Virgin Atlantic Holidays Omdömen 2 313

We were having an issue adding a discount code online when booking our holiday, so we called customer service and spoke to Miriam. She was so helpful and friendly, she also explained about the points we had and how we could use them. Holiday all booked by Miriam and due to her advise it came in less than expected.

I recently just got back from my trip to Orlando and I just want to say how thankful I am for the help I got in store from Jamal in the merryhill store! From start to finish he made it so stress free. He really took the time to understand exactly what we wanted out the holiday, nothing was too much trouble and his knowledge and attention to the detail is honestly made all the difference. We will definitely be booking with him again

Lara Dullam in Queen Street Cardiff was excellent. She sorted our complicated family flights in one visit, very patient and cheerful. She followed up by email the next day as promised.

I called in to look at holiday options for my honeymoon today. I was greeted by Stephanie from the Cardiff branch and she was beyond helpful! I was unsure where to go due to seasonal weather restrictions in certain countries and places that were safe to travel to due to everything that is currently going on in the world. Stephanie was welcoming, informative, gave great advice and suggestions while looking for the perfect multi centre holiday to make our honeymoon extra special. Needless to say we booked it straight away. We will definitely be back to book further holidays with Stephanie! Thank you so much Stephanie!

Sydnee at the Norwich office was superb she helped us so much in booking our holiday and to make changes if only everyone worked as hard as she does and actually care for the customer it was the best service I have received from any travel agent over the years and would only book with Sydnee if we wanted to go back! Thank you!

I booked a package holiday last May to Barbados for this year for my husbands Birthday and we are in Barbados at the moment. I upgraded our seats both ways to Delight so we could sit together. I was told I could reserve seats one week before our flight home as Silver member!! I asked if I needed to pay for seats and was advised there should not be a problem. I went to reserve seats today as advised and only 3 odd seats left none together. I asked for help and wasted most of today trying to sort it out but they have booked us one behind the other. I suffer from severe anxiety and as a female I do not want to spend a night flight next to a stranger! My husband will be 71 and I am 65! The person in chat told me the two odd seats have been booked and then told me she would pass me to UK office. She then said she couldn’t and would try again later! I then received a survey to complete asking me how my experience had been and it’s not resolved. We have a week left of our holiday but this has ruined everything. I am so anxious and nobody cares! Why pay extra for Delight if you can’t sit next to each other! Why was I not told a year ago at time of booking that I needed to pay even more to reserve two seats together in Delight when I asked the question?
I contacted the in resort team and they did not help. They booked the two odd seats after I explained the situation! They then said they would pass to the UK team but they could not do it?

Our agent Rachel at the Meadowhall store went above and beyond to organise and plan our 2027 trip to Walt Disney World. With many changes and sorting out the best price for us, we never felt rushed, she did help with every small detail big or small. 5 Stars from us.👍

I went into store needing someone who has good experience with a destination and a a resort because I needed help between a few due to my disability. Plus it was a special birthday trip which is why I was paying nearly £3k and wanted to have knowledge of what they are selling as they would know as it is their own product.
Not once was I told that even if I upgrade to ocean view room, it would only be a partial view. Apparently it was my responsibility to know this and not down to staff to tell me.
Even after talking in debth about my disability and how I need flat land and even in an email I said I should not be too far from the lift. I was not advised there is no lift in the hotel. Again Virgin have told me I should have known this information my self and it is not down to the sales advisor to tell me.

What I don't understand is why have a shop with staff they are not allowed to tell us the information. Apparently I should have known all the inventory and information even though I was not shown anything and I was thinking I was with an expert who knows full knowledge of what I am being sold. If I had been told the ocean view room is a really limited amount of ocean you will see then at least I would have known where I stand.
If the sales advisor had said we are booking assistance for you and you have said 1. In an email about being near a lift and 2. You needed help about the hotels as you need flat land. Well this hotel does not have a lift and you will be walking about and down a flight of stairs to and from your room, will this be OK.. Again I would have known and then looked for alternatives.
Virgin have just put the blame on me to say it should have been knowning all this information and it is not down to the people selling you to holiday to pass on the information.

