Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

debjay

Posting for advice please.
We were booked on a Virgin flight on Friday 21st 1030 due to land in Orlando at 1445. We were notified in Feb that we were now booked on a flight due to leave at 1245 and land at 1645. On the day we were notified that the flight was delayed until 1530. We actually departed at 1551 and landed just before 1900.

As we landed over 4 hours later than our original flight are we entitled to compensation? Does the fact they notified us 2 months ago affect this?

NB flight departures and arrivals all in local time. These were flights from MAN to MCO.

Caz3121

debjay wrote: »

Posting for advice please.
We were booked on a Virgin flight on Friday 21st 1030 due to land in Orlando at 1445. We were notified in Feb that we were now booked on a flight due to leave at 1245 and land at 1645. On the day we were notified that the flight was delayed until 1530. We actually departed at 1551 and landed just before 1900.

As we landed over 4 hours later than our original flight are we entitled to compensation? Does the fact they notified us 2 months ago affect this?

The schedule change in advance means the relevant scheduled arrival time for compensation is 16:45. Your arrival at 19:00 means that you were 2 hours and 15 minutes delayed so no compensation is due

debjay

Thanks for that. I guessed that as we were notified in advance of the change we wouldn't be entitled. However I was hoping that it would be the delay between our original arrival of 1445 and 1900 which would count. When I've put the details into a couple of online sites it suggested we did have a claim. Is it worth trying anyway?

asheilio

So an update:

We sent the following email to Virgin

Dear (removed)

Thank you for responding to my email.

Disappointingly, the Virgin Staff at JFK airport must not be aware of your policy as they did not take care of alternative arrangements by re-booking the flight and offering any applicable compensation. In fact they were not very helpful at all.

For clarity, below is the summarised sequence of events that unfolded:

Flight VS10 was scheduled to depart at 09:30pm, we presented ourselves at the Virgin Atlantic (VA) check in desk at 08:15pm. The VA staff claimed they had no ticket for us on this flight, even though we were able to show and confirm our booking reservation. They told us to check in at the Delta (D) desk. We then spoke to the D staff and they were able to find our ticket on their system, but because the flight was being operated by VA they could not print our tickets. As a result of the failure of Virgin Atlantic's IT systems we missed the flight and D booked us on the next available D flight which was the next day. We were told to book a hotel ourselves and come back the next day. There was no mention of compensation or passenger rights by either airline. The VA staff had already packed up and gone home by the time Delta had re-booked us on a flight. This was especially disappointing as the check-in desks for Virgin Atlantic and Delta were opposite each other and so it was clear the Virgin Atlantic staff had no interest in our situation.

As you can see that Delta managed to re-book us on the flight DL402 flight departing at 08:30pm the next day, you will also note that on the itinerary provided to us for flight VS10 (attached) you will note that our ticket reference is hand-written on it. Having a ticket reference written on my Itinerary would indicate that we arrived on-time for our flight and that the problem may have been with your IT systems and not with us presenting ourselves to check-in at the correct time. You may also wish to check the status of flight D790 Punta Cana - JFK as you will find it arrived within ~10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

Unfortunately, the responses so far have not been satisfactory as no progress has been made toward adequate compensation for the amount I and my party are due by law. Unless a full and satisfactory response to this letter is received, I intend to pursue my complaint further, which could mean taking it to court.

Yours faithfully,
(removed)

After about a week, we had heard nothing back so we decided to post on their facebook and twitter profiles. The next day we recieved the following email:

Dear (removed) ,

Thank you for your further email.

I'm so sorry for the confusion regarding your flight. I understand this must have been upsetting for you. In order to bring this to an amicable close, I've arranged for reimbursement in the amount of £295.93. I have converted this on (link removed), rate of exchange 1 USD = 0.775999 GBP. Please follow the instructions via the below link to claim this.

We want to make sure you receive the payment that’s due to you as soon as possible. To arrange this, please click on the link below to create a profile, enter your bank details and redeem your payment invitation.

(section removed)

Regarding any EU compensation, you will need to fill in a claims form below. Please note, every customer needs to fill in their own form.

(removed)

Once again, I am sorry for any inconvenience caused to you this time. We hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you onboard soon.

Kind Regards,

So the amount they have offered to reimburse us is the total cost of our expenses that we incurred during our layover.

Should the compensation claim be made separate to the reimbursement of associated expenses?

I would appreciate if someone could reassure me that I am not missing anything here. I'm just nervous they may be trying to pull a fast one on me, and that I won't receive the full compensation we are due.

Thanks guys.
A

JPears

You should reply stating that you will accept the amount offered ONLY in relation to additinal expenses incurred due to their incompetance.
State that it will have no affect your right to make a seperate claim for compnesation under reg 261/2004.

randalf72

Hi I apologise if this is in the wrong forum but I'm trying to determine my rights and who I should be addressing my concerns to(and potentially taking legal action against)

Please forgive me if I go into a lot of detail as I'm not too sure what is pertinent and what isn't.

In February of this year I booked return flights from Manchester, UK (MAN) to Jacksonville, USA (JAX) through Netflights, travelling on the 6th of April.

