Virgin Atlantic ramps up its connection in the Caribbean

One of Barbados’ main airline partners out of the United Kingdom continues to ramp up connections with the Caribbean, relaunching its twice weekly service from Tobago to London Heathrow, with stopovers in Bridgetown.

It comes as Virgin Atlantic introduces enhanced flexible booking policy on all new bookings as destinations continue to battle the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, which was responsible for grounding flights for months and disrupting international travel.

The airline said from January 29,2022, Tuesday and Saturday flights from Tobago will resume aboard its Airbus A330-300, offering a selection of experiences across three cabins– upper class, premium and economy. This is alongside the airline’s three classes of economy – delight, classic and light.

“Not only is London an ideal base to explore the entire United Kingdom, but it also serves as a global gateway to the rest of the world. Virgin Atlantic operates daily services to both Delhi and Mumbai, allowing customers access to seamless connections between the Caribbean and India. Virgin Atlantic is excited to be able to reconnect people from Trinidad and Tobago to the UK and beyond through the restart of this much-loved route,” the company said in a release.

Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic, expressed excitement at the resumption of the flights between Tobago and London, saying both countries will benefit greatly.

The airline also stated that it was keen on helping people book their trips with confidence, noting that it had extended its policy of unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings, giving further flexibility to customers to support future travel plans.

“The updated flexible booking policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new holiday or flight-only booking for travel up to December 31, 2022 to make as many changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination, with the change fees waived, as well as one free name change,” said the airline. 

In addition, the rebooking horizon, the date by which rescheduled travel can be completed, has been extended by eight months for all new and existing bookings – all the way until December 31, 2023 – giving a broader window of time to reschedule plans if needed.

The improved flexible policy also applies to customers who have already converted their booking to a voucher or hold an open ticket. It will also benefit customers if their flight or holiday is subject to cancellation, in addition to their refund and voucher options.

The flights to and from Tobago, which starts as low as US$823 per person, will have an approximately 1 hour and15 minutes stopover in Barbados. (MM)