Latest Travel Updates

Mandatory pre-departure testing for UK arrivals

The UK Government has confirmed that from 04.00 GMT on Monday 18th January, all international arrivals, including UK nationals, will be required to provide a negative Covid-19 test result before departure for England, taken up to 72 hours before departure.  

The new rule will come into effect later for Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia – at 0400 GMT on Thursday 21 January – to allow additional time due to limited testing infrastructure in those countries.

Please refer to the UK Government website for more information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-people-travelling-to-england

Virgin Holidays is reviewing the information published by the UK Government on the new arrival testing requirement and will be contacting customers booked to travel to England who need to arrange a test. 

National lockdown announcement 

The UK Government confirmed on 4 January 2021 that England will enter a national lockdown, effective immediately. This includes guidance that people can only travel internationally where they have a legally permitted reason. The Scottish Government has also confirmed new stay at home guidance, effective 5 January 2021. 

In line with the new national lockdown restrictions we have reviewed the upcoming holiday schedule and will be cancelling all holidays up to and including 14 February 2021. We will contact customers affected in departure date order to confirm their cancellation and the options available to them, beginning with those customers due to travel imminently.
 
To simplify the options and to provide immediate peace of mind for customers whose holidays will no longer be going ahead, we’re automatically providing a digital voucher for the value of their trip, redeemable up until 30 September 2021, which they can use to rebook a holiday, departing any time before 31 December 2022. This can either be to the same destination or we can look at alternatives, as well as different times of the year. You may also request a refund.
 
We’re committed to supporting customers’ travel plans so all Virgin Holidays customers with a booked travel date up until 31 August 2021 may also rebook their holiday up until 31 December 2022 with the date change fee waived.

Customers can amend their booking via ‘Manage My Booking’ using the digital voucher, or the customer centre team is also available via the SMS messaging system and WhatsApp service. 
 
We thank all of our customers for their patience in these extraordinary circumstances.

Latest updates related to Covid-19 (Coronavirus)

Please see our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page

Optimising our network and fleet to become greener and more efficient

We’ve announced plans to reshape and resize our business to ensure that is it fit for the future, in response to the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy, our nation and the travel and aviation industry. 

We’re making some changes to optimise our network and simplify our fleet, as we aim to establish ourselves as the sustainability industry leader. As part of these changes, we’ll be moving our flying programme from London Gatwick, flying modern twin-engine aircraft from London Heathrow and Manchester – with the intention of retaining slots at London Gatwick, to allow us to return in the future. We've recently said goodbye to seven 747-400s, and four A330-200 aircraft will be retiring in early 2022 as planned.

For customers booked to fly with us from Gatwick, over the next couple of weeks we’ll be working to rebook your travel to ensure you can still get away as planned, including on flights from London Heathrow where possible. We’ll contact you directly to discuss changes to your booking and alternative options – you don’t need to call us. Our teams are receiving a high volume of calls at the moment, so please do bear with us – we'll be in touch as soon as we can. 

Log in to My Booking on Virgin Atlantic's website to see any changes to your flight and choose your seats. If you have paid for a seat in our 747 upper deck, you will be refunded. There is no v-room at London Heathrow, so any bookings will be refunded automatically. Entry to the No1 lounge is available here. 

Our teams are receiving a high volume of calls at the moment, so please do bear with us – we'll be in touch as soon as we can. 

19 May 2020

São Paulo route launch cancelled

In response to the rapid acceleration and severe impact of Covid-19, we are continually reviewing our flying programme in order to deploy our fleet most effectively.  As a result, we have made the incredibly difficult decision to withdraw our London Heathrow to São Paulo service which was due to launch on 6th October 2020.

If you are impacted by the route cancellation, we will be in contact with you to offer rebooking and refund options.

22 April 2020

Flybe ceases trading

Virgin Holidays is saddened to hear news that Flybe has entered into an administration process.

The Virgin Holidays customer team will be contacting impacted customers directly to offer advice and discuss their travel options.

Should customers have any queries about their travel options, Virgin Holidays would encourage them to contact our customer care team via our SMS messaging system via our website, or by calling us on 0333 920 4326

05 March 2020

USA Travel - ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization)

It is mandatory for everyone travelling to, or transferring through the US under the Visa Waiver Program, to obtain approval via an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation). This must be applied for no later than 72 hours prior to travel by completing an online process. Virgin Holidays strongly recommend that our customers obtain ESTA approval as soon as possible - travellers can apply for an ESTA even if they have no firm plans to travel to the US.

Failure to obtain an ESTA could result in the passenger being denied boarding by the airline in the UK.

An ESTA is a paperless visa, the cost is approximately $14 per person, and it can be obtained by visiting https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov. Once completed & approved, the ESTA is valid for two years and allows multiple visits for stays of 90 days or less in the US, without the need to reapply.

If you need any further information on the ESTA or you have any other visa queries, then try the Visit USA Website at www.visitusa.org.uk where further information on the scheme and up to date fee can also be found.

17 December 2018