The Official Virgin Holidays UK FAQ Thread

[Jon84]

Haha so true! I find it strange because I'm just so used to being left to my own devices and I don't really want someone bugging me about buying stuff for my holiday.

Same here!

Same goes for any package holiday. I've never been to a welcome meeting anywhere!

 

[BagOLaughs]

Same here!

Same goes for any package holiday. I've never been to a welcome meeting anywhere!

I must admit here is one type of holiday where I don't mind having some "intervention" by the trip providers and that's chalet snowboarding holidays.

They can take care of everything (including my snowboard & boots) so that makes me happy

 

[Jon84]

I must admit here is one type of holiday where I don't mind having some "intervention" by the trip providers and that's chalet snowboarding holidays.

They can take care of everything (including my snowboard & boots) so that makes me happy

Ah that does sound useful, I've not been skiing or boarding. My wife would prefer the Chalet, bottle of wine and a fire part more than the sking though!

 

[MarkF0wle]

We spent many years booking with Virgin Holidays starting in maybe 2006 when I had a friend who worked for them as an agent. Before then we had use various travel agencies like First Choice, Thomas Cook et al. We always had some drama with the previous TAs, wrong names on tickets, etc.. I'll buck the trend & say that we only have ever have 1 issue with Virgin Holidays but that was on a trip to Las Vegas & they bent over backwards to rectify it which they did in about an hour (during which time I was in a casino anyway).

We did get some misinformation about booking 180+10 ADRs but this was WAY before MDE & after getting the scoop from my friend who worked there it was 50/50 blame between Disney & VH - VH weren't wrong they just didn't have anybody advising that was familiar with the system. The reason we stopped using VH was because cheaper options came up, we had the cash on hand to book DIY & then booking directly with Disney itself was significantly cheaper with the same added benefits.

My tip is that they will price match, which isn't commonly known. We had a trip booked before Disney released the Free Dining promotion & after they did I priced a holiday on the Disney website. We took that quote into VH, it would have been cheaper for us to have paid the cancellation fee & rebook with Disney but VH matched the Disney direct price & we only have to pay a much smaller change fee.

 

[Jon84]

We spent many years booking with Virgin Holidays starting in maybe 2006 when I had a friend who worked for them as an agent. Before then we had use various travel agencies like First Choice, Thomas Cook et al. We always had some drama with the previous TAs, wrong names on tickets, etc.. I'll buck the trend & say that we only have ever have 1 issue with Virgin Holidays but that was on a trip to Las Vegas & they bent over backwards to rectify it which they did in about an hour (during which time I was in a casino anyway).

We did get some misinformation about booking 180+10 ADRs but this was WAY before MDE & after getting the scoop from my friend who worked there it was 50/50 blame between Disney & VH - VH weren't wrong they just didn't have anybody advising that was familiar with the system. The reason we stopped using VH was because cheaper options came up, we had the cash on hand to book DIY & then booking directly with Disney itself was significantly cheaper with the same added benefits.

My tip is that they will price match, which isn't commonly known. We had a trip booked before Disney released the Free Dining promotion & after they did I priced a holiday on the Disney website. We took that quote into VH, it would have been cheaper for us to have paid the cancellation fee & rebook with Disney but VH matched the Disney direct price & we only have to pay a much smaller change fee.

Good post Mark Worth noting they'll only price match a VA flight, not a Thomas Cook, BA or Thomson.

I'm still not convinced on their info around Dining, FPs and Linking to MDE. One Rep (recently) even argued with my Wife then hung up. Not cool!

It's always worth considering cancelling. Our december trip went down by so much in the May Sale that we were able to cancel, lose the deposit and still save £700! Thankfully VH do a Change Date scheme so you can cancel, rebook for the same dates, but use the deposit on a trip in the future.

 

[MarkF0wle]

Good post Mark Worth noting they'll only price match a VA flight, not a Thomas Cook, BA or Thomson.

I'm still not convinced on their info around Dining, FPs and Linking to MDE. One Rep (recently) even argued with my Wife then hung up. Not cool!

It's always worth considering cancelling. Our december trip went down by so much in the May Sale that we were able to cancel, lose the deposit and still save £700! Thankfully VH do a Change Date scheme so you can cancel, rebook for the same dates, but use the deposit on a trip in the future.

Absolutely the holiday they match needs to be identical in every way, luckily Disney use Virgin Atlantic as part of their packages so be sure to select them as your flight choice if you intend to use it as a booking to get matched.

