Virgin Atlantic

✅ Trip Verified | London to New York. I'm a mom of a 3 years old toddler with allergies. This was our first overseas flight over 6 hours, and with that more food was required (as i always bring my own food). Or experience was beyond awful. On our way there (flight VS003) our flight was 3h delayed, with staff giving us different and mainly wrong information. Once boarded, we found out that meal for my child was inappropriate (luckily i had a separate bag full of food for her with one meal being in a dish that holds heat for several hours). Mark, one of attendees went beyond every effort to accomodate us and make our flight as pleasurable as possible. Thank you Mark for being what every customer service person should be. He said he will leave a mark for us for our return flight, but that we should call customer service just in case. Which i did. Day before our return flight (VS026 NYC-LONDON) i jave called customer service, where I explained the situation. Lady over the phone said that they do not have a kids meal that could cover our allergies, that she left a special request for us, but that I should bring my own food in a microwaveable dish so the staff onboard could heat it up for us. And so i did. I had enough food (warm in a thermos dish for breakfast) and prepared lunch to be heated up as instructed over the phone. And this is where our misery started. Food for a 3 years old child was extremely spicy vegan meal that even I couldn’t eat. I called flight attendant to ask to heat up a meal for us. She refused as its illegal to do it? I said that i just followed the instructions given by their customer service, I asked to talk with the manager. He approached me with an extreme attitude, not letting me finish my sentence, and said they will not heat up my childs food.

✅ Trip Verified | London Heathrow to New York JFK return in Premium Economy. Outstanding service from start to finish. No queues at checkin either at LHR or JFK - walked straight up to really friendly checkin staff who asked about my holiday plans. Outbound flight was delayed by an hour due to accommodating passengers from a previous cancelled flight - captain was very apologetic and gave a full explanation. Crew were delightful: human, friendly, chatty and always there. Food plentiful, especially with the Wander Wall. Beef brisket tasted great. Movies ok on way out but much better choice on return on the 787. Crew also good on return leg but it was night flight so less interaction. Warm almond croissant for breakfast was good. On time arrivals both ways. Highly recommend.

Not Verified | Gatwick to San Diego. Everything worked out perfectly on this flight. I had flown Virgin in the past and loved it. This time I was not disappointed. I was celebrating my impeding 60th birthday and the flight crew moved my seat to my own row in the upper deck, and I had the whole 3 seat row to myself. One thing I always remembered about Virgin, is that the food was good and they served more snacks between the 2 meals than other airlines I’ve flown. It was the same this time! Good service and pleasant, helpful staff.

✅ Trip Verified | London to New York JFK. The most perfect Christmas. Caught a flight on the 24th December 2018 to JFK, and the staff were friendly and proficient, professional and cheerful and made my trip of 8 hours hardly noticeable. I had the pleasure of being upgraded. It was my first time on a Virgin Flight, first long haul flight for 7 years. The Christmas spirit was flowing and the smiles and happy faces were a delight. Heartily recommend a Virgin flight to the USA.

✅ Trip Verified | I had the most fantastic experience flying back from Atlanta. We were lucky enough to be upgraded to Premium Economy. The staff went out of their way to make the trip a very special one, providing blankets and serving drinks and food, it was done in a professional and courteous manner. I would have no hesitation in recommending Virgin Atlantic.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Hong Kong. Lucky enough to win a Virgin Online Bid for Upper Class on outward Leg. Outbound was excellent in all areas. Lounge at Heathrow amazing and flight and facilities brilliant. Returned on Economy with Extra Leg Room and was never going to be as good but was ok. Leg Room good and cabin crew and food very good.

