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.
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.
Please see our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page
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
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
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
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
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Over the past few weeks, we have repatriated our customers from overseas who wanted to come home. 
Please visit this page to keep up to date with the Government’s travel advice on returning to the UK, and to register for email alerts.
We are continually reviewing our flying schedules, taking into account the  Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice against all non-essential travel. Depending on when you are due to travel, your holiday may be affected and we’ll email you to let you know as least 21 days before travel.
Your next holiday is only a click away - our website has thousands of options ready to book. But if you need more help, just give us a call on 0344 472 9646.
Looking for inspiration? Explore our destinations and holiday types and save your faves to your very own Wishlist. Or dive right in to our 2021 holiday offers.
With many customers needing our help, we are prioritising those customers due to travel before 31 December 2020. Log in to Manage my booking where you can message us about your options or you can give us a call. Bear in mind you may have to wait longer than expected. We continue to review this and working to open up these options to more customers. In the meantime check out our FAQs to see if this can help answer any immediate questions.
Rest assured; we will notify you as soon as we know if your holiday has been affected. 
We are continually reviewing our flying schedules, taking into account the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice against all non-essential travel. Depending on when you are due to travel, your holiday may be affected and we’ll email you to let you know as least 21 days before travel.
Please look out for emails from us or visit our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page for the latest updates.
If you need to speak to us to change or cancel your booking you can call our team on 0344 472 9646.
For the latest information on Covid-19 you can check our FAQs here.​
Don’t worry if you’ve missed a payment or just need a little more time to pay; we have options available to help you. If your holiday is going ahead as planned, you can continue to pay for your holiday in Manage my booking, even if travelling in less than 12 weeks. If you’re unsure, you can delay any additional payments by choosing a new time to travel by requesting a call back in Manage My booking for one of our team to look at options. If your holiday is more than 6 months away, you may wish to set up a Direct Debit to spread the cost. This can be arranged whilst rebooking or afterwards in Manage my booking.
We understand that you may wish to change your holiday plans and we appreciate the need for flexibility.
We'll be in touch by email letting you know how to register to change your holiday plans. You can also log into Manage my booking to find the details there.
Please look out for emails from us or visit our dedicated Covid-19 (Coronavirus) page for the latest updates.
If we haven’t notified you of any changes, your holiday will be going ahead as planned but if you prefer to move your holiday to a later time we can help. You can call our team on 0344 472 9499 who can look at options for you.
Payments are being prioritised based on when the request was made, working in order from March 2020 onwards. We will always try to process refunds at the earliest opportunity, for requests before August our maximum timeframe is 120 days. As we are steadily reducing the maximum processing time for each new request, for refund requests made in August, we expect the maximum processing time to be 80 days, from the date the refund is requested. For those requesting a refund in September, we expect it to be processed within a maximum of 60 days, and then reduce to 30 days for refunds requested in October, before returning to normal levels.
To finalise the amendment, one of our customer advisors will phone you. We need to work through amend requests in departure date order so we can prioritise those with the most imminent travel plans, so you may have a longer wait than usual until we’re able to ring you back. We will help everyone that wants to move their holiday.
You can contact our team by emailing feedback.backhome@virginholidays.com to discuss options on unused portions of your holiday. If you need to contact our team about amending an existing holiday or requesting a refund please log in to manage my booking.
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