Letter to Virgin

Nikkisun

Hi - I need to write a complaint letter to Virgin but am not really very good at putting down what's in my head!! This is what I've written - does it sound ok or need any changes? To make it a bit clearer - it concerns free flight vouchers we were given when Virgin didn't have enough seats on the plane to fly everyone home!


Dear Sirs

RE: Select Vouchers 932 238 2029xxx
932 238 2029xxx
932 238 2029xxx
932 238 2029xxx

My family and I were issued the above Virgin Atlantic Red Select Vouchers on 21st November 2008 after we voluntarily gave up our seats on flight VS016 from MCO-LGW when it was discovered that a smaller plane had been assigned to the route.

When we accepted the alternative flight (from JFK-LHR) we explained to the Virgin Agent that as my eldest son was due to sit his exams during the next 12-18 months then we would only be able to take the voucher flights during the school holidays, we were told that this would not be a problem as there were ‘voucher seats’ allocated on every flight.

Unfortunately our flight home was not uneventful, after a mad dash to MCO as were only given just over an hour until the New York flight was due to leave, we were told by American Airlines that the Virgin Agent had only booked myself and my husband on the New York Flight (and subsequently the Heathrow flight) and there were no tickets booked for my two children!

As there were no Virgin flights due in or out of MCO at that time it took us a while to find a Virgin Agent to resolve this matter, when we eventually found one we were told that the JFK flight had closed and we were unable to fly! The Virgin Agent finally sorted this out and we were allowed through to the departure gate where we were again told that we didn’t have four tickets and we could not fly. It took several phone calls before we were finally allowed to board the flight.

As you can appreciate this was extremely stressful and was caused by the incorrect paperwork issued by the Virgin Agent.

We decided to take this matter no further as we had been given the Select Vouchers and thought that the stress we had encountered was small price to pay as we now had free flights to use for our next family holiday.

Fast forward to now and the stress begins again. On Friday 15th May I phoned to book our flights using the vouchers to be told to phone back today (18th May) as that would be the day the ‘voucher seats’ would be released. However, when I phoned back first thing this morning I was told that no ‘voucher seats’ were available. I could understand this if I was being rigid about my flight dates and/or route but I feel that I am being as flexible as I possibly can.

The dates we can fly out are any day from 27/03/2010 to 03/04/2010 returning 12-14 days later and we are happy to fly any of the following routes:

LGW – MCO (2 flights per day)
MAN – MCO (1 or 2 flights per day)
LHR – MIA (1 flight per day)

I find it hard to believe, after being told that every flight has at least four ‘voucher seats’ available that all 144 possible voucher seats across these flight/date combinations had all been allocated by 9am this morning!

As you are aware when using Select Vouchers the return leg of the journey must be completed within 18 months of issue, which means our vouchers are valid for travel until 21/05/2010. However, as we cannot fly on our available dates in March/April these vouchers are now unusable.

I am asking you to look into this matter for me and to explain why all of these flights are unavailable to us and also to ask that if we cannot fly on any of these dates could the voucher expiry date be extended so that we may use them in the July/August 2010 period.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,



xxxxxxx

cactusdust

Virgin only operate the Boeing 747-400 out of Gatwick. I think you just might mean that the flight was over-booked... Sorry to nit-pick, just thought I'd point that out!

Second note, I'd advise travelling out of Heathrow where possible- the Virgin product its considerably better from Heathrow as aposed to LGW/MAN.

LeeSouthEast

Your letter sounds extremely reasonable. Good job, and good luck

Nikkisun

cactusdust wrote: »

Virgin only operate the Boeing 747-400 out of Gatwick. I think you just might mean that the flight was over-booked... Sorry to nit-pick, just thought I'd point that out!

Second note, I'd advise travelling out of Heathrow where possible- the Virgin product its considerably better from Heathrow as aposed to LGW/MAN.

The 144 seats mentioned are the amount of flights available x 4 not the anount of seats on the plane.

To be honest I don't much mind if the flight out of Heathrow is in a tin bath - I just want to get to Florida!!!

Nikkisun

Well the good news is that Virgin have agreed to extend the expiry date on the vouchers so that we can use them in July/August next year :j

NotQuiteNorbert

Glad you managed to get a favourable result.

jd87

I see this is all sorted now, but I have to ask the obvious question. How did you get from Orlando to New York and wasn't this at your own expense and hassle???

Nikkisun

jd87 wrote: »

I see this is all sorted now, but I have to ask the obvious question. How did you get from Orlando to New York and wasn't this at your own expense and hassle???

Virgin put us on a flight with American Airlines from Orlando - no expense but LOADS of hassle!!

When we got to the airport (with minutes to spare as Virgin bumped us so late) we found out that Virgin had only booked 2 of us on the flight to NY (me and hubby were booked but the kids weren't) wasn't easy to sort out due to the lack of a Virgin rep anywhere in the airport, at one point American Airlines suggested that we fly and leave the kids (aged 15 & 8) behind to go on a different flight (that we'd have to pay for!!).

It all got sorted in the end but I've never been so stressed in my life and standing in the middle of Orlando airport in floods of tears is not an experience I want to repeat in a hurry!