Virgin Atlantic

It is the first and last time I will fly with Virgin Atlantic. We flew Virgin Atlantic from Brisbane to London Heathrow, first leg was through their partner airline Virgin Australia to Sydney, then Virgin Atlantic from Sydney to London... but all was on the same ticket with luggage straight through to Heathrow except on the way back, pick up… Read more

luggage in Sydney arrivals and recheck for the domestic leg back to Brisbane. ***The Kids Meal Debacle*** On every leg we had booked for our son to have the kids meal as he was a toddler... Sydney to Hong Kong (1st sector), kids meal comes out with a big "C" for child written on it; and then ours came out... and they're both identical, chicken curry! Child doesn't want to eat it. Next leg was Hong Kong to London, again kids meal and adult the same! Beef Stroganoff! and Child doesn't want to eat it. Every kids meal was the same as the adult meal on all sectors there and back...and a hungry child on each occasion who didn't like the food and I can't blame him. Even when we checked with airline before each sector on the way back and we were assured that my son was getting a kids meal... each time an adult meal came and was being passed off as kids meal. Nothing says your a valuable customer like been ignored... welcome to Virgin Atlantic. ***The Lost Luggage*** On arrival in London, my luggage didn't turn up on the carousel. I report it to Virgin staff... "No problem Sir" I hear... tap, tap, tap on the computer "we have no record of your luggage arriving in London Sir". You are entitled to get X pounds amount of emergency supplies and bill this back to the airline. "When are you flying back Sir"... I told them in just over a month... tap, tap, tap on the computer to check my return date. I got told to wait until I got back to Brisbane to submit a claim form to airline for my emergency expenses... given some paperwork, a nice smile and sent on my way. Next stop Wales... several hours later and just getting past Cardiff I get a phone call from the airline, they had found my luggage and could courier it to me immediately... they would even get it to me that evening (it's a Monday)... or I could come back to airport and collect it. Send the courier I tell them... I wait, and I wait and I wait. No courier... I ring back the airline the next morning and I ask what is happening... I'm informed that the courier has 24hrs to pick up the luggage after the airline informs and they just picked up it up an hour ago. Are kidding me! you told me I would get it last night..."Well Sir, I'm confident you will receive your luggage this afternoon"...I wait, and I wait and I wait. No courier... I ring back the airline, "Please, where is my luggage" I ask... "It is with the courier Sir... they have 48hrs to get it to you AFTER they pick it up," the airline says. "Are you kidding me! So I will have to wait up to Thursday" I ask... "Well yes Sir" they say... It took 3 days to get me my luggage back to me, and I was only four hours down the road from Heathrow. I wasn't allowed to even go back to Heathrow and collect my luggage from the airline... because they didn't have it, nor could I get it from the courier... because I wasn't allowed to be told who they were for privacy reasons. Are you kidding me!!! Then when I got home to Brisbane my expenses claim (I sent it off within a few days of getting back) was rejected by Virgin Atlantic because I exceeded the 21 day limit in which I needed to get my claim in by... were you going to tell me that Virgin Atlantic!!!... they claimed their hands were tied because as much as they would love to pay my emergency expenses... it was illegal for them to do that under the "Montreal Convention". There are so many expletives I would like to use to describe Virgin Atlantic right now but that would be wrong and this post would be taken down if I did so I won't say them. However, nothing says you're a valuable customer like being mocked... welcome to Virgin Atlantic.

Then there was the "delayed flight into Sydney, Virgin Atlantic ignoring us AGAIN and Qantas helped us out but we still missed our connection by 3 mins" debacle (big shout out to Qantas for your help... we weren't your customers but you still helped).

...or....

the "busted luggage on the arrivals carousel in Sydney but you're rushing against the odds to catch a connecting flight and don't have the time to lodge the damage with Virgin Atlantic so now they are laughing in your face" debacle.

...or...

the "we all saw you palm fist push an elderly man into his seat five rows in front because the cabin crew were late to start boarding and were now late to leave the gate and he was "holding" them up" debacle.

