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Virgin Atlantic Airways Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports |
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VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 12 January 2010 by K Wilkinson (UK )
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Trip Rating : 3/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
My husband and I flew London to New York return. I thought Virgin Atlantic had a good
reputation but I was disappointed. Firstly, how does the online check in process and then bag
drop make anything quicker? We still ended up waiting the same amount of time to drop our
bags off as we would have done checking in, so I can't see what use this would be apart from
the fact that you can tell we will definitely be travelling and so not sell our seats?
Slightly ridiculous when security checks are taking so much time and the queues for check in
were smaller! More importantly, the aircraft seats were incredibly uncomfortable. We were not
able to sleep or relax for the whole 6-7 hours which was exhausting. The cabin staff were not
interested in the passengers and preferred to talk about boyfriends etc. Finally, a plastic
wrapped muffin and a hot drink is not breakfast!!
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 10 January 2010 by Charles Nunn (UK )
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Trip Rating : 8/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Premium Economy |
Premium Economy from Heathrow to LAX return, in newish A340 -600. Booking in procedures,
especially LAX, trouble free. Flights on time, comfortable seating and meals good quality. The
cabin staff were attentive and pleasant. Two toilets allocated to the Premium Cabin and staff
were diligent in ensuring that Economy passengers did not come through the curtains to use
them. Priority boarding and embarking after Business Class as well as priority luggage on belt
at LAX.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 8 January 2010 by Judie van Wyk (South Africa )
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Trip Rating : 0/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Premium Economy |
Virgin Atlantic need to do something about their seat allocation. I have already posted a
complaint on this site regarding seat allocation on a flight from LHR to Johannesburg. We
booked Premium Economy tickets and chose our seats. When we got to the airport the seats had
been reallocated. Flying is stressful enough without having your seats reassigned. The
customer service was shocking, in fact the attitude was we will bump you off the flight if you
complain. I have a very big problem with Virgin Atlantic service and I would not recommend
them to anyone until they sort out their seat allocation. I have complained on the Virgin
Atlantic website and that is a waste of time, no one is interested.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 7 January 2010 by Susan Ostanik (USA)
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Trip Rating : 0/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
We booked a flight with Virgin Atlantic almost six months ago and were given seating numbers.
When we went to the airport early to get a exit row seat on our flight from LAX to London, we
were told that we had to pay $120 per seat for that. They never asked me are you able - just
give me the money. The seat did not recline as they told me it would and the steward was too
busy to help. The sound system was jammed and the screen would not stay up. The food was
beyond lousy and they were too busy to get you water. On our return flight we telephoned
Virgin Atlantic and checked in confirming our seats. When we went to the airport 3 hrs in
advance they had taken our seats and separated us. They gave me the jump the hoops and then
told me if I didn't like it I could fill out a form. This was the worst customer service I
have ever had in flying and I've been doing it for over 50 yrs.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 7 January 2010 by J Vadgama (UK)
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Trip Rating : 5/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Premium Economy |
Heathrow - Sydney. We arrived for check-in at Heathrow Terminal 3 three hours ahead of
departure. At the desk, we were informed by the agent that there was only a seat for me in
Premium Economy, with my 79-year old wife allocated a seat in Economy. This despite the fact
that our booking had been made almost nine months ago and re-confirmed a couple of weeks
earlier. I had requested an aisle and window seat together. Being told that we would be split
up was quite distressing, leaving aside the cock-up in set allocation. We were offered the
opportunity to travel on the following day’s Virgin flight, but refused, as we didn’t want to
spend a night in a hotel and have our trip reduced by a day. After a staff discussion of 45-50
minutes, the senior agent on duty eventually offered us two seats together in Upper Class on a
Virgin flight to Dubai, but could only then transfer us on to an Emirates flight in Economy to
Sydney. This meant we would have to complete the majority of our trip in less comfortable
surroundings and be forced to travel via Dubai. We reluctantly agreed, as we didn’t want to
spend another day in London. The senior agent was very grateful and hugged me. We did ask
Virgin to inform my son in Sydney of the change in itinerary, as he was due to meet us off the
flight early on Wednesday morning. This they promised to do. I gave them his contact details.
Arriving at Dubai, there was no Virgin representative at Dubai to help us. It meant we had to
walk the entire length of the airport terminal to transfer to our Emirates flight at gate 232.
At the boarding gate, we had to endure another 30-minute delay as our changed travel
documentation was queried. Our son spent almost two hours at Sydney International Arrivals
waiting for us to come off our booked Virgin flight. He hadn’t been notified of the change and
only knew of the change when we finally came through customs. All in all, a poor experience
with Virgin who couldn't even get basic customer service right.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 7 January 2010 by Andy Lowe (UK)
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Trip Rating : 8/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
LHR-New York Newark (EWR) Round Trip. Boeing 747 outbound, clean, spacious with plenty of
legroom. Crew very pleasant and helpful. Food good and they even supplied choc-ices, only 2
alcoholic drinks service but frequent tea/coffee/juice. V-port entertainment system excellent.
