holiday/flight mistake

sarah_barker

so we booked our holiday in July, to fly out on the 30th August with lowcostholidays.com. We received the travel itinerary quickly (stated that we were on the 11:00am flight from Manchester to Orlando International) and everything seemed fine.
However, its now two weeks 'til we travel and still havent received the flight tickets, and cannot find them online when we went through https://www.viewtrip.com
In a moment of despair I rang Virgin Atlantic directly to see if they could at least confirm if we were on the passenger list etc.
A very nice man (in a UK call centre may I add, something which lowcostholidays clearly doesn't understand the importance of...) found our booking easily and gave me a reference that I could use to choose our seats, meals etc as well as view the E-TICKETS WOO!
Much to my dismay after logging on, I noticed that the outbound flight on the screen was not the one we booked with lowcostholidays, it was 2hrs 45 mins later, (1:45pm as opposed to 11am). Obviously there was a reason I booked the earlier flight, so as to give us more time to settle in, rest, get food etc.
I've sent a very, very disappointed email to lowcostholidays as the problems have just added up over time: not replying to emails, not being able to answer questions about our tickets as they were clearly reading from a script (which now makes sense about not being able to find any information through them, as we weren't on the bloody flight we thought we were!).
I know it might seem petty to some, but we've never been to Florida before, and I wanted it to be perfect, and everything was...and still should be. I do feel as though I deserve something from lowcostholidays.com, as god knows what wouldve happened if I hadn't contacted Virgin (no doubt they'd stil be searching for original flight tickets that we aren't on...)

What to people think about this? Am I in the right to complain and hope to get something because of their mistake?:(

joerugby

Would have thought that an apology might suffice

richardw

Have you an e mail confirming the 11am flight?

sarah_barker

I have an e-mail from lostcostholidays with an attached .pdf with our accommodation voucher etc, and the flight details, i.e. 'Virgin Atlantic Flight Number XXXX - 11:00am', I also have the same confirmation from their online booking management system, and the same flight is stated on viewtrip.com through the travel itinerary.

sarah_barker

Yes two separate flights. Flight number VS75 (11am) AND VS73 (1:45pm)

victor2

Probably better to wait until you've flown before complaining any more. The last thing you want is for them to try to "fix" their mistake by cancelling your later tickets and getting you on the original flight, without telling you, so you will miss it. Keep checking your reservation on Virgin right up to the day before you fly. If lowcostholidays do get back to you, tell them you'll take the flight as it is now booked but want an upgrade for your trouble. Don't suppose they will, as they are not the airline, but nothing to lose by asking.
Just as well you haven't got a connection to meet at Orlando. Enjoy Florida!

Enterprise_1701C

It's not unusual for flight times to change - we have had several change by a few hours over the years, we never depend on flight times till we have the tickets in our hands! In this case it might just have been that the previous flight was fully booked before they booked yours. Another reason why we make sure we book any connecting flights through the same company. If I were in your shoes I would be glad it is only that late, not 12 hours (like one of ours!) or even the next day. Don't let it wreck your holiday, have a wonderful time, we certainly did in Florida.

Westin

victor2 wrote: »

. If lowcostholidays do get back to you, tell them you'll take the flight as it is now booked but want an upgrade for your trouble. !

I realise it must be disappointing for the OP to be on a slightly later flight than she thought but I do think it rather silly for you to suggest that she asks for a flight upgrade for having to travel on a flight 2h45m later.

Bob_the_Saver

Sh*t happens

victor2

Westin wrote: »

I realise it must be disappointing for the OP to be on a slightly later flight than she thought but I do think it rather silly for you to suggest that she asks for a flight upgrade for having to travel on a flight 2h45m later.

The rest of the post, to put it in context better...

victor2 wrote: »

Don't suppose they will, as they are not the airline, but nothing to lose by asking.
Just as well you haven't got a connection to meet at Orlando. Enjoy Florida!

Westin

The rest of the post, to put it in context better...

Quote:
Originally Posted by victor2
Don't suppose they will, as they are not the airline, but nothing to lose by asking.
Just as well you haven't got a connection to meet at Orlando. Enjoy Florida!

I just think the comment to ask for an upgrade might give false expectations to the OP and "wind-up" the situation for her even more if she then takes that advice and confronts LowCostHolidays with such a suggestion.

I can understand her disappointment to be travelling on a flight 2h45m later than expected, but putting it into context it is not the worse thing that could happen. An apology from lowcost for not letting her know any earlier, sure. Anything else, I can't see happening. I hope she will be able to put this behind her and just now look forward to having a great time in Florida.

OP - don't forget to go onto the "manage my booking" site of the Virgin Atlantic website to add your seat requests (it's free with VA). You may even be on the new A330 aircraft!