So is it any wonder that we have black listed Virgin Atlantic for our airline choice... and I will ALWAYS actively encourage others to fly ANY other airline but Virgin Atlantic! NEVER... EVER... fly Virgin Atlantic.

Did not meet expectations – We recently flew with Virgin Atlantic, which they co-shared with Delta. We flew Delta from Brisbane to LAX. Then Virgin Atlantic to London. The same applied for our return trip. Having this flight as a co-share at least gave us a direct comparison to another airline for the same travel. The Virgin Atlantic planes we flew on basically need to be… Read more

retired. There were multiple broken seats, and the padding on the seats was like sitting on a park bench for multiple hours. I have never been so uncomfortable on a flight, and I have travelled extensively on numerous airlines. Many of the seat cushions (which were very thin) were sliding off leaving the bare metal seat underneath. One passenger needed her cushion to be changed over before takeoff as it was wet from the previous flight. I heard her comment to the stewards that she thought it may be vomit. My recline function did not work properly and my tray table kept getting caught when I wanted to lower it. The Delta plane's seating was far more comfortable. I also flew with Emirates to London in May and the seating was again a lot more comfortable than Virgin Atlantic. Multiple things were not working properly on these planes. An announcement before take-off said to remain in your allocated seat as some of the monitors weren't working. Myself and another passenger were the first to use the toilets and found that the whole bottom cupboard had swung open so the door could not be opened or closed properly and in my toilet the tap wasn't working. The food standard was of poorer quality than the Delta flight. I will not fly Virgin Atlantic again!!!!

Virgin Atlantic poor points experience. Be aware – Last year we booked flights from Sydney to London return through Webjet. We chose a Virgin Atlantic offer for premium economy via Los Angeles. We attached our Velocity club number and it was displayed on our eTicket. On receipt of the eTicket it showed three of our four legs had been allocated to Delta flights, not a problem we thought and the… Read more

flights were just fine. On return to Australia I noticed no points had been allocated to our Velocity accounts. I had not kept my boarding passes, given the Velocity number was on our eTicket, why would I? It took considerable effort to get any points allocated, a number of back and forth emails to Virgin and eventually they told me that I would have to chase up Delta to get confirmation I was on the flights then give it to VA. This proved impossible and finally VA told me that there was no point as THEIR fine print states they do not give points for Delta legs. This is despite it being THEM who placed us on Delta flights, it was not told to us BEFORE we booked the flights. Eventually they wore me down and I gave up, learning two valuable lessons...1. don't fly with VA again as they are not honest with you upfront about who you are flying with and rely on legal mumbo jumbo hidden deep in terms and conditions to essentially keep you from earning points....2. keep boarding passes until your points are allocated even if your Velocity number is on your eTicket.

Excellent in every way – Virgin Atlantic was amazing Check in staff friendly, helpful and professional. On board service and food excellent. Seamless connection to México with Delta airlines and again superb staff in the air and on the ground. I will definitely use Virgin for any future trips overseas.

Give Virgin Australia a break!!!!! – My booking process was fast and efficient and as my husband had to have an unexpected operation Virgin offered to bank the amount for the fares until the following year! Awesome! all fixed for next year..no hassles when wee wanted to use them they were transferred over easily. Our trip was a little late leaving but the time was made up in the… Read more

air. The on-board service was great and the only thing that stopped me from putting excellent was the seats were a little cramped but hey it was not an expensive flight so you get what you pay for in economy. Otherwise the staff were fabulous as we were on a 6 hr flight it seemed to go pretty fast. You cant blame Virgin for the person you are sat next to(previous winger)!!!! We will always fly with Virgin!!!

