Virgin Atlantic Holidays Reviews 

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.

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

I’m unable to comment on the standard of holiday that Virgin offer as sadly we never got that far. We went in to the Giltbrook branch last weekend and priced up a holiday to Thailand. The lady we dealt with was very pleasant and this review is no reflection on her at all, but the Mickey taking Virgin pricing strategy

The holiday was priced up at £4,400 which seemed reasonable to us so we decided to go ahead. However in the next 10 minutes it took to put in all our details and we were told the cost had rocketed to £5,500, an increase of £1,100. I understand that the cost of holidays goes up and down all the time, but 25% in 10 minutes? What is the point in anyone pricing anything up if the price goes up this much by the time you’ve put all your names into the system? It’s greed, plain and simple and I won’t bother ever wasting my time again looking at Virgin holidays.

Amy at the meadow Hall branch was fantastic very friendly and helpful with no pressure to make any decisions she helped guide us through every step and gave fantastic advice she made the whole experience easy and relaxing I will always ask for her specifically in the future and you should too

I Booked a holiday to new york with yourself on 12th January 2026 at the westin times square for 4 nights .
I paid extra for a premium room with a view breakfast hotel tax and late checkout included on price
On 23rd March 2026 I recived a email from virgin saying they you have cancelled my hotel due to an error in virgin pricing it wrong I have been offered a refund or £300 off another hotel

The hotel you have offered me is now costing g me an extra £373 as the price you gave me was including the £300 off from virgin
Fir this extra £373 im getting a basic room not an upgrade as requested no breakfast and to.oay hotel tax when already paid extra to have all this
Why should I have to pay more get less
Why has it took virgin nearly 3 months to relise this and why customer getting charged more for less when it's virgins fault
We booked this for 50th birthday celebration which virgin have now spoiled

I have also been advised by training standards to rase a complaint about this to ABTA which I will and also willing to go to social media regarding this
Shouldn't have to pay more and get less

Rachel was very knowledgeable and took us through the options available to us in deciding what was the right holiday for us. She did not rush us and we felt very relaxed with the overall experience.

Hi ….i cannot praise the staff at Virgin holidays enough for there seem less actions and consideration concerning our holiday …a job very well done and a special mention to Jaqueline Gough …Thank you ! 👍

The team at virgin Bluewater are fantastic, I want to shout out Lacey for all her help, when we needed it most she was there with a kind word and compassion. Extremely helpful and professional. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Popped into Virgin Travel branch in Milton Keynes and had a chat with Sian about a holiday to the Maldives, she was very helpful and accommodating with great advice with our queries.
So we booked our holiday with Atmosphere Kanifushi where we had the most amazing time and hopefully will be visiting again soon. Thank you Sian.

I rarely write reviews, but my experience with Virgin Holidays has been so frustrating that I feel compelled to warn others.

We are due to travel on a package holiday (3rd April) with a connection through Dubai at a time of escalating conflict in the Middle East. Naturally, we were concerned about safety and potential disruption. Rather than offering reassurance, flexibility, or reasonable alternatives, Virgin Holidays hid behind rigid “commercial policy” wording at what felt like the absolute edge of ABTA package holiday rules.

Despite clear and evolving geopolitical risks, they refused to provide meaningful options,no flexible rerouting, no reasonable amendments, and certainly no customer-focused solutions to cancel for a full refund. Every interaction felt scripted, with representatives repeating policy lines rather than engaging with the reality of the situation.

What’s most disappointing is that package holidays are marketed as offering protection and peace of mind. In reality, when it mattered most, this romise feels hollow from Virgin. Instead of supporting customers through uncertainty, they appeared more focused on minimising their own liability.

I understand that companies must operate within policies, but there’s a big difference between following rules and using them as a shield to avoid doing the right thing. This experience has seriously damaged my trust in Virgin Holidays, and I won’t be booking with them again.

If you’re considering a package holiday, especially one involving complex routes or volatile regions, I would strongly advise looking for a provider that demonstrates genuine flexibility and customer care when circumstances change.

Unbelievably helpful
Jasmin went above and beyond to help find the perfect holiday