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Virgin Atlantic publishes its lockdown flight schedule

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Virgin Atlantic has just announced its lockdown flight schedule, which begins on Sunday.

It is relatively intact, mainly because Virgin Atlantic has been razor sharp over recent months in only running services which could make money on the back of cargo revenue.

Click here for a PDF showing the detailed schedule.

Virgin Atlantic lockdown flight schedule

In a statement, the airline said:

“As a direct result of new restrictions and the expected drop in customer demand, effective from 8 November until 3 December 2020 we will temporarily reduce our passenger flying programme. If we cancel a customer’s flight, we will be in touch with them and they will have the option to rebook or request a refund. We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience caused to our customers and remain so grateful for their patience during these extraordinary circumstances.”

“While we have reduced our passenger flying schedule, we’ll continue to serve many of Virgin Atlantic’s destinations on a reduced frequency and provide vital international connectivity from London Heathrow Terminal 2 for customers that need to fly, including journeys permitted for work, education or other legally permitted reasons. We’ll also continue to build on the success of our cargo-only operations, helping to keep global supply chains moving.”

Virgin Atlantic lockdown flight schedule November

Virgin Atlantic is running:

  • Atlanta (2 per week, 787)
  • Barbados / Antigua (2 per week, 787)
  • Boston (2 per week, 787)
  • Delhi (3 per week, 787)
  • Hong Kong (2 per week, 787)
  • Johannesburg (2 per week, 787)
  • Lagos (3 per week, A350)
  • Los Angeles (5 per week, A350)
  • New York (7 per week, A350 / 787)
  • Miami (1 per week, 787)
  • Montego Bay (2 per week, 787)
  • Mumbai (2 per week, 787)
  • Shanghai (2 per week, 787)
  • Tel Aviv (2 per week, 787)

This is a total of 37 flights per week, meaning that there will be an average of just five Virgin Atlantic departures per day this month.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (18)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Nick says:

    so VS have cancelled our flight. economy upgraded to business using miles. they refuse to rebook into business on our desired dates due to lack of reward availability. do we accept?

    • 747_Brat says:

      If you don’t mind sharing, please could you share the sector and date of the cancelled flight.
      Thanks.

    • memesweeper says:

      > do we accept?

      Not unless you want to. Be prepared for a fight though. BA call centres often say the same thing; if you escalate you get a different (the right) answer.

      • Nkp says:

        seems that EU 261 says rebooking should be under comparable transport conditions.

        • Lady London says:

          if they cancelled, by law you are entitled to any available seat in in same class whether Y/PE/J/F without it needing to be an avios seat. They cant deny you this if their cancellation. text in Ec261

          • Nkp says:

            thanks. I can’t find anything in EC261 that refers specifically to reward seats, but it’s quite clear that rebooking should be allowed even if the original fare type isn’t available

          • pigeon says:

            The regulation explicitly states: “it shall apply to passengers having tickets issued under a frequent flyer programme”.

  • Andrew Wells says:

    Try another agent tomorrow. I’d hope for a bit of flexibility, especially as all cabins should still be relatively quiet. I certainly wouldn’t be accepting without pushing back quite firmly first to see what can be done.

  • James says:

    Well they have cancelled my outbound to Antigua on the 3rd. Not told me officially yet, but it’s removed from the schedules and the app just shows blanks 🤷🏼‍♂️

  • Nic says:

    Virgin is in a bit of a shambles it seems. Ive been in Barbados for two weeks already and am due to check in to a Virgin holidays hotel tomorrow which has now been cancelled without warning leaving us homeless for a week. I’m hoping the duty office will come through today and sort this mess out and we can still fly home next week!!

    Back on topic, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on why there are Virgin Australia flight codes going back and forth to Barbados as per this schedule? In 30 years I’ve never seen that (the usual are VS 131 and 132). Thanks

  • pigeon says:

    I’ve got Christmas flights coming up with VS – booked with points. I’m worried they’ll cancel and then wash their hands of the situation. Any experiences or advice?

    • mark says:

      We had MAN to LAS in UC with points and taxes. All points and taxes returned. Did take a few months though as it was the height of the disruptions. So we are not out of pocket, but didn’t get a holiday.

      • pigeon says:

        Thanks! The issue here is I’m travelling, so if Virgin cancels I’d want an EC261 re-route inside a reasonable timeframe. I’m hoping to avoid the situation of them refusing a re-route and me being forced into booking something else last minute.

        • Nkp says:

          I expect you’ll have the issue I’m having – they deny responsibility and you have to ‘complain’ to escalate. Trouble is you then have to wait for whatever timeframe the complaints process takes.

  • Dan says:

    It is articles like this about VS that make me wonder seriously about their future. A small LH airline with almost 75% of their routes in the US will find it hard to pivot towards profitability. Even when travel picks up, it will be SH European travel that will resurge first. It does feel like something drastic needs to happen for them to get to a spot where they can even consider competing in the market.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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