The carrier was listed as Virgin and the only route was via Atlanta. Both flights were listed as Virgin operated with the correct VS code although it appears hat the Atlanta to Jacksonville flight was to be operated by Delta Airlines.

Upon landing at Atlanta I received a text from Virgin advising my flight (17:45) had been cancelled (It was still on the Airport boards) and that they had rebooked me on the next flight out (They hadn't).

I approached a Delta desk representative who refused to confirm that my flight had indeed been cancelled as it was still listed on the boards.

Approximately one hour before scheduled departure time the flight was cancelled and I then attempted to use the automated system for assistance and rebook but it kept telling me that I had to speak to a representative personally.

I therefore started to queue up at the Delta service representatives area, which was by now almost the full length of the airport long.

Eventually by the time I managed to speak to someone a further two flights (operated by other carriers) had departed to my destination. The representative, however, was very helpful and rebooked me on the 20:30 flight to Jacksonville but advised that it was delayed until 21:30.

This delay kept being pushed back until shortly before midnight the now 01:30 flight was cancelled and the queue for the customer service representative was even longer than before.

Delta had by this time marshalled some executives onto the concourse to offer aid and assistance however this seemed to consist of 'I think you'd better speak to someone on the desk'.

I was also advised at this time that there were no further flights before the morning and that there was no possibility of overnight accommodation being provided as it was classed as a domestic flight despite it being a connection from a trans-atlantic one.

I should say at this point that no food, water or communication assistance was offered or provided despite my speaking to multiple Delta agents on the concourse.

After getting to speak to a customer service representative they advised me that they could put me on a flight to Jacksonville at 11:30 the next day but I had lost all faith in their ability to get me to my destination by this time and so nearly seven hours after my scheduled departure I asked them to cancel the flight as I was exhausted and in need of a bed and a shower.

I then went to collect my luggage from the Delta luggage area only to be told that I could not have my luggage and that they would not send it onto my final destination, more I had to collect it from Jacksonville Airport in two days. A task that effectively took a day out of my holiday as I was approximately four hours drive from Jacksonville Airport.

Now the reason for the delays (that made headline news in the USA) is that there was a hurricane and the official generic Delta response is that it was Force Majeure however I've contacted the Aviation authorities in the USA who confirm that while flight operations were disrupted at Atlanta due to bad weather they authorised the resumption of flight operations around 14:00 on the day prior to my arrival.

My feeling is that the delays were caused by Delta's inability to get their planes and crews to the correct location despite having had over 24 hours to do so. Certainly the weather permitted my flight from Manchester to land without being diverted and other airlines were struggling more becuase of the volume of people transferring to airlines other than Delta than any weather issue.

In my opinion weather should be classed as Force Majeure but bad management during bad weather is well within the control of Delta.

This might be considered the end but it gets worse from a customer service perspective.


Upon my return I approached both the company I had booked the flights through and Virgin Atlantic regards flight delay compensation plus a gesture of goodwill for the lack of accommodation, food, water, communication assistance, etc.

Netflights have taken the position that they provided the tickets as advertised and that any such claim should go through the carrier which in this case was Virgin Atlantic.

Virgin Atlantic are taking the position that despite the flight being coded as Virgin the carrier was Delta and all communications should go through them.

Delta have refused to respond to multiple attempts at communication for updates and advise on the status of my claim.

While I really don't want to go down this route I'm starting to feel that legal action is my only recourse as every party is either trying to say that it wasn't down to them or simply not talking at all.

So I guess the question I'm asking is who should I be addressing my concerns/potential legal action to?

Should it be the seller of the tickets, the name of the airline on the tickets or the actual airline subcontracted to provide the flight?


Obviously any other advice would be appreciated.

Alan_Bowen

It is always the airline and that is Delta. They no doubt will say the delays were weather related, I seem to recall there was a period of extreme weather in Atlanta when nothing moved and Delta has the vast majority of flights there. When a delay is caused by bad weather no US airline offers assistance and if your Virgin flight was on time on arrival at Atlanta, I fear you may have huge difficulty claiming.

Vauban

Yep - unfortunately no claim under 261/04 since there was no delay on the qualifying part of the journey.

CB67

We need assistance please. Our flight from San Francisco to Heathrow was cancelled (apparently Jan 2017) but we were not informed by virgin Atlantic or by our travel agent (thomas cook). After numerous phone calls from usa to uk. Virgin told us to book a hotel etc and claim our costs back. We believed we may be entitled to EU ruling for flight cancellation but virgin are saying no. Have spoke to the ombudsmen who point the finger at thomas cook. Where do we stand? Virgin paid back our receipts and thomas cook are offering us £300 in travel vouchers. Should we carry on or just except this? Virgin claim their system will of generated an email and informed all booking agents and yet thomas cook claim they were not informed?

Tyzap

Hi CB67,

The operating carrier must be able to prove, to a court if necessary, that they informed you, not TC, about the change. The regulations most definitely put that onus on Virgin, in this case.

Keep pushing and you will get there eventually.

Good luck.