Recent Virgin Atlantic Flight Delays and Cancellations

Written By Joanna Teljeur

Last Updated: January 15, 2025

You’ve made a good choice booking your flight with Virgin Atlantic because this airline has one of the best reputations in the UK for punctuality. Specifically, 75.6% of the carrier's flights operated on-time in 2023 according to OAG, making them the 3rd most punctual behind Jet2 and Blue Islands. 

What Are the Chances of a Delayed Virgin Atlantic Flight?

When you choose to fly can impact your chances of delays as much as where you’re going. July and August are the busiest months to fly which translates to more airspace congestion and significantly more delays as a result. You can see Virgin Atlantic’s recent performance and average delay times in the table below.

Virgin Atlantic Destinations With Significant Disruptions

As mentioned, some destinations are more delay-prone than others, and the three routes below illustrate this. All three routes utilise especially busy, international airports. In fact, Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world making delays more likely because of congestion. 

Also, transatlantic routes can see more delays because air traffic control regulations are more stringent, but flight disruptions can stem from many different root causes, some of which may make your flight ineligible for compensation under the rules of UK Regulation 261. 

See if your flight disruption is eligible for airline compensation by using our handy compensation calculator!

What’s Causing Virgin Atlantic Flight Delays and Cancellations?

• Airline strikes and other staffing concerns like the recent shortages we’ve seen over the past few years.
• Safety and maintenance issues with the aircraft
• Air traffic control restrictions
• Not having enough passengers for a flight can result in cancellations
• Hurricanes and other severe storms, floods, snowstorms, and high winds
• Technological problems affecting either the airline or entire regions like the Crowdstrike outage
• Airport-related problems or strikes

Find out if you are owed compensation for a disrupted flight.Check Your Flight

What To Do if Your Flight is Disrupted

Let’s say your flight is delayed by several hours. You can rebook a different flight, or you can wait it out. If you’re at the airport and you choose to wait for your new departure time, make sure you ask for meal and refreshment vouchers. If your delay is extensive, you’re entitled to hotel accommodation if your flight won’t leave until the next day. Regardless, pay close attention to your Virgin Atlantic app for the latest changes and updates.

For cancelled flights, you should immediately look for a rebooking. Remember that Virgin Atlantic and all UK airlines have an obligation to get you to your final destination quickly. Not only that, but you also have the option to cancel your flight and get a refund if you can’t find a rebooking to suit you.

To avoid having flight delays and cancellations, you should try to book direct flights early in the morning, as these are less likely to be delayed. In the meantime, you can check to see if your current Virgin Atlantic flight is cancelled or delayed in the list. If you see it there, just select it and you’ll be shown how much compensation you could claim as well as your passenger rights.