In the event that Virgin Atlantic cancel a flight one of the following options is available to customers holding confirmed reservations.
Re-book/Re-route at the earliest opportunity
Take an alternative flight under comparable transport conditions, to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, subject to the availability of seats in the cabin originally purchased
or
Re-book/Re-route to a later date
Take an alternative flight to your destination under comparable transport conditions at a later date more convenient to you, subject to the availability of seats in the ticket class originally purchased and seasonal supplements being paid. If the new fare is lower the difference will be refunded
or
Re-book on a Virgin Atlantic flight to another destination
Subject to availability. Any additional fare cost will be charged. If the new fare is lower the difference will be refunded.
or
A refund of unused flights if travel has not commenced
We are pleased to confirm that as planned and communicated to our customers, we are on track to clear the backlog of Virgin Atlantic refunds imminently and will return to normal refund timeframes this month. We sincerely thank our customers’ patience during recent months.
New refund requests in November will be processed within a normal timeframe.
Once a refund has been processed it will then be returned to the original form(s) of payment. It may be necessary to allow up to 14 days for the money to show on the customer account due to the process in place between Virgin Atlantic and our Merchant Service Providers (i.e. banks). The length of time may also depend on payment method and provider, or if a Bank Holiday falls during the period of time.
There may also be circumstances where the customers’ details of original form of payment are not correct, or have expired. Customers will receive an email with a secure link to provide new details. If the new details are pending this may be preventing a refund from being processed within the normal timeframe.
Customers booked directly with Virgin Atlantic and have a cancelled flight may apply for a refund here.
General Conditions
• All re-routings involving other carriers must be notified and authorised by Virgin Atlantic before travel commences..
Passengers can amend their bookings by contacting their travel agents or by calling the nearest Virgin Atlantic customer service centre.
Passengers requiring a refund should make an application to their original point of sale.
Passengers on inclusive/package holidays must refer to their tour operators who may not operate the same re-booking policies. Passengers should also be aware that any applicable refund would only relate to the airfare portion of the inclusive package and not the whole cost of the holiday. Your tour operator should therefore be contacted for further advice before you cancel your booking.
Compensation for cancelled flights
In certain situations where a flight is cancelled less than 2 weeks before departure and the alternative flight we offer is more than 4 hours later than the original schedule, compensation under the terms of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 may be applicable.
However there is no entitlement to compensation if the cause of the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken, this includes cancellations in the event of weather conditions, political instability, unexpected flight safety shortcomings, security risks and strikes.
Compensation shall not apply to passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public.
Compensation application process
Compensation claims cannot be processed at the airport.