Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

miketr74

Hi all;
has anyone had a similar issue to me/ successfully managed to claim in this situation?...
In June 2015 I had a flight back from Dallas Love Field, to Heathrow with Virgin, via LA. The Dallas leg was operated by Virgin Blue, and was 3.5 hours later departing due to technical problem. This caused me to miss LA connection to London. Virgin did put me up in hotel, and £3 lunch voucher, but I was nearly 24 hours late back into Heathrow. Added to that, my bags were lost on the outbound and return legs. Virgin have declined to issue any compensation. They comment:


"From the information you’ve provided, Virgin America was the carrier that delayed your flight from Dallas to Los Angeles. As a result your arrival to London was delayed by approximately 24 hours.
In circumstances like these, the operating carrier that caused the delay is responsible to provide any care packages and re-protection options.
I’m sorry if I’ve come across as repetitive, but we and Virgin America are different companies. To make a claim for a delay, we would need to refer you to the airline that caused this delay"


Any suggestions gratefully received as to whether I still have any chance of compensation..
Thanks in advance
Mike Robertson

Caz3121

miketr74 wrote: »

Any suggestions gratefully received as to whether I still have any chance of compensation..

Virgin America are a US based airline so the rules are the same as for any non-EU airline, they are only responsible for delays departing from the EU. (given that they do not operate any flights to/from EU they will never have to pay out EU261)
Virgin Atlantic have no responsibility as you missed their flight due to the delay.
Response is correct and no compensation due

JPears

housekeeping bump

kvkevc

we have had a mixed response from virgin ,I submitted a claim for 3 family members ,myself, wife and son, 2 of us had confirmation and compensation whilst my wife's claim seems to have been ignored despite completing another claim form for her several weeks later, just wondered if I should reapply using the claim form or go via another route ,thanks kevc

JPears

Bumped for new peeps

bertietrouble

I am in the fairly unusual position of having a query relating to a flight delay going back to the year 2000. Virgin issued me with a voucher in the form of a letter, apologising for the delay and stating it could be used for "50% off the published fare on any future Virgin Atlantic Airways flight." I never got around to using it,but wish to now- since it has no expiry date I feel that it should therefore still be honoured.

I sent it in 10 days ago along the original boarding card and travel agent booking information, but despite calling them 4 times have heard nothing. I was told on the first call that they no longer give these discounts and generally offer only £200 off, but that they would escalate the issue to one of the managers and come back to me. I have a Premium Economy flight on hold, which I will not be able to afford to pay for if the voucher is not accepted and in the meantime, prices elsewhere are rising.

I don't know what my rights are since it is slightly different to the current 6 year limit for seeking compensation. They also now have the originals in their possession. It's a case of hoping they will play fair with my fare...Any thoughts or suggestions gratefully received, thanks.

Caz3121

this question may be better on the consumer rights forum. Simplistically it will come down to the wording
"50% off the published fare on any future Virgin Atlantic Airways flight." with no mention of "up to £200" or "within the next x months"/"before y date" leaves them a bit exposed but the question will be what you can do about it after 16 years

JPears

In these situtations you need to insist speak to somebody senior, having detailed your previous communications. get a name AND their number and insist they ring you back at your specified time with a resolution.
If Virgin have a Facebook page, start shouting on that about your dissatisfaction and their failure to honour their side.

Alan_Bowen

The law normally says that any contractual offer if not accepted, may lapse by effluxion of time, in other words if you do nothing, the offer expires. I would say 16 years to act on an offer is way way too long to wait unless there has been any intervening correspondence.

bertietrouble

Thanks for the good advice and to update-
I called the legal advice helpline associated with my home insurance and they said that the voucher could be deemed to be a debt owed to me, however it would not be enforceable in law outside of 6 years. I made a couple more calls to Virgin, my point to them being that they had given a generous voucher with no expiry and I asked if they would honour it as a good will gesture. I said that I was very proactive about shopping around/moving my business, but also extremely loyal to companies who treated me well. I was thrilled to be told this afternoon that they would honour it and they gave me 50% (£630 off) the price of a Premium Economy flight to LA! Delighted and feel very fairly treated. I will certainly look to giving them my business again.