Another case of customer is always wrong when Virgin know they should have just told me at the time of booking, even when I said exactly what I need.

So the booking i would give 5 stars for being quick and easy to navigate. Holiday booked check, seats picked check now to wait for the holiday. I then received an email saying there had been an error and couldn't honour the hotel (clearly undercosted) and i had 14 days to get in touch or they would cancel the trip! After alot of back and fourth it turned our i had already overpaid for the trip and was due a refund so that was processed and then i picked another hotel and was due a refund for that as the price had come down. I was told the refund would be 14 days. 8 days in expecting it anytime and still nothing. I am then told its 14 working days. So i wait longer i then receive an email saying i need to confirm my bank details some 10 working days after being told the refund was already being returned to my bank. So i confirm the details to then receive another email stating it is now 14 days from that date. Working day? No idea. So all in all, holiday wasnt honoured and still waiting the best part of a grand to be returned and no idea when that will happen. The staff that rearranged the holiday were amazing though especially a lady named Grace i would give her 10 stars if i could. I hope my 40th birthday will be as amazing as i had hoped when i originally booked.

We normally book our holidays online but decided to go in store this time as we were wanting to discuss package holidays. Stephanie in the Cardiff (Next) branch made the booking experience so much better and simpler for us, she discussed all the options and possibilities for our time in LA. She answered all our questions and gave us an amazing price, we would definitely recommend going in store as the whole booking process was much more streamlined.

We were looking for flights to Goa, travelling in November 2026, having flown back from there February, and only just made it out of Doha, hours before the war started, we didn't want to fly into the Middle East.
We visited Virgin Airways branch in Cardiff to enquire about flights as we had been informed that Virgin flew direct to Dubai, Mumbai and Bangalore.
We were greeted with a smile and hello from Stephanie. We explained what we required, and rough dates, as we were flexible. Stephanie was very patient, and took time to look at various dates, flights, turnover time between connection flights, and best price for us. For which we are very grateful for. We were so pleased that we booked straight away. Stephanie also informed me of the Virgin flying club, and the benefits of being a member, and said if we needed any further help or information, to get in touch with her.
We left with our flights booked, information printed for us, and very happy.

***

Edit: I've now dropped this review to 1 star from 2

Virgin customer services reached out to say they would be in touch within 7 days, it has now been 8.

You can see virgin have responded below and asked me to email them - I did and to this day have not even had an acknowledgement to the email sent to the one provided below.

Poor service, surface level customer service to appear to appease customers when in reality they don't actually respond.

***

I have never been more disappointed in being a customer of Virgin and Virgin Atlantic.

Our flight to Miami has been changed twice with no warning. I discovered today our flight has been changed again to a different flight, different time and different seat configuration.

I have three children with Charcot Marie tooth disease, muscular dystrophy and two with autism. We were assured by special assistance (three times!) that we had seating together beside toilets due to incontinence and bladder urgency and motion sickness due to having previously been put at the rear of the plane. They also require a higher level of parental care.

It was sheer luck I checked today to find our flight had completely changed to an earlier one and we had been put all over the place in the plane, all separate.

This is the third time this has happened to us, last year and this year on different bookings.

We spoke to VA who initially said there was nothing they could do until I responded this was unacceptable and causing an enormous amount of stress.

They moved us to different seats on the outbound, not together anymore instead 3 in front and 2 behind.

While I appreciated the gesture, I shouldn't have to have gone through this stress and being told that 'Virgin wont do anything' about my complaint.

VA also informed us that she has experience of travelling with disabilities, but the attitude seemed to be we just had to accept it and deal with this level of service.

