Virgin Atlantic

The aviation regulator has today published a list of 18 airlines' performances during the coronavirus pandemic, with Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic rapped for being too slow to pay refunds. The announcement comes after MoneySavingExpert.com warned yesterday they were likely to be named and shamed based on the results of our latest survey on travel refunds. 

Aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority is this week expected to name and shame the airlines that have been the worst for refunds during the coronavirus pandemic. It comes after MSE presented the regulator with a dossier of 77,000 responses to our survey on travel refunds, which earlier this month found that Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic were the worst-rated major airlines. 

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card customers are being paid rebates of £40 each – equivalent to 25% of their annual fee – due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Virgin has revealed a major overhaul of its Flying Club loyalty scheme which it says will make it easier to earn reward flights and upgrades. The loyalty programme, part of the newly created Virgin Group Loyalty Company, will allow collectors to earn and spend Flying Club miles across Virgin-branded companies from next year. As the new scheme is still in its infancy, Virgin was unable to tell us the full details or provide a likely launch date other than at some point in 2019. But in theory you might be able to earn miles you can put towards a Virgin Trains journey or even a discount off its Virgin Media broadband services. Currently, Flying Club miles can be earned by spending on a Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card, opening a Flying Club savings account for a year, flying Virgin Atlantic or spending with various other partners. These can be used on reward flights, upgrades and companion tickets (for more, see below). For more information on the Virgin Atlantic Reward credit cards, see our Airline Credit Cards guide.

Virgin Atlantic has relaunched two airline credit cards allowing customers to earn miles, upgrades and companion tickets. They're good for collectors of Virgin's Flying Club miles – but our analysis shows they don't have the 'wow' factor of British Airways' longstanding cards.

Almost a fifth of airline passengers have been separated from the rest of their group because they didn't pay extra to sit together, according to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), as it launched an investigation into allocated seating policies.

Travel to and from the Caribbean and Florida is currently severely disrupted in the wake of the devastating Hurricane Irma. If you're planning to travel to the region, here's what you need to know.

Airline and tour operator Monarch has scrapped its credit card charges for holiday and flight bookings, three weeks after Virgin Atlantic stopped charging the fees on its own flight bookings.

If you've booked a trip to a country where the Zika virus is rife and are pregnant or travelling with someone who is, you should be able to get your money back or at least rearrange your trip. But policies differ by holiday company and insurer, MoneySavingExpert.com has found – and most other travellers are unlikely to be able to cancel their trip without losing money.

Most passengers claiming compensation for train delays should automatically be given a cheque instead of rail vouchers from tomorrow – but the law to enforce this has been postponed by six months.