Passenger comfort – I was unfortunate sitting next to two passengers of Indian origin. The odour being oozing from them was not the most pleasant I had to endure for the next 6 or so hour flight. The first thing I looked for was some sort of air vent above me to get some fresh air. There was non! C'mon Sir Richard. At least have an air vent above a passenger seat… Read more

like many airlines have. Seat was a tight squeeze and if you where slightly on a wider scale, forget it. You may not pop out after getting in to it. Lol.

Please find a separate compartment for people who must take their small noisy kids along. It is not fair on passengers let alone the Kids either. I some times wonder about nowa days parents.

Atrocious – Will never travel with Virgin airlines overseas again,equal to air Asia ,staff rude,food horrible,no tv facilities,can't describe further without being rude!!

Virgin Airlines Does its best for you – We recently flew to Bali and back with Virgin and were really pleased with the service, considering we had a very cheap flight. Both for departure and return everything ran like clockwork; we even arrived back in Australia early! The food was tasty and the service was friendly and helpful. Well done Virgin, we will fly with you again!

When travelling Virgin International, pretend you're a Bikie – Expecting to fly Vancouver-Sydney on a return Delta journey, I was transferred to Virgin International. I'd also just seen news footage of Richard Branson whooping it up with a "performing" group of very scantily clad pole dancers. That just about set the tone for the Virgin International LAX/MEL link which had been inexplicably substituted. On… Read more

Virgin International, the flight entertainment was indeed scanty and gross, there was no hot water in the washroom, the only choice (when the breakfast finally arrived) was fried bread masquerading under a poncey foreign moniker requiring English translation.

I remember my Dad eating fried bread “during the war "when there was nothing else – and this is progress?

A suitably clad passenger in the same row, however, had no trouble having Virgin staff lavish service upon him - both when seated and when back in the galley.

He sported a Mohawk, wore only a singlet above the waist and displayed a virtual mural wall of tattooing, chains and hardware hanging from every facial orifice. There were also loud bone-crushing rings on every finger (and thumb). Good one, Richard!

Hint: When travelling Virgin, dress like a Bikie.

The best experience to Heathrow – OMG! This was the best flight ever! Even though I flew economy, the seats were comfortable, the food was great and wonderful service. Got to Sydney 3hr before departure and got priority checkin with velocity gold. Got to the lounge at least 1hr before boarding but plenty for me to eat. Priority boarding meant that I could store my bags. Wide… Read more

variety or entertainment. Delicious food; like premium economy. In Hong Kong got to the lounge and it was luxury. I slept for 7hrs on the flight to London. Excellent service and comfortable seat. Ive seen that people have given it bad reviews but I don't understand why. Best flight ever!!!

Virgin Atlantic PE – Flew SYDLHR in SEP in premium economy, returning in economy 4-weeks later. Enjoyed the extra seat width, leg room & foot rest, the food was fine, as others have mentioned although not a lot of it, I'm a big eater and it was still adequate, staff in the PE cabin were excellent. The IFE is dated compared to EK/QF/SQ/CX but again, it was adequate, to… Read more

their credit a tech issue was fixed in the 1.5hr HKG stopover. I paid about AUD$700 more (one-way) then a full fare economy seat and thought it was good value. As a Virgin Australia FFQ the points and status credits earned also added to the value. Economy return was OK, have experienced better and certainly worse, crew were pleasant, food just OK. The seats are hard and a foot rest would be great, I was certainly pleased I opted for a few days in HKG to break the return leg. The aircraft, A340's are my least-favourite for long-haul, always feels cramped and these are looking/feeling a bit tired. However, all up I thought it was fine at the right price and PE was worth about $700 extra one-way especially considering the FFQ points and status credits earned - more then $1000 extra & I'd question the value. I go to Europe at least once or twice a year for business, I prefer SQ or the Virgin 777 service via Abhu Dhai better, but I would fly VA in PE again at a reasonable price. PE: Value, service, points earned for Virgin Australian FFQ's Economy seats are hard, IFE is dated

