Virgin Atlantic Holidays Arvostelua 

Virgin prices for Ryanair standards—Zero duty of care on our anniversary
I booked our flight through Virgin Atlantic to use my points and was passed to Virgin Holidays to book our accommodation. What should have been a special trip for our anniversary turned into a complete nightmare. We paid premium Virgin prices, but we received absolute Ryanair standards of service and comfort.
Our flight to Washington DC was scheduled for 8th September at 15:50. We boarded at 15:00, but the second we sat down in the incredibly cramped economy cabin of the Airbus A330-300, we were informed of a delay. The legroom was shockingly tight, with my knees pressed directly against the seat pocket in front of me. One hour later, we were told we were behind a staggering 85 other planes. To top it off, the pilot openly admitted over the tannoy that once the air traffic problem was eventually sorted, it would still take two hours just for the queue of planes ahead of us to take off. It begs the question: why on earth did they pack us onto the aircraft in the first place? Despite the pilot and aircrew trying their best, we were left trapped in those claustrophobic, restrictive seats on a stationary plane for about 5 hours before the flight was ultimately cancelled.
We were reassured that Virgin staff would assist us once we deplaned, but the moment we stepped off, the "service" vanished. We were told that because it was an air traffic control issue, Virgin would not provide any duty of care whatsoever—no hotels, no cabs, nothing. What made it so much worse was hearing the British Airways announcements over the airport speakers right next to us, openly reassuring their passengers that BA would be covering all cabs, hotels, and expenses upon receipt. Meanwhile, Virgin left us completely stranded.
To make matters worse, we were told our luggage would arrive on belt 3. After waiting there for an hour, we discovered our suitcases had been dumped further down on a completely different belt. Desperate for support, I walked back round to the check-in desks. When I asked for help, a Virgin staff member callously pointed out that there were disabled people in wheelchairs and they weren’t helping them either—as if that justified their total abandonment of passengers. Another staff member suggested I go to the Virgin lounge instead of sleeping on the floor, only for the lounge staff to turn me away, stating: "You’re not business class, so you can’t come in." Because our flight was pushed back 24 hours, we were left with no choice but to sit on the airport floor for most of the night.
The nightmare continued when we finally arrived in Washington. We got to The Watergate Hotel only to be told they had given our room away because Virgin Holidays failed to notify them of our flight delay. After a stressful argument explaining we had already paid and demanding a refund, they magically found us a room—but then hit us with a $1,000 security fee that we had never been made aware of.
We lost a whole day of our holiday, slept on an airport floor, endured knee-crushing seating, faced hidden fees, and had our anniversary completely ruined. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays showed zero accountability or compassion. I will never book with them again.

The two star rating is based on the experience my husband and I have had trying to get back nearly £400 that one of the hotels, Tenaya Lodge in California incorrectly took off his credit card and didn't inform him they were doing so. After contacting the hotel they advised that Virgin Holidays had not paid them for one night's stay, even though we had pre-paid Virgin Holidays in advance. After phoning and emailing both parties whilst in California and continuing since returning in July of this year, along with logging a complaint, and even having it acknowledged that we were due a refund, my husband has not received the funds back. My husband has now made a formal complaint to ABTA as we have not had a response within 28 days. It's a shame as the rest of the holiday experience and flights with Virgin were great.

To be honest, it wasn’t “what” but “who”.
Karrie has been in our lives since we booked last September for June 26 to Florida and with her expertise and wonderful assistance, we have just booked again for May 27!

She was so helpful and knowledgeable and listened to what we were looking for.

What a lovely experiance it was booking our Disney holiday next October 2027,Lucinda was just lovely she explained everything to us .i would highly recommend using Lucinda to book a holiday to Disney .

Not what it used to be!

Flying with Virgin was always a joy and I long considered them the premium option but not any more.

We flew with them (for the fourth time) in August for a three week holiday in Florida, we booked the whole thing through Virgin. We stayed for a week in Portofino Bay which was fantastic and then two weeks in Carribean Beach which was disappointing to say the least, our room was filthy, miles from anything and featured hair in the bathroom (not ours) and a lot of dead bugs, the air conditioning unit was so loud, old and leaking brown fluid, we ended up coughing! This was disappointing but the agent on the Virgin WhatsApp was worse, they honestly didn’t give a damn, attitude was it’s the hotels problem, even though I pointed out we needed help as hotel weren’t doing anything! They’d had our money and washed their hands of us.

The flights were also awful, food was mediocre and no help when a drink went flying all over me, not to mention the air crews attitude when my husband dared to ask for another drink!

Used to be our go to for travel, not any more!

Miriam was absolutely fantastic , helped look at different options , found the best deals , shared personal experiences and worked on what was supposed to be her day off to help complete my booking

Still waiting for a response from my previous review on 17 August 2026. VAH initially reached out by email, to request further information but I have not received anything further, despite following up

I just went on to the site to check out a holiday that I was eyeing up last week only to see that the same holiday, same hotel, same flights had taken a £400 hike! Saying that you're offering a sale of up to £300 and hiking the price so that you can actually male more is criminal. I actually can't believe what I just saw.

