Virgin Atlantic Reviews 

Don’t use Virgin Atlantic. If I could give zero stars I would. Booked premium economy seats, but our booking confirmation said economy. Over 40 minutes on phone with customer service to try to find out what was going on, and they hung up when we decided to cancel the booking. So here I am on hold again.

The worst traveling experience of my life I fly from London Heathrow to Dubai on the broken seat. When I contacted the costumer care people with evidences and photos to prove my claim. The answer was " we asked the crew and it isn't true, you are lying "
The response was rude and very offensive. I would never use this airline again.

I flew with Virgin Atlantic on 1 January 2026 from Washington Dulles to Heathrow leaving at 22:10, and it was the worst flight experience I have ever had.

I had booked seat A45 which on the website was the exit row seat by the door, and had no seat in front of it. I specifically chose this seat because I have knee and leg problems and need extra legroom as I can't fold my legs for hours comfortably without the needs to stretch it to release the pain. However, once on board, I realised that the exit row seat was now A50, not A45. The latter was now a different seat in a tight coner by the toilet with another seat in front. I alerted the male cabin crew who casually explained that the aircraft had been changed since I booked my seat.

The male stewards called his manager, a female steward, who came over and spoke to me very rudely and bluntly. She said, Sir, if you do not want to sit there, you can get off the plane and book another flight, or contact customer services. She then added that I could pay £500 pounds for her to check whether an alternative seat might be available at the front of the plane.

This happened two minutes before takeoff. She then said that if I did not sit in the new A45 seat immediately, the plane would not take off. Her tone was dismissive and rude, and she made it seem as though I was causing trouble. Other passengers began staring at me as if I were an unruly passenger. I felt extremely embarrassed and ended up squeezing into the tight corner seat, folding my legs painfully.

The male steward told me that after takeoff they would look for an alternative seat and come back to update me. No one ever returned.

During the flight, I asked one of the stewards for water so I could take cocodamol pain killers. She scoffed and handed me a very small cup of water that was only half full. When I asked for more water, she looked visibly annoyed.

To make matters worse, the cover of the armrest on my seat was broken and had fallen off. For over six hours, my hand rested against exposed metal rods, screw heads, and uncovered cables, which was very painful.

By the time we landed at Heathrow, my legs were severely cramped and my elbow was swollen. It was an awful experience from start to finish.

I originally booked the flight with KLM, only to later realise that the flight was operated by Virgin Atlantic. I will never fly with Virgin Atlantic again and would not recommend anyone fly with them especially in economy class.

The Virgin Atlantic App and Website are atrocious, to the point of being unusable. Constant crashes, freezes and other glitches - at present I cannot even log into the App. By far the worst digital service of any airline I have used.

Flew with Virgin in September - Heathrow to Seattle. Such a lovely experience - would have been happy for flight to be even longer: loved the privacy of the new pod, the seat was so easy to adjust, the food and drink were perfect, and the staff, especially Donna, were exceptional.

I recently used them as a part of my business trip from London to Delhi. Prices are fine, just around market average. Customer service is friendly, though not as trained as I expected.

Virgin Airlines website is absolute rubbish. Other airlines allows the lead passenger to update, choose seating, check in all passengers etc all in the same screen at the same time, add additional cabin bags. However Virgin does not, this website has given me major stress and anxiety. Even the App is rubbish. Tried using that after the frustration of their website. Added my partner first. Guess what will not even allow me to add my own info on my app! Other airlines are so easy, just a swipe left/right and the lead passenger has it all. How the hell do parents manage with any multiple/children's bookings? Considering the reputation Richard Branson has, you would think his tech would be top notch. I am extremely disappointed with my first experience of Virgin Atlantic, after using 9 different Air line websites and apps in my life time so far at age 56, this is a rock bottom system/experience for me and my partner. Richard, sort it out!

Why bother with their Flying Club when it doesn't even recognise you took a flight. Premium seats LHR to MIA and MIA to LHR this month, no record that we were on the flights; no points awarded; even when I tried to claim them retrospectively. No help from their customer service or Virgin Red. I used to work for them and the system has still not improved.

We booked flights from LHR - Barbados initially departing 6th Nov. Due to my mother being re admitted to hospital, following surgery for cancer , the hospital suggested moving outbound flight to ensure proper care could be arranged for her discharge. I initially looked online and it gave the option to change just one of my flights . I was not in a good place mentally and felt I really needed help so decided to call & speak with advisor from the airline. I explained my situation and that I only needed to change the outbound flight . After a short time checking with a colleague the advisor came back on the line . She said this was possible but both flights would need to be cancelled?? I desperately needed the outbound changed so said ok go ahead . She then said yes we could go ahead but the seats we had in Economy were no longer available so the extra charge was £3289 ( seats now in premium, not economy as previously booked ) I was in a difficult situation, so paid the extra. I feel Virgin took advantage, financially, of awful circumstances. Had I have made this change online it clearly stated which flight do you wish to change ? For example I could of decided to fly to St Lucia for a few days , got an internal flight back to Barbados, then continued on with inbound flight ??? But when I called up they cancelled both inbound & outbound- meaning my inbound seats then were no longer available & I was forced into the next seating band at an additional £3k ?
To add insult to injury the inbound premium seats ( 18A & C) were in line with kitchen galley area ( it was a night flight ) & the cabin crew laughed & chatted loudly in that area throughout the flight , meaning we got no sleep at all .
The seats in no way offered the premium experience you would expect, especially for £3k +
I have obviously complained to Virgin Atlantic and was today called by the exec team . I was offered 8000 points ( which equates to £143 .00 ) -
I was told this is how it works they cancel both flights , if this is the case why does it give you the option online to select just one flight to change , it doesn’t make sense .