Needs to improve – Flew to the UK on the 2nd September 2013 via Hong Kong, premium economy, couldn't fault the staff both on the ground in Sydney and on the plane. The food on the other hand was pretty terrible. The return trip on the 1st October was almost a copycat experience, good ground staff at Heathrow and on the plane worse food, eggs or eggs for breakfast,… Read more

entertainment system for the whole of premium economy played up, limited snacks available. All in all, we wondered if it was worth the extra cost. attentive staff poor food

Heathrow-Sydney – On my way back from Heathrow to Sydney on 14th October, 2013, I got the most terrible customer service I have ever received. The flight was due at 22:30 and I arrived at Virgin terminal, Heatrow at 21:00 to check in. It was said from the service desk that I could not go because more tickets were sold than number of seats and the flight was full.… Read more

Then I said "I confirmed the ticket long before by paying in advance and it is your business how to get me to Sydney". They lady again said "We are awaiting for one passenger. If he comes by 21:30 you cant go and we will provide you compensation". I got frustrated and said "If I knew this I would never travel by Virgin". The lady replied rudely that you could have traveled by other airlines. At the eleventh hour, they provided me boarding pass. It is a terrible experience!!!!

Give my Tiger or Jetstar any time!! – Due to negative past experiences I did not use Virign for 3 years until Feb/March 2012. Now I know why my monthly flying interstate and annual overseas trip have been through other airlines. I went to USA, bad in-flight service and food to LA. Delta airlines is definately their sister company with their (HA) service.Upon leaving Port Vallarata to… Read more

return to LA then to Australia Delta had a mid-air plane malfunction resulting in being held over in Mexico for 24 hours! Many complaints were made by my co-travellers regarding the way this was handled. Delta did give us a $100.00 Delta airline voucher we can use. Yes, as I mentioned we were departing the USA. Upon returning to Australia I found I had 2 months to use points from a trip to Vanuata (las time I flew with Virgin). Thought I would try to do something about these points plus missing points. E-mailed virgin and after just over a month waiting for a reply the reply arrived that I needed to contact another department. These points expired on the 30th June and I still have been unable to resolve the issue. These points will now be forfeited. One hundred per cent through Virigin's lack of communication. I phoned, however, the person I spoke with had great difficulties in communicating with an English speaking person. Am still trying to locate my points from my trip to the USA. It appears I needed my boarding pass or itenary.That is fair enough. I got my itenary from the travel agent. Have e-mailed this to Virgin and (oh yes, you guessed it) NO reply. Reply should ahve been in 5 days and that is a few days ago. Guess will have to wait for 6 months for the reply to this e-mail. I have not been contacted regarding my bad experiences with my trip to the USA. Looks like the company do not wish to honour the points we receive - or do they just want to get less people flying in general.

In-flight service.

Sydney - London Return – I flew return Economy Sydney – London on Virgin Atlantic on Saturday 15 September 2012. On face value, airfare was on the cheap end of the scale. However, when asking for an aisle seat on check-in I was advised there was none available but I could buy Emergency seats at roughly $300. Once added to the base fare I ended up paying more than I… Read more

would have had I flown with Singapore Airlines or Emirates (which are far better carriers). On comfort, I am on the small side of the scale at 173cm and 70Kgs, but I found the Emergency seats too tight with the armrests literally pressing into my hips. There was also inadequate space between rows as I felt cramped and I usually don’t feel that way given my height. Food was frugal, distastefully presented, and on bland. I found myself constantly hungry – portions were not big enough and certainly not frequent enough. There were no refreshments and nibblies in between meals and no in-between meal runs by flight attendants. Flight entertainment system looked dated and fiddly with a small and low resolution screen, a rather fiddly control, extremely limited variety of new release movies and music. All in all, a very poor experience there and back. I will never fly Virgin internationally nor recommend them, though they seem to be doing better with their domestic flights. Much happier to pay $500 more and actually enjoy the experience with Singapore or Emirates.

seat space, flight entertainment, food, frequency and availability of food, dated cabin, cabin crew, price (cheap on face value but once paid for Emergency seats it ended up on par with Emirates and Singapore Airlines).

