Virgin - Awful service/ over booked flight - best way to complain?

beefster

URGENT ADVICE...
Ensure you dont end up being the "excess baggage" on these over booked flight by CHECKING IN ONLINE.

Firstly I should say Virgin have been good in my experience in the past and service has been good. not great but good.
Flew to Miami a couple of weeks back with a group of friends having booked tickets 9 months previously. Due to an accident on the M25 we didnt arrive until 2hrs before the flight but this is 1 hr before check in closes. At check in my 3 friends checked in ok and then I was held at the desk for 20 mins - then told the plane was full and there was at present no seat for me on the flight!!!!!
After a somewhat supprisingly calm but making my point, discussion i was told it was "company policy and an industry wide pracise"!! Given a free cup of coffee voucher and asked to wait! Speaking to other Virgin staff it seems that if you dont check in online you are at risk to being the "Excess passenger"...... i was offered an alternative flight to Atlanta and then connection to Miami.... Great as i was the only designated driver! However due to the accident on the M25 it seems some passengers who checked in on line the day before...didnt make it by check in closure! So i prospered from someone elses misery and got on the plane! After no little stress despite the generous free cup of coffee!

Things didnt stop there tho - I was moved from my seat to "assist a family who want to sit together"... no problem with that. Then told off Loudly and abruptly by one of the ground side staff for sitting in the wrong seat .... Ended up getting a little hot under the collar when spoken to like a 2 year old who had run into the road! Anyone would think i was a paying passenger for a moment! I was re routed around the plane and finally back to my original seat - ironically the one allocated to me when i booked 9 months ago. Generally a shambles..... then get the now standard 40 mins delay taking off! :mad:

Return journey - We ended up in the worst seats... backing onto the galley and toilets at the rear..... Someone has to i suppose... noisey all through the night. especially the staff in the galley.
Food comes through - no choice - basically have whats left or nothing! Ask for a beer - we have none??? Trolley comes down the other aisle - guy on that side asks for a beer and lo and be hold beer available. So Why say they have none and ask did i want wine or water!?? Bloody useless service throughout the flight. Food was poor especially breakfast :mad:

Very disapointing.

So - best ways to complain? having never done it before.

shockingmoment

Take a leaf out of this chap's book:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html

Can't help with Richard's email address though!

johnnyroper

Firstly I have used VS several times in the past and always found them to be ok.
However I went LGW-MCO and back to LHR from MIA in march this year and found the service to be truly awful.
The staff are rude,food barely fit for consumption (the kids meal was not fit for consumption) I was driving after landing so only wanted a couple of beers on a long flight but that was not possible approx hour in to flight they have ran out.funny how upper could still get beer?
The LGW aircraft are also rather tatty with crap IFE.
On return from MIA I was in centre section at rear of the a346 by the galley the staff were more interested in sitting down playing iPhone games and arranging a night out.they did not even bother with duty free you had to go and ask and subsequently get filthy looks for daring to disturb them.

Don't bother complaining it will not get you anywhere I had bog standard reply thanking for letter but the flight report from crew did not deviate from their plan so all was well.I sent other letters got nobrespinse I even wrote to steve ridgeway he did not have the decency to reply either.

Since the economic crisis VS have gone downhill,I went to JFK with American in October and they were fantastic so after my Orlando flight next year I doubt I will use VS again unless it is stupidly cheap.
Good luck complaining but don't hold your breath,all the info on how to complain is on the website.
I copied beardy Branson in on the emails aswell.
Steve.ridgeway@flyvirgin.com
Richard.branson@virgin.com

johnnyroper

shockingmoment wrote: »

Take a leaf out of this chap's book:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html

Can't help with Richard's email address though!

I think that was a beardy Branson publicity stunt but happy to be proved wrong

mandyc

We were bumped off a Virgin flight from HK to LHR last year and were given vouchers for free flights anywhere in the world except Sydney, we were put in a five star hotel overnight with free phone calls home and flew next morning with QANTAS (much better than Virgin!!).

They re-arranged our shuttle flight back to MAN.

All in all a very pleasing result for us but I can understand how it must be if you have committments that depend on your being at your destination at a certain time. For this reason, when flying with Virgin, we always build in an extra day or two which does add to the expense but relieves the stress!!

stoneman

OP, now that other people have hijacked your thread I will endeavor to give you some advice. First are you a Flying Club member? because if not stop reading now and take it on the chin because all you are going to receive is some miles to go towards an upgrade or something. Go HERE and fill in the form to make a complaint, the email address link is at the bottom of the page. Don't ramble, keep it concise and to the point, IE don't mention the beer incident, if your complaint is more than a few lines the person on the other end will stop reading by then and you will have wasted your breath. Send off the form and then be prepared to wait, and wait, and wait. They have 28 days to respond to your complaint and they will use every one of them. Then you will just receive a stock response telling you to go take a running jump. Don't be put off, send in a reply and wait again. Another 28 days will pass and by then you should receive an offer of some flying miles. This I am afraid is the best you can hope for IMHO. Good luck.

johnnyroper

Firstly explaining to OP my experience of VS poor service is not hijacking the thread I gave details of how to complain and also the fact that VS customer relations are not very good, standard letter and then nothing else from them no matter how many letters ate sent.
And yes I am a flying club member with substantial mileage so that makes no difference when complaining.

I did not write an essay just used bullet points to express the problems encountered,the beer issue I also think is worth mentioning as the crew are clearly serving some people and not others. If you have ran out/ say ran out then tell every pax the same thing.

neilbond007

I had an issue with Virgin 18 months ago. Here's how it went.

Was still living in England at the time and booked ORD - LHR reward tickets for me and my (at the time) other half in April for travel at xmas (home to see the family).
Anyway, July comes and Virgin canceled the flights (they shelved the route for the whole of winter). It took around 2 months to get any kind of refund. Then another problem appears....

As I was living in the UK at the time I paid on my UK credit card.
As my flight originated in the US the tax was in USD.

When the refund eventually appeared, due to the different exchange rates I reveived GBP 424 back. A difference of just under GBP 47.

It took about 40 e-mails (and several phone calls) but I eventually got the difference back.

They might have been well within their rights to tell me to get stuffed, but as it was them that canceled the flights I wasn't going to take it.

Keep on to them

PS - I sent a mail to richard.branson@virgin.com. I got a bog standard reply, but after that there was some action at their end.

beefster

As i did get on the plane all be it at what i thought was the last minute.... (40 min delay taking off) i doubt i will get anything!
My real bug bear is that if you dont have access to a computer to check in on line 24hrs prior to departure you are disciminated against! Appalling too that they as a matter of course overbook flights! Hence making cash at someones expense / misery as they dont make it.

Flown Delta and American which where great - BA where awful too.

IFE on my flights was fantastic to be honest. loads of films / TV / music / games to choose from. No complaints there.

martindow

Upsetting as it was at the time you did get on the flight. All airlines gamble with overbooking a percentage and on this occasion the no shows allowed you to travel, so Virgin did get it right. Service on flights is always hit and miss - it is best to travel with low expectations and sometimes be pleasantly surprised.

StuieUK34

i always thought that there would be some spare seats in the posh section left, so if they overbooked in bum class, they automatically give u the nice seats ? (unless there fully booked i guess)
it not work that way ?