I have not accepted this offer as quite frankly it’s just an insult. I was told as I was talking to the EXECUTIVE TEAM I cannot complain any higher and that was the only compensation they would offer .

I feel from the initial way my change of flight was dealt with, to seats allocated and today’s resolution, that Virgin Atlantic actually don’t really care about their customers ( we have flown with them now 4 times to Barbados & once to Las Vegas ) , in recent times.

First time flying with virgin. They all were very helpful, from checking in to flying. Flight was very good. Pilots done an awesome job. Safety was first for everyone. Good job guys .

I travelled with Virgin Atlantic flight from lagos Nigeria on the 18th of August to London, i checked my normal luggage in and I was asked if I'll like to check in my hand luggage and I said yes. The counter attendant also asked if I have valuables in my hand luggage and I said yes.
She checked it in and gave it to another guy to take it in, ideally it was supposed to go through the conveyor belt, but the guy rolled it towards another guy and I saw him pointing to my hand luggage. Immediately I got to London i opened my hand luggage, first thing I noticed was that all my bank cards were scattered, those cards were in my wallet, to cut my long story short, they took my white Gold necklace, yellow Gold necklace, my rings,and my pendants worth 12 million Naira.
I'll advise you guys flying with Virgin Atlantic to be very very careful with what you're checking in from lagos Nigeria 🇳🇬. My name is Adeyinka Shoberu.

Left late - Flight ok - circled x3 before landing. Waited 1 hr 15 mns for bags to be delivered which really let the service down.

Terrible service with group of 8 travellers includes 1 child and a elderly lady with heart issues as well as other health conditions.

Virgin are smart by keeping delay just shy of 3hrs to avoid compensation of any sort!

No display of why the delay In the airport until we boarded eventually to be advised the tyre was in dire need of changing. Not acceptable. We had a 3hr halt so why wasn't this done in that period and keep us waiting unnecessarily and they decided to do last minute to delay us further! Absolutely appalling service.
We have used virgin more than ample times to travel to the Indian peninsula.

We found the Arab countries there is no customer service be it virgin or saudia.

Avoid virgin if stopping in Saudi. The staff are all Arab and stuck up and rude, this reflects directly on virgin yes!

Upon complaining the response was a waste of space!

I want to share my experience with an airline that I decided to try out due to their social media claiming to be one of the best.

On upgrading to upper class on a flight from London to New York, my seat was broken and didn't work, my entertainment system couldn't be used due to a broken headphone socket and the power socket also didn't work.

I always judge a company on how they handle issues with their customer care. Virgin have been shocking. Despite the crew raising an engineer report, the customer care team tried to issue me 20,000 points to close the case and won't listen.

Having raised a new complaint under the Consumer rights 2015 act, I am still waiting for resolution of a refund.

Wish I had stayed with BA. Even if they have issues there customer care team take issues seriously. Poor show and very disappointing.

Booking error on their part and zero customer service to fix it. They got my last name wrong and offer no phone or online solution. It's impossible to get help. Avoid unless you're confident they won't make a mistake.

Flew with Virgin 4 times now never had an issue lovely cabin crew lovely planes lovely interior lovely food & drink i recommend so much . I flew to london heathrow on the 1st november 2025 from new york jfk and the cabin crew were lovely, i love this airline

Just home from JFK New York. Great staff in Premium Economy. The pilot, Jason very amusing, certainly the best pilot I have flown with!
Thank you to all the staff today.

Booked a fully refundable ticket with Virgin and checked the option to reduce the amount payable with airmiles.
I cancelled the trip and was eventually refunded without the airmiles.
I called to ask when the miles would be returned and they advised that the miles are non-refundable when that was not clear at all! Very deceptive, beware if booking with miles.

Booked and paid for premium seats from London Heathrow to Las Vegas thinking I’d get a more comfortable experience- how wrong I was - we might as well have been in economy - paid a small fortune for cramp seats with no legroom and no where to put feet - had a walk around the plane and people in economy and economy extra legroom were lying on 3 seats to themselves wrapped in blankets having a sleep like upper class - also concentrated fruit juices (yuck) I’ve got better stuff at home and I wish I’d stayed there huge thumbs down 👎

Cost for comfort is unparalleled. Had the opportunity to upgrade coming home but didnt bother as legroom was ample. Meals adequate, service 5 star. BTW my son uses a wheelchair and they were great assisting.