Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

millsmum

thats not very good customer service. I expect better from Virgin. its not that the claims aren't legit. maybe watch dog should chase them up!

Lil_Me_2

Mark2spark wrote: »

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.

SandLake in post 4 was successful, but that's the only one I've seen!

Will try and find time today to reply to Virgin.

Bobby_Williams

Hi
My wife and I boarded VA flight VS301 Delhi to Heathrow on 18th March 2008. Due to a technical fault we were unable to take off and after several hours on the plane we were taken to a hotel for an overnight stay. On 19th March we were taken to the airport and along with another couple tried to check in. V.A. staff would not check us in as they were'trying to get us on the plane.' Several other people were checked in who had tickets for the 19th March flight. As departure time came and went we obviously realised we were not going to leave that day. Eventually we were taken to another hotel where we stayed the night of 19th March. Finally we departed Delhi on the morning of 20th March on a B.A. flight to Heathrow. A delay of almost 48 hours. This was an extremely stressful time as I am self employed and needed to get back to England for my business. Also this was a special holiday for my wife's 60th birthday. The V.A. staff in Delhi were extremely unhelpful and misleading. I don't think there was any possibility we would leave on the 19th March and they were trying to get passengers from the 2 planes onto 1. This effectively ruined what had been a very enjoyable holiday. Due to the circumstances and extended delay would this be classified as a delay or cancellation? When we claim for compensation would we be limited to a particular amount of compensation under these circumstances? Normally we would not be looking for compensation but we were both so upset at the way we were treated that I would like to take some action.Hope you can give us some guidance.
Thanks
Bobby

blondmark

weybridge147 wrote: »

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.

Airlines do have entire crews on standby for just such a problem, so I don't think Virgin is being entirely transparent with you.

robyoung81

The only way to get an airline to settle is to commence legal action and that takes a little time to come to fruition. The first case I know about on here comes up for a hearing on 4th April following a claim launched just after the ECJ ruling in late October.

Anyone know how this hearing went??? Was waiting for this outcome before pursuing my claim through the SCC's.

Rob

lainieh

Hi
Just wondering if someone can give me a bit of advice.... What constitutes a delay time for Virgin Atlantic or EU ruling for that matter?

Is it departure delay or arrival delay and if its arrival is that scheduled runway to actual runway arrival or scheduled gate to actual gate arrival.

The reason I am asking is am hoping send forms for a Manchester - Orlando flight that was delayed last Easter. We were over just over 4 hours delayed (by about 4 minutes) departing Manchester, delayed by the same amount on runway arrival but surprise surprise we were only delayed by 3hours 20mins on gate arrival.

The reason for the delay was a problem with an earlier flight in the flight route the day before. We were only informed of the delay when we arrived at the airport to baggage drop, but weren't told when I checked us in on line the day before. Will this still be interpreted as extraordinary circumstances beyond their control?

Thanks for anyone who reads and can advise

Elaine

Caz3121

flightstats will show you the scheduled arrival time to the actual arrival time. The actual arrival time will be the touch down time . It is not unusual for late departing flights to make up some time during the flight...what does flightstats show?

lainieh

I'm pleased you said it was touch down time that counts Caz as that shows a 4 hour difference ie scheduled 5.03 to actual 9.07

pedritothegreat

Hi all, I have made a claim to Virgin ref. 245 minute delay (over 4 hours) for a flight to St Lucia in 2008, I followed the procedures and today have received my rejection on the grounds (yes you have guessed it) "extraordinary circumstances". According to Virgin the aircraft was subject to a reactionary delay because the aircraft had encountered an unforeseen technical problem on a previous service, well according to my reasoning the previous flight might have had technical problems but, according to their own (Virgins) admission not my flight, which was delayed for no apparent reason so, tomorrow, I am sending my letter giving them 14 days to pay in full or I will, take them to court. I don't expect a positive result but I will, keep trying. I used to think Richard Branson was Mr. Wonderful but not any more, he has lost my business for good.

Kevtamuk

I have also got the standard Virgin response of extraordinary circumstances for a 3 hour 40 minute delay on the VS3 London to New York flight on 4th August 2007. They state that preliminary depart checks didn't show any problem yet the aircraft had to return to the stand twice due to a spoiler fault message. They also state that the fualt had not been detected on the aircraft's previous sector so they could not have predicted the problem!!!

Needless to say I will be send a 14 day LBA today.