The issue we had before MDE, was that Virgin didn't provide details of the guests to Disney until a month out as Disney didn't require them. VH just block book the rooms & as far as Disney knew the room was sold to a VH customer & it wasn't until about 30 days out that VH told Disney that it was me. So at 180 days according to Disney I didn't have a reservation so I didn't have a Disney reservation number & therefore couldn't do 180+10. The information from VH was that you had to wait until 30 days out for your reservation number so you can do dining which was VH just not knowing that at 180 days you can book with or without a holiday reference number.

This was way before MDE & the need to do FastPass+ & everything so they no doubt have more of their ducks in a row now. My friend no longer works for them so I cannot ask for insider information.

 

[Jon84]

This was way before MDE & the need to do FastPass+ & everything so they no doubt have more of their ducks in a row now. My friend no longer works for them so I cannot ask for insider information.

You'd think so!

 

[BagOLaughs]

haha, so i just tried to select my seat 72 hours in advance (as I'm a red card member) however for some reason the website was still charging me.

I was scratching my head and so I used the little chat pop out window that Virgin has (I love these) it turns out each person travelling needs a virgin account. So quickly got my partner to create one and bobs your uncle we've now got our seats sorted

Only 2 days an 35 mins to go!! wooooop!

 

[Tash87]

That's interesting, me and hubby have got our own accounts but what about children?

Have a fab time......I'm not jealous

 

[Tash87]

haha, so i just tried to select my seat 72 hours in advance (as I'm a red card member) however for some reason the website was still charging me.

I was scratching my head and so I used the little chat pop out window that Virgin has (I love these) it turns out each person travelling needs a virgin account. So quickly got my partner to create one and bobs your uncle we've now got our seats sorted

Only 2 days an 35 mins to go!! wooooop!

Oh and what was the seat situ like?

 

[BagOLaughs]

its not bad, We managed to get row 32 A & B (the two next to the window on the left hand side of the plane) this was the furthest forward we could get. here's hoping the spare aisle seat next to my partner remains empty so we can spread a bit.

There are still a fair few options for both window/aisle and middle seats.

I'm assuming children will be classed under the supervising adult and can have the seat selected with them? That would make most sense... but who knows.

 

[markkelly]

Thats useful to know thanks...flying with Virgin in Oct and been a Red member for years - so got my wife to sign up...but Flying club is not available for under 12's.
Anyone know if I will still be ablet o select seats 72 hrs in advance?

Thanks

 

[markkelly]

haha, so i just tried to select my seat 72 hours in advance (as I'm a red card member) however for some reason the website was still charging me.

I was scratching my head and so I used the little chat pop out window that Virgin has (I love these) it turns out each person travelling needs a virgin account. So quickly got my partner to create one and bobs your uncle we've now got our seats sorted

Only 2 days an 35 mins to go!! wooooop!

Thats useful to know thanks...flying with Virgin in Oct and been a Red member for years - so got my wife to sign up...but Flying club is not available for under 12's.
Anyone know if I will still be ablet o select seats 72 hrs in advance?

Thanks

 

[thestevied]

Anyone upgraded from economy to premium? We're flying economy next September. Have never been premium but would love to if the price was affordable.

 

[MarkF0wle]

We've flown Premium Economy a few times - for sure the seats are bigger & slightly more comfortable but now that the "bubble" has normal economy seats too the peace & quiet of that area was lost. The price has gone through the roof too & we decided maybe 5 years ago that the slight bump in service wasn't worth it for the huge price increase. For 18 hours we'll deal with economy & spend the cash on a cruise. :-D

If you can afford it & want to, it's great. But for my family it's not worth the price anymore, sadly.

 

[Jon84]

If you book through VH you can often get a K Class seat. The upgrade cost for 2 people can be as little as £400 all in. And as much as £1800 all in!

 

[thestevied]

If you book through VH you can often get a K Class seat. The upgrade cost for 2 people can be as little as £400 all in. And as much as £1800 all in!

We booked through VH. Would it be best to go into Virginia holidays and ask about an upgrade then? How do I know about getting a K class seat

 

[Jon84]

We booked through VH. Would it be best to go into Virginia holidays and ask about an upgrade then? How do I know about getting a K class seat

Can go in or call.

They can look at the class of the seat. K class will be the cheapest PE seat. Just ask them if any K are available