Virgin Atlantic - surcharge refund?

Happy_saver_4

A while ago we booked 2 seats Gatwick - Orlando and paid in total £654. The breakdown of this price was £85 each seat + £484 for taxes and surcharges; we had no extras.

Currently the price is £66 per seat + £453 .40 for taxes and surcharges.

The seat price reduction is not a query. I agreed to pay £85 so that's fine. My query is regarding surcharges. Should I be able to get any refund as I understood the surcharge was to do with oil prices which are now nearly a third of their high barrel price; when I booked.

I've tried to find Virgin's full T&C's on their web site http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/index.jsp

But all I can find is some T&C's referring to their web site.

Any info will be appreciated.

dzug1

No, no refund. The price is set at the time you book and the airline cannot normally pass on increased costs after that stage, nor is it obliged to pass on reductions.

In any case the reduced price of oil will take some time to filter through to the airline - they bought in advance when the price was going up and still have to honour those contracts which have now backfired.

richardw

Happy_saver wrote: »

oil prices which are now nearly a third of their high barrel price; when I booked.

Does Virgin hedge it's fuel?

WiseInvestor_2

Yes they do and airlines have already started reducing fares to reflect the cheaper cost of oil:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7671006.stm

However, the price paid will not change, just as prices fluctuate with increasing/decreasing demand for seats.