Booked my 60th birthday trip to Jamaica back in March 2026 travel March 2027 premium economy outward bound and upper class inbound….. flight times been rescheduled twice ….. so instead of afternoon arrival it’s now evening arrival
…. So effectively I loose 1 whole evening of a 7 night trip ….. asked if cancel can I get a refund on deposit ( explained circumstances) …. Answer was no … no apologies…. So cancelled and took the hit , booked with BA holidays during their sales business both ways and saved £1000 …. Would never deal
With Virgin holidays again …. Save your money and book B A in my opinion

We have received exceptional service from Eshaa. Five stars given

Very disappointed with Virgin Atlantic Holidays and the way my booking has been handled.

In May I booked a holiday to Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, paying a £150 deposit, specifically choosing this hotel because of its retro vibe and these dates for our January holiday because it is my partner's birthday.

Three days ago, I received an email from Virgin informing me that Universal’s Volcano Bay will be undergoing refurbishment during the period of our stay. Virgin’s own email states that, because Cabana Bay is so close to Volcano Bay, guests may experience noise and visibility of the refurbishment works, with works expected to take place on weekdays between 7am and 10pm.

Had I known about the extent of the disruption when booking in May, I would have been able to make an informed decision about whether I wanted to book this hotel. Instead, I have now been told about potentially significant disruption only a few months before our holiday.

I therefore phoned Virgin and asked to cancel the booking and have my £150 deposit returned. I was told that this could not be done. The agent offered to look at other hotels or hold my deposit for a future trip.

That isn't what I wanted. I specifically chose Cabana Bay for this holiday and these dates. I don't want to swap hotels or put my deposit towards another holiday. I booked this particular holiday because it was the holiday I wanted, and the newly disclosed refurbishment has changed the circumstances of what I booked.

I appreciate that refurbishment work can happen, but I am extremely unhappy that I was only informed about it three days ago and that, when I contacted Virgin because I no longer want to take the holiday under these circumstances, I was not offered the option of cancelling and receiving my deposit back.

I have now raised a dispute with ABTA and will be pursuing this further.

This has been a very disappointing experience with Virgin Holidays. I expected much better customer service and a more reasonable approach when a significant issue affecting the hotel I specifically booked was brought to my attention after booking.

Sally was great , answering questions and finishing off booking from home .
Main Virgin site did not allow for more bespoke trip so needed quick answer and assistance .

Well worth the visit to talk over a few things..
All got sorted with peace of mind..
Great friendly chap!

Emily was very very helpful it’s the first time Iv been in this branch I always book my virgin holidays on line the staff were amazing

The booking experience was fantastic,
The lady in question was a true professional,
Extremely friendly and efficient,
A rare commodity these days
Shauna Blackburn
A real gem

I am sitting on a flight to Boston right now with my wife and it is our first holiday on our own in 29 years!! We have flown on many occasions with virgin and always book our holidays with them. when we got to gate 24 we had to que and get on a bus to get on the plane??? When we boarded the plane the temperature was probably in the region of 30 degrees and everyone was struggling with it !! The pilot announced that the system was broken and could not lower the temperature until the engines was started after 40 minutes of suffering we finally started to cool ??
After take off my in flight entertainment screen would not work
So the air hosted said she would reset it !! After three attempts still wouldn’t not work so I was offered another seat sat next to a stranger which was a total no go as I paid for the seats in premium with my wife so why would I want to sit elsewhere without my wife ???
This is the third flight with virgin this year that the in flight entertainment was faulty ???
So.. Mr Branson if this is the business that you built with the good reputation you had I can only say you need
To look at the reviews to see how bad virgin has become as after 16 years of booking holidays and flights I could not recommend to anyone
For reference the flight is vs157 on the 22/9/26
I do not moan out of turn but if you pay good money I would expect a better experience than this especially three times in a row
Phil Ainsworth

Shauna was excellent, very knowledgeable, friendly and just very easy to speak to, would definitely recommend

Callum at Next in Camberley went out of his way to help us! We had a question about points - his area is ‘holidays’. However he reached out to colleagues and gave us suggestions - never any pressure to book anything!
He followed up by email - again just super polite and helpful! If you are booking a virgin holiday I’d have faith in him to sort it!!

Terry Davies made our experience special, Terry is very efficient at her job and she made the experience enjoyable. We were made aware of all the requirements and Terry provided all the information to suit our needs. Terry Davies shines a light for Virgin Atlantic Holidays and is a perfect example of how the company should treat customers and naturally more business will follow.

We had our appointment with Charlotte today at the store in Merry Hill. She was very friendly and very informative and patient with us and allowed us to discuss things before making a decision. We didn’t feel rushed at all and she was lovely with the kids.
Thank you Charlotte for helping us book our next holiday ☺️