Worst flight ever – First and last flight with VA arrived at Premium economy to be told we didn't have seats (paid for 3 months earlier) left sitting for 30 minutes while it was sorted out, upgraded to upper class from sydney to HK but seperated from my wife who was in tears both seats we were given had broken tables. Next to the toilets in premium economy from HK… Read more

to London no sleep at all .Have flown 500,000 miles by far the worst experience ever. One star is generous cabin crew good Ground staff, booking staff, customer service

Good – I flew Virgin Atlantic from London to New York and found the crew make the flight enjoyable with their upbeat happy attitudes and little jokes and humour they display. Yes sure the crew are all young and fresh faced, but they are still professional and really reinforce the Virgin branding. Thoughtful extras for those flying in economy… Read more

class as well - you get a backpack filled with pens, note paper, socks, eye shades, lip balm etc - so makes you feel very special.

Well worth flying Virgon just for the experience. the staff are down to earth and friendly and nothing is too much trouble nothing to dislike

Excellent – Recently flew economy from Sydney to Hong Kong to London (and back again) on Virgin Atlantic. Have flown Virgin Atlantic in both economy and business on many occasions and always found them to be a little step above most airlines. They treat you like a person rather than just a passenger. Have always found the airline better than British Airways… Read more

or Qantus (have flown both on several occasions). The food on the flight was good with reasonable choice on all legs of the flight. Turn-around in Hong Kong was quick at around 1.5 hours. Certainly intend to fly them again. Great entertainment system with lots of new movies, TV shows and various games. New , quiet aircraft. Good value. None really.

Best flight ever, would do it again – Flew from Sydney to London via Hong Kong Sept 2010, flight crew were fantastic, food was very good, entertainment via screen was very entertaining indeed, comfortable seats and could fall asleep very easily, flight was extremly comfortable. customer service was fantastic

Somewhere in between average and good 3.5 stars – Recently traveled from Sydney to London via hong kong. A reasonably good experience with a few niggles. Crew were friendly and one of the managing stewards was quite funny when addressing the passengers. The entertainment had a good selection for adults, needs more choice for younger kids. I found the online check in software problematic and had… Read more

to enter my details several times, on the return leg it just would not work at all. When checking in at Heathrow (as online failed) there is a confusing process where you check in on a VDU and then drop your bag off which was all badly signed, bag drop off took the same amount of time as the check in procedure used to and the assigned seats were not together so we had to ask people to move on the plane. Comfort on plane was good but i thought the food could have been better. Breakfast on the second leg was only a warm role which seemed a bit mean and there was not much flavour to any of it generally. Generally friendly upbeat staff, great price, comfortable economy cabin. entertainment good for adults. On line check in software frustrating, food a bit ordinary, younger kids entertainment could be better

Unfriendly customer service – Have just flown premium economy from Sydey to London. I have done this trip many times with different airlines and different classes of travel. I would put this cabin crew as one of the most offhand I have encountered - especially when paying double the economy price for premium economy. I would only choose this flight again due to good price. Good value for money Offhand cabin crew left a bad impression.

Don't eat the food and don't expect to nap! – The one star is for the staff member who apologised about the meal I was given. I'm a vegetarian, on Air China this means good and tasty food but on this airline it means something only meant for the bin. Cold papadam with orange juice for breakfast, warm papadam for dinner with pickled curried vegetables and curried beans. My husband who eats… Read more

meat wasn't far in front. We all expect poor food when flying but not to this degree. The overhead anouncements were continual,why?? The staff introducing staff and their wonderful team, the pilot who when the staff were not speaking filled in the rest of the time. We were given no water on boarding like all Asian airlines we had been traveling with. We had been late boarding and there was nowhere to purchase water for some hours. In all very disappointing and no we won't fly with them again.

food and continual anouncements.