✅ Trip Verified | Bridgetown to London. After leaving a cruise we had to fly From Barbados on 1st December on a fixed date and it seemed all flights were jammed full and hugely expensive leading us to take our first economy long haul in many years. I am also loyal to BA so Virgin was my second choice of carrier and I had my heckles up which although unfair was the truth. Therefore after weeks of trying everything from bidding for upgrades, (delighted with premium and excited for Upper), trying for award tickets and any other way of upgrading decided that 8 hours 5 minutes in economy was worth the cruise. Check in was quiet and despite a crammed flight and they allowed us to have a couple of bags with a few kilograms overweight (26kg each bag). Incidentally a friend in premium was not so lucky being charged 200 USD for having similar overweight bags. We decided that the best compromise was to pay for emergency exit seats but at the late booking stage they were not together but we secured two albeit at different ends of economy. Boarding was on time but very slow and I feared a very late departure. Staff very welcoming on boarding. I always choose a window seat but only 25H was available (aisle) and I was relived I had not paid for 25K which had a large part of the exit door blocking the legroom. I am sure a seat guru check would have highlighted the issue but I was happy that I hadn’t paid for 25K The huge surprise was the flight was only 6 hours 42 minutes so such a fast flight was very welcome. Indeed, despite a delayed departure we landed 40 minutes early. It was great to fly the 747 after a number of years and the plane was in good condition despite its age. It was one of Virgin's newer 747s but of course it was still an old plane. The seat was tight but not uncomfortable and menus were distributed which was a nice touch. A hot towel and drinks service was served by a young and enthusiastic crew. After a Gin and Tonic and nice pretzels I received my first choice of meal which was small but tasty. The TV was small but adequate and I found the entertainment choices to be good. After dinner tea and hot chocolate came round but I opted to rest and was surprised to get some rest and enjoy the extremely fast flight to London – you could almost feel the speed as the tail winds got us to London in super quick time. Breakfast was fruit a yoghurt and a hot croissant 90 minutes prior to landing and as we. Had only eaten dinner 4 hours earlier it was more than adequate. We arrived at Gatwick before the earlier BA flight at 4.45am and bags arrived so quickly I was able to take an earlier Easyjet flight home. I felt compelled to write a review about the experience. Yes, I was lucky to have a super quick flight and I swerved a bad emergency exit seat by chance. I was ready to leave after 6 hours and wouldn’t relish a longer flight but the experience was positive. Yes I would have still paid for Premium or Upper and will try to next time but, for the price paid I thought it a good value product.

Not Verified | I know it's over a year ago. But felt I had to put pen to paper. We flew to LAX in March 2017. We were supposed to be on the early flight. But, with the jigs and reels missed the flight. Not our fault. Virgin were very helpful and got us on next flight. Bags got lost, Virgin said they would send them on to our hotel. Yeah, right said I in my head! Sure enough next day bags appeared. Premium was worth the extra. I know you have people on moaning that there 7 ft 4" husbands were uncomfortable. My wife and I are small, tons of room. Staff were very helpful and the food was good too. So, stop moaning Virgin Atlantic is a great airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Orlando to Gatwick. Virgin Atlantic offers no more than other cheaper airlines. I also found that they do not allow baggage pooling which is offered by airlines such as Thomas Cook. The seats and tables were dirty. The food was ok and the on board entertainment was very good. The major issue I had was using the check in at Disney Springs which cost us $70 extra but should have saved time and hassle. Unfortunately our bags were mistreated and although I complained at the Virgin desk at Gatwick I was told it was wear and tear. The bags were obviously smashed and had large dents in them. Virgin obviously are happy to provide this poor service and then turn a blind eye.

✅ Trip Verified | Manchester to Orlando. 24 hours before I attempted to check in online and found I could not as I had been randomly selected for a security check at the airport so had to check in there. I had planned to upgrade at check-in and this upset me as I would be put to the back of the queue if I was to wait to upgrade. So I called Virgin reservations and explained the situation Virgin of course not wanting to loose out on money got me though to someone who upgraded us from Economy Classic to Economy Delight for 49 pounds per person. I had already paid 70 to select seats on the upper deck so they agreed to refund the 70 since I was upgrading. All good so far. We got extra legroom seats and were able to use the Premium check in desks and board before everyone else. This was invaluable due to the extra security SSSS checks that were coming my way. Got to the airport check-in was easy and we had purchased fast track security due to hearing about security chaos at Manchester airport. Got to the gate and boarding commenced. My wife took my backpack from me as she was not selected for extra screening. I was pulled aside and she walked straight on. The guy just patted my up and down saying what no bags. Lucky for me since I used to work for an airline we knew that if I didn't have a bag there wasn't much they could do. At the door I was greeted by a flight attendant and directed to my seat. Settled in and take off was on-time. As soon as we were in the air the cabin crew started the drink service and handed out pretzels. A meal menu was handed out the choices were Malvani chicken curry or sausages with tomatoes or a pasta bake. I chose the curry which was pretty terrible. The rest of the flight was uneventful a cheese sandwich was handed out prior to landing as well which was again bad. I have no idea how airlines manage to make the simplest things horrible. The big points on this flight were the cabin crew who were really good to us but seemed to insist everyone sit in their assigned seats even if the one next to someone was free for takeoff. Lucky for us we had the whole row to ourselves. Immigration in Orlando was simple since I am a US and Irish Citizen. Bags came out pretty easy too. All in all a decent flight pity about the food. One thing I will note is the entertainment system is not very responsive which needs to be addressed.