Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

terriandaaron

This was last week, on a flight from heathrow to San Francisco , there on a ski trip with there school.
They was given lunch vouchers by virgin but was meant to leave at 11 but after all mucking around was nearly 4 by time they took off, very long day for them.

Ich_2

Not sure of the protocol but the group leaders should perhaps be claiming on behalf of the party on their return.

tinkler21

Hi There

So ive sent away my claim to Virgin, managed to obtain my locator even though the flight departed december 2010, and put a breif description on the alotted space on the form. Certainly not holding out any hope judging by peoples posts on here, in fact think i could recite the letter before i even receive it!
Basically we were on the flight ready to take off when we were told there was a tech fauly, went back to gate tried to fix it, went back to take off, was still broke, back to gate and then advised the crew were out of hours so we would have to stay overnight. To cut a long story short, flight was canx, and they put a replacement service on the following day about 23 hours later.
So my question is how much does it cost to take it to a small claims court? I know they are going to give me the extraodinary measure spiel and i know that it isnt the case so wanting to prepare my next step.
I have never done anything like this before!

Vauban

tinkler21 wrote: »

Hi There

So ive sent away my claim to Virgin, managed to obtain my locator even though the flight departed december 2010, and put a breif description on the alotted space on the form. Certainly not holding out any hope judging by peoples posts on here, in fact think i could recite the letter before i even receive it!
Basically we were on the flight ready to take off when we were told there was a tech fauly, went back to gate tried to fix it, went back to take off, was still broke, back to gate and then advised the crew were out of hours so we would have to stay overnight. To cut a long story short, flight was canx, and they put a replacement service on the following day about 23 hours later.
So my question is how much does it cost to take it to a small claims court? I know they are going to give me the extraodinary measure spiel and i know that it isnt the case so wanting to prepare my next step.
I have never done anything like this before!

Tinker,

The court route is not as scary as you might think, but it's not without effort either. Take a look at the various links in the "Taking the airlines to court" thread. The money claim online process (MCOL) makes it easier. But you can always hand your case over to a no-win no-fee company (who will take about a third of your award, but should do all the hard work for you). Whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Vauban

amanda16

Hi, i was delayed 26 hrs for a london to las vegas flight in 2009, firstly we were told snow at vegas was the problem but the pilot said a luggage carrier had hit the original plane at another location. I assume if snow was the correct problem then i have no claim but if the plane was damaged as the pilot said would this be a valid cause for compensation? also is flightstats reliable as it says my flight landed ontime! i wonder if we were just off loaded? thanks

blondmark

terriandaaron wrote: »

My children were on a trip to san fransisco where they were delayed an hour then when they took off 20 mins into flight engine failed so they turned back, took them 90 minutes circling to be able to land then another 3 and a bit hours to get new plane sorted out, will we be able to claim for them?

Your children would bring their own claim via their 'litigation friend' - you.

Zldh

I have submitted a claim for cancellation of this flight. Originally delayed on the day, then cancelled and went the next day. Overnight accommodation provided by Virgin at the time. Lost a day of our holiday in Florida.

Two different reasons provided for cancellation: 1) inbound flight to Gatwick hit by lightning
2) catering truck hit plane before it even started it's inbound flight to Gatwick. However upon inspection at Gatwick, they did not feel it safe to fly us out to Florida.

Either way, although exceptional circumstances, neither reason relate to our actual flight and Virgin were well aware of the issue before the inbound plane arrived at Gatwick.

Flight stats clealy shows the flight as cancelled.

Not feeling positive about Virgin's response having seen this thread. However, will let you low how we get on!

weybridge147

Check!! See the following tale of woe. Let me know if you are suing them.
Virgin Atlantic- Will not pay up under any circumstances. Sent your standard letter on 8/11/12.. Acknowledged 12/11/12 , saying it would be passed to Customer Services Team. Received letter 28/1/12 informing me that any EU regulation claim had to follow their claim procedure. This involved downloading forms from their website, and filling in the details for each person on the flight(Lucky it was only my wife and myself !). These then had to be posted to a PO Box in Luton. They would not accept email claims. Sent forms on 3/12/12. Follow up email 15/1/13 as I had heard nothing from Virgin. They replied by email that they had not received the documents. After a further exchange of emails where I produced proof of posting, they continued to deny receipt, and advised me to resend using recorded delivery. This I did on 20/2/13. Received a letter from Virgin 1/3/13.
They refused my claim saying the delay was due to exceptional circumstances beyond their control i.e a tropical storm inthe Caribbean. Funny I thought. At the time Virgin staff at Gatwick told us cancelation was because the pilot was sick! I looked at the letter again. Booking Reference & Flight Number were correct, but the date was23/8/12. We were due to fly on 10/4/12.

Emailed Richard Branson, 6/3/13, with all relevant correspondence, and copied Virgin Customer Relations. No reply from Branson, but standard acknowledgement from VCS. No reply by 26/3/13. Emailed CAA with copy of Branson email. Acknowledged same day. Received email from CAA 2/4/13 informing me there would be at least an eight week delay due to the high number of complaints.
Received letter from Virgin 4/4/13 again refusing my claim. They admitted pilot sickness, but claimed that it was unreasonable to expect Virgin to have a pilot on standby. I am amazed at this, as I believe any commercial carrier has an obligation to ensure the continuation of service where they have the ability to do so. In other words -this was not an act of God, or circumstances beyond their control. I have emailed the CAA with a copy of this letter.

I await their reply. If it is negative I intend to contact my solicitor with a view to taking this to court.

Lil_Me_2

I know for a fact that virgin (at least used to) have pilots on standby who were expected to be able to get to gatwick/heathrow within 2 hours. I knew someone who was one and she had to sit in a lay-by on the motorway as her house was 2.5 hours away.

Still haven't got around to following up on my rejection letter, it's on the to do list!

Mark2spark

I don't think i've read of anyone with a successful claim against Virgin yet. So don't mess about, get the court claim filed asap that you have complied with pre court action protocols.