Virgin Atlantic Reviews

Outbound Flight: Manchester → Atlanta. My husband and I were seated in seats 40A and 40C at the bulkhead. The nearest accessible toilet was eight rows behind us. Throughout the flight, I encountered significant accessibility barriers: The onboard toilets were inaccessible; one was too small to accommodate both me and the onboard wheelchair. Despite requesting assistance for both myself and my husband in advance, no meaningful support was provided. Cabin crew were unapproachable, inattentive, and failed to demonstrate any duty of care. My husband was forced to assist me personally because the staff did not provide the help required. This left me in physical pain, emotional distress, and desperate for the journey to end.

Return Flight: Atlanta → Manchester. Before boarding, my husband approached the customer care desk to request a seat near the accessible toilet. We were assured this would be arranged. However: We were again placed at the bulkhead, this time on the opposite side of the aircraft from the only accessible toilet. Navigating to the toilet in the dark, without disturbing sleeping passengers, was extremely difficult. I felt uncomfortable asking the crew for help, and when we could not locate them, my husband had to fetch our daughter, who was seated at the back of the plane with her two children, to stay with me while he searched for the onboard wheelchair.

A fellow passenger used her phone torch to guide us to and from the toilet, accompanied by a crew member. Because of this ordeal, I restricted my fluid intake out of embarrassment and fear of needing the toilet again. This caused nausea, fatigue, pain, and dehydration. I was unable to eat or drink for the remainder of the flight and was left traumatised.

Complaint Handling and Barriers to Redress. After the flights, I raised a formal complaint with Virgin Atlantic. Their response was inadequate and dismissive: They offered Virgin Points, which I did not ask for and did not want. I requested a meeting with Richard Branson or senior management, which was refused. Several follow-up emails went unanswered.

Virgin Atlantic’s final response directed me to AviationADR. I submitted my complaint, but ADR later informed me that my case was closed because I had not responded to the defendant’s comments. I explained that I had been too ill and found their portal difficult to use due to my disability, but they still closed my case on 11 March 2026. During this period, I contacted several aviation solicitors recommended by The Law Society. Each declined to represent me without explanation. Due to the prolonged ADR process and the lack of legal support, I believe I have now missed the deadline to file a court claim.

Summary. My experience with Virgin Atlantic involved: Inaccessible onboard facilities. Failure to provide pre booked assistance. Lack of staff awareness and duty of care. Physical harm and emotional distress. Dismissive complaint handling. Barriers to accessing justice. No disabled passenger should be subjected to such treatment, nor should they be denied fair redress due to procedural obstacles. I am submitting this review to ensure that these failures are formally recorded and to prevent other disabled passengers from experiencing similar harm.

I waited about 4 days, checked my credit card and no credit. I also had travel insurance which I also canceled at the same time, their credit was on my statement the next day. Today is 07-25-25. I called again since I received nothing stating the call or the cancelation or refund. I spoke to another agent, and she says, "Didn't they tell you 10 to 14 business days for a refund. We still have 5 business days."

I asked what the deal is, "this is an electronic day and age, and you are checking my credit card for 1384.51, which is impacting my credit line." "Oh well" was the response. "I will send you an email confirming this, but it will be 24 to 48 hours before you receive it!" For the Love of God, don't book a flight with these con artists! I wish I would have done my research and see the BBB complaints and save myself an ass ache! Steer clear of this mess!

Inside that bag were my laptop and mobile phones—my only tools to stay connected and continue working remotely. I asked them to deliver it to my home, as I was following mourning customs and unable to leave the house for 16 days. They agreed and promised it would arrive on June 10th. That promise meant a lot to me—but it was broken.

Without any explanation, the delivery was pushed to the 15th. I wasn’t told until I called. Then, the courier said they don't deliver on Sundays, so it moved to the 16th. Then the 17th. Each time I waited, hoping, hurting, only to be disappointed again. And each time, I had to reach out—no one from Virgin Atlantic or their courier partner ever bothered to call or update me.

On the 17th, I learned the bag had finally reached DTDC, the local courier—but they refused to deliver it, asking me to collect it myself. I reminded them again: I was mourning. I couldn’t leave. Still, no compassion. No exception. No response. It’s now been over 8 days without my baggage. No phone, no computer, no basic belongings. I feel completely abandoned in a moment where I needed just a little human understanding.

Virgin Atlantic has shown me that they are disconnected from their customers, and worse, from any sense of basic empathy. I’ve kept all the chat records—each one showing broken promises, delays, and a total lack of accountability. They blame the courier, the weather, the system—but never take responsibility themselves. This experience has only added more stress to an already unbearable situation. I will never fly Virgin Atlantic again, and I’ll urge everyone I know to avoid them too—especially if you’re traveling under difficult or emotional circumstances.

At no time prior to my call, did VA notify us of any discrepancy. VA confirmed they never notified us. As this was just days before our flight, we felt like this was extortion. The discrepancy was clearly the fault of VA because it is not possible to book as VA stated: an outbound flex fare with a return non-refundable fare. Also, it is not possible to book standby or unconfirmed as these choices are not available anywhere on VA. We tested this on both the VA App and website. VA had previously sent us two schedule changes, the first also included a change in aircraft. Both of those changes showed us as Premium with Premium seat assignments. It appears VA changed our reservation and never notified us until I fortunately made the call regarding the meals. We suspect the changes occurred when VA changed the aircraft.

With only 5 days before our flight it was impossible to find any reasonable fare and we ended up paying (under duress) almost $1,200 extra at the last minute to straighten out our tickets. The explanation by the VA CSR defied common sense. To avoid any further problems with VA we waited until after we returned to Los Angeles and reported the problem to our credit card company, who promptly credited our credit card balance for the erroneous additional charges. Now we have to wait 45 days for VA to respond before this problem can be resolved.

If VA contests, we will have to submit our rebuttal. If VA doesn’t contest or respond within 45 days, the refund/credit becomes permanent and no further action is needed. We are confident of winning this battle because VA’s explanations are impossible. It was quite disconcerting to hear the CSR admit VA made no effort to notify us in advance and that notification of the problem would only occur at check in. In the event you book on VA, we recommend you call and confirm your understanding of the booking as shown on your confirmation. If there are any changes such as flight times or aircraft, we also recommend you contact VA to confirm your booking and ensure there aren’t any problems.

Prior to our booking, we noticed the VA app was often down and not working. Our online searches revealed many problems and complaints about VA’s app/website. Apparently these problems have existed for years. It appears VA has serious IT issues and it is possible their poor technology is at the root of our problems. Needless to say we will never fly Virgin again.