To sum up our experience since returning to Virgin last year so far, we had no kids meals on our outbound flight to Tampa last year despite them being booked meaning our 8 year old with muscular dystrophy had no food except for left over adult meals (of which she only ate the bread) we had a flight time change last year causing our seats to all be moved and us separated I had to phone up again and be moved.

Virgin Atlantic then lost our car seat on the return flight and I had to wait hours to be issued a new one after an overnight flight with no sleep.

This year I have had two flight changes with seat movements with no warning, I've had to change hotel and car parking and hire bookings twice and I have absolutely no confidence or faith in Virgin that it won't change again.

As a parent that works in the public sector with three disabled children it takes me a lot of work and overtime to save up for a holiday like this, and both years now Virgin have caused undue stress, upset and frustration.

I was a loyal Virgin Credit Card, Red, Atlantic and Holiday fan but after this experience I have lost all trust, confidence and faith in Virgin and I will revert to other carriers.

I do not want more virgin air mile or red points as compensation, I am brand fatigued and cannot trust that a future booking with virgin will not just cause more upset and stress.

Gemma in Morfa Virgin is just fantastic, she goes above and beyond to find the perfect trip and searching for multiple destinations! Gemma has been booking our trips for around two years so knows what we prefer and ensures we are happy with everything before booking! We are quite fussy and sometimes find it hard to choose a new place but Gemma is patient and supportive. Gemma provides clear information and communication and is professional and friendly. We wouldn’t go anywhere else !!!

Just wanted to shout out Kate Hester who has been amazing from start to finish booking our holiday and always answering follow on questions in a friendly way. Had an amazing holiday that ran smoothly from start to finish. Great flight, all on time with great service and an even better holiday.

Miriam was a superstar. She used all her smarts and experience to unpick and make good my half baked efforts! Booking was seamless and effortless. Miriam went the extra mile with kindness and attention to detail.

Awful. Lost baggage and nigh on impossible to make a claim with Virgin employing a 'runaround' policy afterwards. Trying to claim on line is tortuous and when I managed to speak to actual person at Virgin, I was told I had come through to the wrong department. This is what's wrong with modern life. I should have guessed it would happen, what with Richard Branson being pally with Margaret Thatcher and all that. Bring back BOAC!

Lacey was extremely helpful and offered up lots of advice. She explained everything in detail and was very courteous throughout

We booked an eight-night holiday to the Maldives with Virgin, the first part of which went fine, and our hotel was great. It is, however, true what they say, 'judge a company's customer service when something goes wrong'. Hence the one-star rating.

After boarding the return plane, I discovered that the economy delight seats I had paid for, for me, my wife and 11-year-old son, had been inexplicably downgraded to economy - I'm over six feet four, so this was important to me. I complained and was told the flight had been oversold, and they had taken BA passengers too, so clearly they're happy to screw over their own customers to maximise profits.

After being seated in economy class, Virgin now in breach of contract, I was told there was nothing that could be done right now. We were then told, after taxiing to the runway, that there was a technical fault and we had to return to the gate. Two hours later, and a few updates from the pilot, we discovered that we couldn't take off and would have to disembark. The pilot himself told us that alternative accommodations had been almost entirely organised for everyone on board.

We're then removed from the plane, marched through the airport, taken out of the air-conditioned terminal building, and made to queue outside in the Maldivian heat for three hours with a child and luggage to deal with. Please bear in mind here that we'd been told on the plane that all the accommodations were already arranged.

We got given the name of one hotel, and told to come back in 45 minutes to get our transfer. One hour and forty-five minutes later, we were still there with four or five other families with young kids, waiting to be taken to our temporary hotel. Our full days travelling time now totalling over 9 hours.