A340 inbound to London good seat pitch (not as good at the 747) however good recline and
sliding seat base made it comfortable. Breakfast was a poor excuse but lunch better. Alcoholic
drinks service irregular but plenty of tea/coffee/juice. Overall a comfortable and better
than average economy experience.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 3 January 2010 by J Au (Hong Kong)
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Trip Rating : 3/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
LHR-HKG. Ticket purchased via an agent back in May and seat confirmed on VS238, departure time
at 1625 and arrival time at 1235+1. Later retrieved the booking on VS website and there was no
sign to let me know that the flight had been cancelled. Not even when I checked in at HKG for
the outbound flight. When I was in LHR for this flight I was unable to check in at the kiosk,
so a member of staff checked in for me manually and gave me the boarding pass but did not say
anything. It was until I checked my baggage at the counter I noticed that the flight on the
boarding pass was not the same as my e-Ticket. Asked the staff at counter and was told that
the flight no longer existed, my flight was changed to VS200 departure time at 2125 - five
hours later! She didn't even tell me the new arrival time, thinking that I must have known
everything. I arrived LHR 3.5 hours before original departure time, so you can imagine how
long I was stuck in LHR. Inflight AVOD was not working, toilet not cleaned, food was not good,
and there was no air-con for half an hour before flight departure as three passengers were missing.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 24 December 2009 by W McDonald (UK)
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Trip Rating : 0/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
Booked flight in May for Manchester to Orlando return in December. Arrived at Manchester to be
told that seats I had booked were changed - now my wife and myself were seperated by 10 rows.
paid £60 to upgrade to sit by each other ended up in families section, no extra legroom,
flight from hell. Food inedible, staff miserable and curt on asking for water to take
tablets. Return from Orlando, again not placed in seats that were allocated by earlier e-mail.
After discussion and "because flight was not full" they allocated seats . Again food was awful
freezing cold, video was broken, was then told to seat in other seat if I wanted to watch.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 24 December 2009 by Mark Waterfall (UK)
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Trip Rating : 1/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
Manchester-Orlando return. Outbound left Manchester 2 hours late due to fault. Crew friendly
and attentive, but inflight entertainment very poor and the food was both small in portion and
awful. Inbound we had a 10 hour delay as Virgin decided to swap the Gatwick/Manchester return
flights round, so even though the Manchester was ontime arriving into Orlando we had to wait
for the 10 hour delayed Gatwick. Virgin treat Manchester passengers as second class citizens
and Gatwick take priority. During the 10 hour delay, the Orlando ground staff were
disinterested and arrogant. This swapping of late inbound aircraft happens a lot according to
staff. The crew again were attentive and professional on the inbound, but food awful and the
seats uncomfortable, inflight entertainment rubbish.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 20 December 2009 by M Ward (UK)
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Trip Rating : 2/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Economy |
Managed after a number of years to understand how to use my airline points . Booked a flight
to Gatwick / Barbados - paying Tax only - that was £200! Outgoing flight was fairly
uneventful, but packed. On the way back service was terrible. We were sitting halfway down in
economy, no drinks and when the meal was served, were advised they had run out of food!!
Challenged that along with others and after they realised they were not going to beat us into
the ground they went back and heated up some more. Breakfast was inedible - a bacon roll
served on a piece of kitchen paper plus a glass of orange juice. Felt the cabin crew would
like to beat us up when we got to Gatwick.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review : 17 December 2009 by S Mansell (UK)
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Trip Rating : 0/10 |
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Recommended: |
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Value for Money: |
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Cabin Flown: |
Upper Class |
On our return flight from Orlando we had pre booked our seats months in advance. On arrival at
Downtown Disney to check in and drop our bags off, we were advised that our seat allocations
had been changed, not too bad as we were still sat together so we were fine with this. However
when we attempted to board we were told our seats had been changed again and I was in row 39
and my wife was in row 51, 12 rows separating us and bare in mind my wife is very nervous
about flying so you can imagine how she was feeling about this. She broke down in tears and
said she could not fly if not sat next to me. This was their response "all the seats are
allocated, there is nothing we can do, if you cannot board the plane stand over there and we
will deal with you when boarding is complete" Luckily for us two young ladies who had seats
next to each other saw how upset she was and offered us their seats, had it not been for this
I really don't know if we could have boarded. My message is simple, even if you have pre
booked your seats months in advance, you cannot guarantee sitting next to your loved one until
you actually sit down. I have since complained to Virgin about this matter and they advised me
that to have the best chance of keeping your original seat allocation you should do online
check in at least 13hrs prior to departure, bearing in mind most passengers are from the UK
and are in a foreign country this seems rather bizarre.
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