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VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review :  7 January 2010 by J Vadgama   (UK)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review :  16 December 2009 by Alan Ruck   (UK)

I was on the same flight as Ruth Roberts from Barbados to Gatwick-except it started from Antigua after an hours delay. We were offered no water or refreshment as a result of what should have been an avoidable delay. With the honourable exception of the young lady who served our section in economy class the crew looked extremely jaded or disinterested. The senior staff making the announcements once we arrived at Gatwick was either ill or totally bored. Add in the poor food , dreadful lack of leg room and a poor range of entertainment over the two flights I can agree that this was the worst scheduled flight I have been on. Can we have less Virgin toothbrushes and more service please.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review :  16 December 2009 by S Sankar   (UK)

LHR-NRT return. Check in at LHR was a breeze even though I was denied the premium limo check in from my taxi as I had a discounted Upper Class fare. Security was through the dedicated Virgin channel and this took longer than expected. However the lounge was beautiful, light and airy with a great a la carte restaurant (buffet options also available), spa, massage facilities, bar and comfy seats. Onboard, the seat layout was a little different to what I have previously experienced, ie. window seats actually back on to the window so you have to turn around almost 180 degrees to see outside. However, once orientated, it worked well and allows passengers to sit uninterrupted from fellow passengers and the cabin crew. There is a bar if you are feeling sociable. The bed comfort was very good with a duvet, huge pillows and pyjamas so easy to get some sleep. The service was excellent but meal service was varied, ie. good choice on the way to NRT but a lower standard on the return flight. In fact on both legs, the main meal was great but the second meal options of a much lower standard. IFE, although better than its arch rival BA, needs to be updated for movie choice. The best Middle Eastern and Asian airlines now have a library of hundreds of films. Virgin has mainly contemporary films - a few old favourites would be a welcome addition. On the return, the lounge in NRT was more basic than the flagship LHR lounge but that is to be expected given the 1xdaily frequency. In conclusion, a positive experience - not quite as good as some Middle Eastern and Asian carriers - superior to BA Club World.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS customer review :  14 December 2009 by Joyce Pugh   (USA)

After upgrading to premium economy to try to get some rest, I got the bulkhead middle aisle seat. The family from hell arrived and sat bulkhead window and aisle and row behind with a baby, 2 year-old and 4/5 year old. The noise level was high but I thought they might settle down. After 4 hours of the older one climbing over their seats, arguing with the middle one, the middle one playing in the aisle next to me and even knocking items out of my storage pocket (without concern or apology time from the parents), being nudged while trying to sleep, the baby's diaper being changed while I was eating etc I got up, stashed my belongings and told the mother I was moving to somewhere quiet where passengers were considerate and respectful of others. 'Shut up' was the response - classy! I told the staff who were aware of the noise and apparently the manager spoke to them after I had relocated to empty seats in economy. The staff were kind to me but after paying out a lot to upgrade I had a poor trip. I realise that more children are now travelling in premium as I have experienced it before but wonder if Virgin could make it conditional to quieter behaviour or risk being moved to economy. Why should we all have to suffer at this price? I will not be upgrading again.