Cookie policy

Hello! Welcome to the Virgin.com website. The Virgin.com website, including Virgin ID and the section of the website relating to the Virgin Red programme (together this is what we mean when we say Website), is run by us – Virgin Red Limited. If you're curious, our company details are: Virgin Red Limited, Whitfield Studios, 50A Charlotte Street, London W1T 2NS. Our company number is 11490861, and our VAT number is (GB) 425216184.   

This Cookie Policy applies to your use of the Website, your Virgin ID (if you have one, that is), and, if you are a member of Virgin Red, the Virgin Red app. Take a look at the Virgin Red Limited Privacy Policy if you want more information about how the Virgin Red app uses cookies. 

 So, let's talk about these cookies. No, not the chocolate chip kind. These are digital cookies and similar technologies, like tags, web beacons, pixels and, for mobile apps, software development kits or SDKs, that help make your experience on the Website and on the Virgin Red app even better and to recommend content that might be of interest to you. When we talk about cookies in this policy, we are talking about all of these technologies.   

Want to know more? Keep reading to find out more about what cookies are, the ones we use, and how you can turn them off. You're in control! Just adjust the options on the banner that pops up on Virgin.com or click here then hit 'Save and close'. If you're using the app, you can change your choices in the settings.  

Until you make up your mind, we'll only use the strictly necessary cookies.  

What are cookies?

Let’s get into the details. You can imagine a cookie as a little text file with a unique identifier. When you hop onto a website or app, this text file gets downloaded to your device. Then, whenever you (or really, your browser) request a page from our server, your device sends back the file to our server to help the site or app work smoother. One of the ways they do this is by remembering your choices, as well as keywords from URLs of other websites or apps that you accessed our Website or app from, to make sure that the Website and app reflect your preferences.  

Cookies also help us to provide you with important features and functionality and to make sure you get great customer services. They can even help us detect any funny business, like fraudulent activity, and prevent security breaches. 

Some cookies are just used whilst you’re browsing the Website or app. Others last longer so we can see how you interact with us over time.

What cookies do we use?

When you visit our Website or app and consent to cookies, these are the types of cookies that may be downloaded to your device: 

First up, we have the "Strictly Necessary Cookies." These are the cookies that make sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. They are needed for the administration and operation of the Website and app and let you explore and use the features without any hiccups. 

Next, say hello to the "Functional Cookies (Useful Features)." These cookies remember your choices on the Website or app to give you a more enhanced user experience. They're the ones responsible for showing you things you might be interested in and also embedding certain social posts on the Website or app. 

Now, let's meet the "Analytical and Performance Cookies (Visit Tracking)." These clever cookies analyse how people use the Website or app, for example by counting visitors, checking how long they stay and how they move around the Website when using it. This helps us make the Website and app work even better and makes things easier to find. Analytics service providers help us to generate statistical and other information from these cookies and might use this to create reports about usage of the site. 

Last but not least, the "Third Party and Advertising Cookies." These cookies remember your visit to the Website or app, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed to other websites or apps. We use this information to make the Website and app (and other sites or apps you visit) more relevant to your interests. We might share this information with Virgin companies and other carefully chosen third parties for the same purpose. We also work with technology partners to support the Website and app and give you relevant information about the products and services of other Virgin companies and partners that are associated with Virgin Red – both on the Website and app and on affiliated sites and apps or sites and apps within the advertising networks we work with. We may use cookies on the Website to help us place relevant advertising on third party websites when you visit those sites. This helps us fund the best offers for the Virgin Red programme.   

Remember, you're the boss of your cookies. If you want to switch them off, just head to the "How do I turn cookies off?" section below. 

Do we use any third-party cookies?

We’re all about sharing the good stuff and because the Virgin Group and Richard Branson have a strong presence on various social networks, we try to make it as easy as possible for you to share content and to see what content is popular on those networks. We’ve added some nifty buttons so you can easily share to those networks. These social 'plugins' give the sites flexibility to use their own cookies. But rest assured - they can't read any cookies we set from the Website, and we can't read any cookies they set. It just lets them do the same kind of traffic measuring that we do on the rest of the Website (and it also lets them know whether you're logged into their site).  

Other sites and services (for example, advertising networks, providers of services like web traffic analysis services and content recommendation engines) may also use cookies that we don’t have any control over. We’re talking about things like analytical and performance cookies or advertising and targeting cookies that we use to improve your experience on the Website.  

The following third parties may use cookies:  

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• YouTube

• Google

• Instagram

• Spotify

How do I turn cookies off?

Want to tweak your cookie settings? No worries. If you’re not keen on cookies or how we use them, it’s your choice -you can change the settings by adjusting the options on the banner that appears on the Website or by clicking, then clicking ‘Save and close’. You can also change the settings on your internet browser to reject cookies.  

If you want to turn cookies off on the mobile app, you can do so on the settings page on the app or by changing the settings on your device. 

Want more information? Head on over to the ‘Help’ section of your browser or check out aboutcookies.org/managing-cookies or allaboutcookies.org. Here you can also find some handy tips for removing existing cookies.  

Just keep in mind, if you decide to go cookie-free (including the strictly necessary ones), you may not be able to use all the features on our Website.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the tables below:

Website Cookies

Google Analytics Cookies: Analytical and Performance Cookies

Used for serving and recording clicks for certain links on the website.

• developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage

• policies.google.com/technologies

YouTube Cookies: Functional Cookies

Used for embedding videos onto the website.

• policies.google.com/privacy#infocollect

Facebook: Marketing & Advertising Cookies, Strictly Necessary Cookies

We use Facebook to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. We also use Facebook to advertise to you based on your website history.

Instagram Cookies: Marketing & Advertising Cookies, Strictly Necessary Cookies

We use Instagram to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. We also use Instagram to advertise to you based on your website history.

LinkedIn Cookies: Marketing & Advertising Cookies, Strictly Necessary Cookies

We use LinkedIn to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. We also use Linkedin to advertise to you based on your website history.

• linkedin.com/legal/l/cookie-table

Twitter Cookies: Marketing & Advertising Cookies, Strictly Necessary Cookies

We use Twitter to embed content such as video and posts onto the website. We also use Twitter to advertise to you based on your website history.

• help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-cookies

• developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-for-websites/privacy

Spotify Cookies: Strictly Necessary Cookies

We use Spotify to embed content onto the website.

• developer.spotify.com/documentation/widgets/terms/

Affiliate Reporting Cookies: Analytics and Performance Cookies

We use these cookies to help us report on the success of our affiliate marketing campaigns.

Virgin.com: Strictly Necessary Cookies, Functional Cookies

These cookies are used to make the site function properly and store your cookie preferences.

Virgin Red App Cookies

If you are a member of Virgin Red, please see the Virgin Red Privacy Policy for further details about how the Virgin Red app uses cookies