Virgin Atlantic: COVID-19 Travel Restriction Update 29 November

It remains a dynamic time for international travel and we’re continually working to keep you up to date with any key travel restrictions and the impact it has on our flying programme.

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that from 0400 GMT on Tuesday 30 Nov, all international arrivals to England will be required to take a PCR Covid-19 test, on or before the end of Day 2 in England, and self-isolate until the negative result is confirmed. Please note, the PCR test can be taken as soon as customers land in the UK (on day 0), with rapid PCR tests offering a result in 24 hours or less.

The GOV.UK press release with the latest information is here

The UK Government also confirmed that it will reinstate South Africa on its ‘Red List’ of countries from 12:00 GMT on Friday 26 November. From this point until 04:00 GMT on Wednesday 1 December, a passenger flight ban from South Africa to the UK will also be enforced by the UK Government, which will unfortunately result in the cancellation of our Johannesburg to London Heathrow services during this window. As a result of the
Red list designation, from 04:00 GMT on Sunday 28 November, entry to the UK is banned to all but UK and Irish nationals and customers with UK residence rights, who must undertake 10-day managed hotel quarantine upon arrival.

We’re currently reviewing our schedule of South Africa operations for the coming week and any upcoming flight cancellations can be found here . We also recommend that any customers booked to travel to or from South Africa with us check their flight status on www.virginatlantic.com

The Israeli Government has confirmed the closure of its borders to any person who is not an Israeli citizen or resident, effective from Monday 29 November for 14 days. The Ministry of Health press release is here , which explains that foreign nationals from all countries will not be allowed to arrive in Israel, save for exceptional cases approved by the Exceptions Committee.

This means that if customers are not an Israeli citizen or resident and do not have an exception, they will not be able to board our Virgin Atlantic services from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Our flexibility policy for assisting customer affected by these changes can be found here.

We’re also aware that some restrictions for countries that we fly to are changing and it’s important that customers continue to check the requirements they need to comply with to enter these countries before they travel, as some countries might be on the ‘rest of the world’ list, but still maintain their own entry protocols. The latest UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) foreign travel advice can also be found here

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.

Covid-19 Passenger Travel Information
Everything your customers need to know before travelling can be found here

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.

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