight. IFE was switched off 1.5 hours prior to landing, so there was very little to do until landing. Overall a good smooth flight.

VA 201 SYD to HKG. Premium Economy. Seats very comfortable, and cabin staff attentive. On preparation for take-off, all passengers were requested to stow pillows and any blankets (even those draped over passenger legs). I and other passengers thought this was very strange, as I have never seen this before. One passenger even said to me, that he must have missed the instruction manual for his blanket. In seat entertainment had lots of choice. Drinks offered, or upon request. Food was very nice and just the right amount. Huge improvement in premium economy compared to when I last flew to Hong Kong in Premium economy on Virgin Atlantic.

JHB to LHR on 2nd Sep 2012 flight no VS602. This must have been one of the worst flights I have ever had in my 42 years of flying between these countries. The plane was old, the man in front of me might as well have been sitting on my knees. I am flying back to JHB on 30th Nov, 2012 on flight VS601 and to make sure the flight back isn't has bad as the one coming I have decided to upgrade to Premium class.

Have flown Virgin to the USA on 3 occasions, the 1st flight was excellent. Our 2nd trip we found the seat configuration had changed so all seats faced forward? My husband has to have an aisle seat because of health problems, so I found myself between him and another male passenger! This was also the case on our return trip on our 3rd flight. We much preferred the 2 seats which faced each other. Except for the first glass of champagne, we had to catch the flight staffs eye to get any further attention. Food has taken a turn for the worse, no choice to speak of, I survived on a couple of cold bread rolls as nothing on the menu appealed to either of us.

LGW to Havana 1.10.12. Loud, jazzy music before take-off; should have been calm and relaxing background music. Cabin was freezing for the first hour as air conditioning on far too low. Attendant unhelpful when I complained. The choice of 3 meals on the menu card turned into 'only Lasagne' by the time attendant came for our orders. Film choice was good but my husband couldn't watch anything as his headphones didn't work. Flew back from Havana 12.10.12. An older aircraft, screens were smaller, picture grainy and the sound appalling. Very poor choice of films. My husband's sausages and mash turned up stone cold and he had to change it. Biggest shock was 'breakfast'. A small blueberry muffin, another tiny sweet cake and a pot of 5 slices of apple and a few grapes! We were given what should have been a 'tea' snack. Would not go with Virgin again through 'choice'.

Problems checking in online, sorted efficiently but too late to take advantage of seat allocation. Late departure from LHR followed by lost baggage. Continually had to chase both VA and the luggage handling team in San Francisco. Although baggage eventually located there were mixed messages re delivery (48 hrs) and cause. Eventually returned and after pressing customer services was offered air miles as compensation. Flight departure from Las Vegas, approximately 3 hours delay. Food fairly predictable, bog standard airline food - nothing special. Inflight entertainment good on return flight and more comfortable than outward journey. Would be reluctant to fly with VA again. I fly both short and long haul frequently both for pleasure and on business so feel that in comparison with other airlines this is a factual and fair review.

Flew VS 75 / 76 Man - Orlando return on A330-300. Flights on time with the return journey landing 50 mins early due to tail winds. This did though cause heavy turbulence for the first hour our of Orlando. Excellent in flight entertainment, cabin crew fine but my issue is the food. Absolutely woeful. I'm starting to wonder why they bother. We don't bother with my wife's vegetarian meal anymore as it's always inedible. That said we've never had a delay in 10 return trips and the new aircraft's are pleasant to fly in.

LAS-LGW on 12 October. Paid $140 to change my seat to emergency exit seat 75H on the upper deck. I am 6ft 4in tall and could fully stretch out and get up without disturbing anyone. Food was good - pasta for dinner and was impressed. In-flight entertainment system on refitted LGW fleet is excellent and long overdue. Only criticism is the touch screens could do with a clean now and again. Breakfast was a cereal bar, orange juice and a muffin. Upon arrival at LGW the upper deck is allowed off before any economy passengers on the lower deck so you get some advantage there, but that disappeared for me as my bag took 40 minutes to arrive.

