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It remains a dynamic time for international travel and we’re continually reviewing our flying schedules.
The UK Prime Minster confirmed yesterday (Wednesday 5 January) that the testing requirements for travelling to England will be eased for fully vaccinated customers. Further details can be found in the UK Government guidance here and press release here.
For flights landing in England after 0400AM GMT on Friday 7 January, fully vaccinated travellers or customers aged 17 and under will no longer be required to do a pre-departure test before travelling to England and the requirement to self-isolate while awaiting the result of the Day 0-2 arrival test (currently PCR only) will be removed.
For flights landing in England after 0400AM GMT on Sunday 9 January: Lateral flow tests will be accepted as the Day 0-2 arrival test for fully vaccinated travellers or customers aged 17 and under arriving in England. Arrival tests must be purchased through a private test provider before departure to England, with the booking reference added to the UK Passenger Locator Form. Free NHS tests cannot be used by customers for travel testing, in line with UK Government guidance. Our customers can visit help.virginatlantic.com for a helping hand with testing options and private providers. Children aged 4 and under are exempt from arrival tests.
If customers are fully vaccinated and arriving after 0400AM on 7 January but before 0400AM on 9 January, they’ll need to continue to do a PCR test upon arrival, but won’t need to self-isolate or do a pre-departure test.
Travellers who are not fully vaccinated will be required to follow the existing rules, explained on GOV.UK here, including a pre-departure test, two PCR tests upon arrival, and self-isolation for 10 days.
The removal of pre-departure testing before travel to England and costly PCR testing upon arrival for fully vaccinated travellers is welcome progress and a necessary step towards frictionless air travel for our customers. Travellers can now book with confidence and look forward to reconnecting with loved ones and business colleagues.
Please note, for customers travelling to Edinburgh, the Scottish Government is yet to confirm any changes to arrival testing requirements but we will keep customers updated in their pre-departure communications.
All customers, irrespective of vaccination status, must continue to complete a UK Passenger Locator Form within 48 hours before arrival in the UK.
Hong Kong Cancellations
After careful review of our London Heathrow – Hong Kong schedule, we have taken the difficult decision to extend the temporary suspension of all passenger services until 6 February 2022, as we work with authorities to overcome current operational challenges on this route. We hope to reinstate this service as soon as practicable, providing vital connectivity between the UK and Hong Kong for customers and global supply chains. We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers.
Tel Aviv Cancellations
Our London Heathrow - Tel Aviv flights have been suspended up to and including 19 January 2022, due to the UK being on Israel’s Red list. From 20 January, we will be updating our schedule, which will continue on a temporarily reduced frequency of 4 per week for the rest of January.
Where we are reducing frequencies on some routes to ensure impacted passengers can continue with their travel plans, they will be reprotected to the most suitable alternative departure. Where a flight is cancelled, due limited operations to these destinations, there will be no reprotection option available, these sectors will appear as UN.
Bookings affected by these changes will be updated in your GDS on Saturday 8 January 2022.
We are also making some frequency updates on selected routes.
We will continue to keep our website up to date with all the latest updates to schedule and travel restrictions.
Please check here regularly for updates and here for specific flight status.
Please ensure the latest traveller contact information is available within the booking, so the latest instructions reach the traveller via SMS and email.
Flexibility Policy
Our flexible booking policy gives customers the freedom to book with confidence, knowing they can make changes if they need to. For flights booked for departures up to 31 December 2022, they can change travel dates up to 31 December 2023.
Our partner Delta Air Lines is also offering expanded flexibility and extended ticket validity through December 31, 2022. Visit Delta’s Waivers & Flexibility pages on Delta Professional for more information.
Groups Team Phone Lines
We’re pleased to let you know that our Groups Team phone lines will be open daily 09:00 – 12:00 from 10 January 2022. Please dial +44 3442097703 between 0900 & 1200, where our Groups Team look forward to talking to you and supporting you with all your Group Travel requirements for Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines UK Groups travel. Alternatively, you may still contact us via email at groupsalesuk@fly.virgin.com
Sales Support Call Volumes
The latest Government Covid-19 update has had a significant impact on our call volumes, so we just wanted to advise there are longer than usual wait times to get through on our Sales Support phone lines.
Where possible we would kindly request that you contact us using our Get in touch form and the team will continue to work hard to respond to your queries within 72 hours between Monday and Friday. As always we are 100% committed to supporting you and your customers, so please bear with us at this busy time.
Our Customer Centre are busy helping customers who have booked directly with Virgin Atlantic, and this means they are unable to respond to queries from our agency partners or our mutual customers.
For all other VSbulletin information, please visit Partner Hub .
