Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

Daisysmom · 19 April 2013 at 7:51PM

Hi

After waiting since November last year, we finally got the Thanks but no Thanks letter from Virgin Atlantic re our Sept 2008 flight to Orlando which was delayed 10 hours .... our letter reads ... we regret to advise that we have declined your claim .... extraordinary circumstances etc etc ........ next paragraph then says .... In your particular case, the aircraft encountered an unexpected technical problem after push back. The number 4 engine would not start automatically, so after a failed attempt at manually starting the engine, our engineers found it necessary to replace the pylon bleed valve. We therefore had no choice but to delay your flight until a spare part could be sourced and fitted to the aircraft.

Happy Days ... just what i was expecting after continuously reading this thread so now need to decide if its worth going to SCC ... Im not very "up" on the whole SCC routine so am going to page one to read through all the information that u have provided but it all seems kind of scary to be honest but just wanted to share my experience too and to say Thanks for everyone giving advice and help on this thread xxxx

reading_flyer · 21 April 2013 at 8:45PM

smackdowngunny wrote: »

Hi

Just looking for a bit of advice on a claim. July 2009 I flew with virgin to Orlando on my honeymoon with my wife. We were on the plane when the pilot announced there was a problem and someone was looking at it. After a further 3/4 hours we were told it couldn't be fixed, were put up the radisson at Manchester airport and flew 23 hours late.
Sent off the claim form and received a response today (13 weeks later! After being informed it would be 8 to 12 weeks) denying on exceptional circumstances due to the fact that the engine control unit unexpectedly failed and had to be replaced. I am just wondering if it is worth pursuing a claim as I don't want to chase a lost cause.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

I have just received a refusal to compensate after a fault was found with the ECU. I was told the failure of the ECU is "extremely rare", replacements not kept at all airports as this is a significant burden. So very useful to find another case of a faulty ECU. If you wish to quote this incidence it was on VS0044 on 26 July 2010 from Las Vegas to LGW. Would be useful to know the flight number and date re. your claim.

bouddhaman · 22 April 2013 at 7:31AM

Hi ,I have read the forum very carefully and initiated the start of our claim for 4 people . We were delayed for over 3 hours on VS030 march 9th 2013 Barbados to Gatwick. In reality we were dalayed for about 4 hours with a warning light on an engine , this was a tarmac delay. Eventually having checked flight-sats I found the flight was delayed by 3hours 5mins , they obviously failed to make up enough time on the journey to get in under the 3 hours.
I filled out the forms and we ( all 4 of us) have received a standard refusal letter claiming of course "Extraordinary circumstances" like a dodgy warning light isn't part of them maintaining their air-plane!!!
We are keen to move on but we live outside of the Uk, in France,so my question is can we make a claim in small claims Uk? there isn't much point sent the letter of notice if we can't follow through.

Joolz2308 · 22 April 2013 at 3:25PM

Centipede100 wrote: »

Get your letter before action sent off to Virgin this week giving the airline 14 days notice. If you get no response then start your legal claim. Note that for a legal claim to have commenced, it needs to be lodged with MCOL and the correct application fee paid at least the day before the 6 year anniversary of the date of your delayed flight.

If you are doing it through your local County Court via form N1, then you need to have prepared the form, get it stamped and paid the correct fee for it to be valid.

So I did my letter before action and they didn't reply within 14 days. Duly lodged my claim with MCOL on 27th March and received an acknowledgement of service on 8th April saying they intended to defend the whole of the claim.

Then on Saturday, I received letter from them:

"I was concerned to hear that you've brought a claim against us for delay to your flight. Obviously, we hate to end up in this situation with our customers, and I'm sorry that you felt upset enough about this to bring a legal claim.

We see no value in disputes of this nature with our passengers and as such would like to settle it for you. So as a gesture of goodwill, I have pleasure in enclosing a cheque for £1646 in full and final settlement of any claim.

I'm sorry once again that things have come to this, and I'm pleased we've been able to settle things amicably."

So to say I'm over the moon would be an understatement. Many, many thanks to you all at moneysavingexpert - I wouldn't have done it without you.

:T:beer::j

Vauban · 22 April 2013 at 3:48PM

Joolz2308 wrote: »

So I did my letter before action and they didn't reply within 14 days. Duly lodged my claim with MCOL on 27th March and received an acknowledgement of service on 8th April saying they intended to defend the whole of the claim.

Then on Saturday, I received letter from them:

...
We see no value in disputes of this nature with our passengers and as such would like to settle it for you. So as a gesture of goodwill, I have pleasure in enclosing a cheque for £1646 in full and final settlement of any claim.

And thus, my friends, endeth the lesson. You can play your games with the airlines, and they will continue to present you with hoops through which you will jump to no effect. Or you can take this seriously and insist on legal rights through court action.

Great result Joolz - well done indeed.:beer:

bouddhaman · 22 April 2013 at 4:01PM

Centipede100 wrote: »

You can use the European Small Claims Procedure Form A to submit to the courts. google this or look at the links in the FAQs under taking Ryanair to court.

Looks as if that's doable I will investigate fully a to the fees which are hidden somewhere on the site and the possibility that I apply for all four of us as we were all travelling together and then I shall send the letter of notice . Many thanks.

KillBetty · 22 April 2013 at 10:30PM

carslakephil wrote: »

Hi,

Family return flight from Boston in February 2008 was delayed by just under 5 hours. I completed the virgin claim form, simple and quick to do, having checked the delay online.
My claim was acknowledged in a couple of days and approx 8 weeks later I have received 3 cheques for €600 each. Excellent result.

Thanks for that, it gives everyone a little hope. Just curious though, what was the reason for the flight delay? And when did you actually apply for the compensation? Just nobody else seems to be that lucky of late

worriedwoman_2 · 23 April 2013 at 8:40AM

Hi
Can anyone tell me if they think this is ok to put on my court form? I don't want to write the wrong thing but don't want to miss anything important out. I have used up all the characters I am allowed. Thank you.....

I am claiming compensation for a flight which
was delayed 22 3/4 hours in 2012 re the
judgement handed down in the current ECJ case
(C-629/10) on 23/10/2012.
I was advised by Virgin that the delay was
due to damage found to the undercarriage door
on return from the previous flight. Virgin
state that the flight was then delayed
overnight as the flight crew would have
exceeded their legal duties had they
proceeded with the flight upon repair.
Virgin have stand by crew who they could have
used but instead my husband and I lost a
whole day of our anniversary holiday in Las
Vegas.
I am claiming 600 euros for each of us at the
exchange rate on 27/08/12 which was 0.7917
plus interest at 8%pa (£50.67)

bouddhaman · 23 April 2013 at 9:28AM

bouddhaman wrote: »

Looks as if that's doable I will investigate fully a to the fees which are hidden somewhere on the site and the possibility that I apply for all four of us as we were all travelling together and then I shall send the letter of notice . Many thanks.

I have drafted the letter for 14 days and I am sending that today . I added the following sentence into the letter.
[FONT=&quot]Please don’t think that the fact that we are resident outside of the Uk means that we will not proceed with this action, I have found that we have the right to proceed with the claim and will [/FONT][FONT=&quot]use the European Small Claims Procedure Form A to submit this to the courts.[/FONT]

worriedwoman_2 · 23 April 2013 at 10:00AM

Centipede100 wrote: »

Sounds fine. Good to go.

One last question - do I have to put the flight no. and details on the claim form (I don't think I have room!)

Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

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