We have been loyal Virgin customers for years and over the past ten or so have travelled Upper Class only. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near as good as it used to be. Virgin used to be the 'go-to' airline for us because staff were friendly yet professional and the amenities on board, as well as the suites were excellent. Roll forward and things have consistently gone downhill. The number of crew has reduced meaning you often get a stressed and occasionally rude flight attendant who makes you feel they are doing you a favour by providing you with the service you have paid for. The amenities have been reduced from a bag to being offered some from a basket, to an eye mask, pointless earplugs and a pair of socks. This has now been changed again but from what I can see, Upper Class passengers who pay around £3500 - £6000 for a return USA flight actually get worse amenities than those travelling in Economy. The food - which is billed as a la carte - has been reduced from a freedom menu, which meant that you could order what you want, when you wanted to eating at to set meal times. Another cost cut and reduction in service. The quality is often poor as well, undercooked potato, overcooked and unseasoned meat and generally a poor choice. The general condition of the Upper Class suite is poor, often dirty with screens that don't work very well, has chips and marks here, there and everywhere and is in dire need of an upgrade. All in all, it feels like Virgin are nickel and diming Business Class customers and we for one couple, are losing faith. We have one more flight booked with them, and then we have decided that we are going to play the field.

SYD-HKG return A340-600. 4 adults, 1 child and an infant. Having recently flown to LA and back with V Australia, (777) we are in a good position to compare. The V Atlantic flights went without incident. There was neither anything to praise or anything to criticize. The seats were narrower than V Australia and had less pitch. The food was OK but still not as good as the Ozzie. Cabin Crew service was good. I'd fly with them again.

I have travelled to America twice with my children, once on Thomson and once on Virgin Atlantic. The Virgin flights were much more expensive as we were supposedly to receive the seatback entertainment and better seats etc. The seat back TVs continuously broke down much to the disappointment of my 3 children and needed to be reset about 6 times. The light overhead would not switch off at all and staff were not really that bothered about the TVs breaking. They were not that customer focused and you had the feeling that you were annoying them by calling them to sort out the TVs which did not work anyway. We ordered children's meals for them and they received some vile pasta with white sauce and cheese which they did not eat! We were told on booking that the children's meal was going to be chicken nuggets and chips, when we brought this to the attention of cabin crew we were told that was the meal on return flight. The adult meal was sausage and mash, my husband and I had to give our meals to our children as the pasta looked so disgusting and so for the 9 hour flight we had no meal as they did not have any spare. Would I travel with Virgin again? Not at the price they charge anyway, I would rather save some money and fly another airline!

Flew LGW-LAS on 5th October and sat in seat 19C. First time in my life I have travelled in anything other than premium economy. I was on English Rose, one of the refitted LGW Virgin fleet. I am 6ft 4in tall and found seat very comfortable. When person in front reclined I could still see my TV screen and their seat did not touch my knees. The leg rest I found didn't work for me probably because of my height. Food was good though portion sizes could be better and "warm" bread was stone cold by the time I was served. Cabin crew attentive with lots of water and juice runs. Entertainment system fantastic and what the Virgin brand should be about. I feel they dropped the ball with their LGW over several years so their fleet became tired and dirty, but the refitted planes are much better and the standard I would expect.

Our seats were confirmed at the time of booking and nowhere did we see that we had to reconfirm them 24 hours prior to takeoff. We were put into other seats that were unacceptable to us but they did not care. Other people were downgraded from upper-class to premium economy without notice. Food was poor with plastic plates and cutlery. Paper cups for coffee. But we were in premium economy. Seats were not very comfortable. Qantas is much better. Never again will we travel on Virgin. Footrests were not very comfortable, just like economy. Why do Virgin overbook their aircraft. So many people on that aircraft were downgraded from upper-class or premium economy down to a lower grade without notice. Unacceptable.

If you experience any problems submitting comments on the above link, please use our general   Feedback Page