Do yourself a favour - fly with another airline – I'm amazed that there are good reviews about this airline. We had return fares from Sydney to London with a stopover in Hong Kong both ways. Service is at the minimum they can get away with. Seats dirty, toilets dirty, blocked. I arrived on one leg of my flight to get a bloody and hairy pillow and rubbish in the pocket. When I showed the hostess… Read more

the pllow was taken away but I never got another one.

Food - inedible. We ended up bringing our own as it just is so bad. Wine is the cheapest nastiest stuff they can find. Forget about a pre-dinner drink on the long haul flight. You won't get it. Just one drink with dinner, that's it. And yes, the duty free shopping is offered more than anything else. Please don't drink the coffee or tea. I know it is usually bad, but this stuff was like dish water.

My partners bag arrived in London totally soaked through. Ruined his sleeping bag. We also chose this airline for the sports equipment allowance, but were given such a hard time over it we had to spend weeks contacting customer service in the UK to make sure we could get back without being charged extra. They did finally add extra paid baggage to our ticket.

I find it terrbile that they charge for extra leg room seats such as the exit rows and bulk heads. Traditionally these are luck of the draw seats, and that is fair enough since someone is lucky to get them, and someone is unlucky enough to get the seats next to the toilet or up against the galley where you can't recline properly. We had these seats, and even though we were told they could recline, they really can't, so forget about sleeping. The toilets started to stink about 1/2 way through the flight. No sleep here. Hey, maybe they should offer a discount for the really crap seats? Hmmmm, I think not.

Choose another airline. They have taken cost cutting and budget airfares to the lowest level. Staff were mostly friendly Nearly everthing was bad about this flight

Virgin: now an experienced old hag with red lipstick – Sydney to Heathrow. Everthing is wrong:- No power under seats (cf Cathay, Singapore etc) Denied access to lounge for Velocity gold at all airports Denied priority check in for Velocity gold at all airports Denied priority bag tags for Velocity gold at all airports Old, ratty airbus with wings that had oil and grime and wear visible … Read more

No Drambui or any decent liquor: wine was $2 chuck swill

Their points system is not automatic, even with number - you have to copy and manually send in boarding passes, then multiple chase ups over several months

Bags delayed for 45 minutes, no explanation or apology

Toilets filthy and not cleaned en route

Plane loaded to 120% capacity and they were bumping people - one family in tears

"Flat Beds" have redefined 180 degrees horizontal in marketing probably inspired by the Tower of Pisa "vertical"

Crapmed, hot and full of budget travellers

Virgin has become just as cynical as the others. I do not not know where the awards come from. Must be like the school fetes where every child wins a prize. Or based on advertising dollars spent. It is BS.

Totally fails compared to Cathay, Asiana. Nothing. Marketing hype and lies were the only appealing thing. Just about everything.

Never this airline again – Ground staff is arrogant, unfriendly (no smile at all) and unhelpful. think that they are the gods of rules and passengers have to obey them all. they would not take any complaints. Ground staff try their best to not let you access to any complain channel. They must be so used to complaints so they know how to handle the angry passengers with all… Read more

inappropriate manners - saying "you have no rights to complain me". There were actually quite a number of angry passengers at the check-in counters. If you insist to complain, other staff would jump in to kick you away from their sights, and call the security right away.

Extremely rude and unreasonable staff

Bad – This review is for the Sydney-HK return flight part for the Sydney to London route. As this ticket wasn't cheaper than the other airlines, it is probably worth going for Cathay or Qantas on the same route. Had cantonese speaking staff. On time, efficient, helpful. Self serve drinks available most times of flight in galley in economy. A340-600… Read more

still in good condition. Tongue in cheek but still professional style is good. Very small amount of food. One medium sized meal, one snack, one drink on both flights. Cathay provides one medium, one large, one bite sized snack and hot towel to clean hands.

Entertainment system well below Cathay and Qantas. Handset when stored easily activated the assistance button or restarted entertainment system. As corners were cut with this service, this did not justify the similar prices to other airlines.