Virgin were an absolute shambles, there was no organisation, it felt like the first time they'd had to cancel a flight and didn't know what to do. By this point, all other travellers had left the airport and been taken to their accommodation – just the families with young kids still waiting, children hot and crying, parents not far from tears by this point also. We then get an email from Virgin to say that they are sorry that our 10-hour direct flight to Heathrow has been cancelled, and they have booked us on a 23-hour round-trip flight via Delhi, with a 7-hour stopover in Delhi airport. I later found out that various groups of travellers, without kids, had been put on direct flights home, with Virgin – get your priorities right, Virgin! One of the couples on a direct flight home the next day, hadn’t even flown out of Heathrow, but they were prioritised to leave before us on a direct flight.

So, by this point, I’m pretty upset and I’m talking to the local duty manager for Virgin Atlantic, Asim, who was suggesting an alternative flight via the UAE – which we didn’t want because of the situation in the region, and we wanted a direct flight, which we had paid for!

Eventually, our transfer arrived, I took Asim’s number at my wife’s insistence (thank God, but I’ll come back to this point), and we left. Our alternative accommodation was ok, but we’d been left on a non-inclusive board basis, which was not the equivalent of our holiday booking, and we’re told we’d have to claim back any additional costs.

Now we’re at the hotel. We’re told the next direct flight available to us is in 10 days' time, and if we want to stick around for that, we’re liable for our own costs, and Virgin won’t pay for hotels, etc. After phone calls and WhatsApp messages with Virgin ‘Customer Services’ (how they can call themselves that with a straight face is beyond me), we are basically told that you either take the Air India flight via Delhi, or you're liable for all your costs, and we won’t put you on any other alternative flights. At this point, we’re in despair, we feel completely abandoned by Virgin, and we’ve basically been issued an ultimatum to take an awful flight with our 11-year-old child (we’d paid for a direct flight, bear in mind) via an airline that crashed one of their own planes during take-off less than one year ago. There was no dialogue initiated by Virgin; they did not reach out to try to solve the problem in a way that we were even slightly happy with.

Thanks to the previously mentioned number for Asim, Virgin Atlantic’s duty manager, we reached out, and after some back and forth, managed to get a flight back through Abu Dhabi, but given the situation in the region, we weren’t thrilled at the idea of this either. Only Asim managed to get us on this flight, Virgin Holidays refused.

I haven’t even begun trying to claim compensation for flights or, indeed, compensation for the destruction of my holiday as yet. I’m half expecting Virgin to somehow try to get out of paying anything back, including the additional expenses we incurred.

Kerry in the Bluewater Virgin Atlantic holiday shop was a fantastic agent who gave us a great experience by investigating our needs and then presenting four options which we reviewed together and chose one. Then she worked with us tirelessly to give us the best price for flights and hotel that we chose in Jamaica. Also Glacy who had a good experience of Jamaica gave us some good information in what to do and where to go. They also gave us their contact details so we could contact them at any time for any further information or queries.

Shocking Holiday, too much to write. Ridiculously expensive, flight dreadful even through paid £3,500 to upgrade to premium (see separate Tripadvisor review), no TVs working, WC broken, dirty plane, awful food, lunch served at 10:30am, ran out of beer, crew took our bag from the carrousel at Barbados instead of their own!!! Transfer booked and paid for wasn't even arranged so had to pay for our own taxis. Upgraded hotel to sea view room (expensive) and was overloooking a building site, lied to that the site wasn't working when it clearly was and started at 6am next day, we moved to a non-sea view room as only option to get away from the noise (offered no refund), could still hear the building works all holiday. Emailed Virgin and told rep would come see us, never did. Gym was pathetic, ancient, machines broken and dangerous. Cost over £10,000 for 6 night!!! Absolute rip off. Complained 3 times on email and ignored, only after i emailed a 7 day notice of legal action did they reply and told they would take 28 days to review. Virgin Holidays a disgrace, wouldn't use them or Virgin airlines again if you paid me. Just flown Singapore airlines and Virgin should go and see how a flight is properly managed, 1000x better. Would rather go Easyjet package than Virgin. Pathetic. Still not heard anything from them