Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

Ladylean

:j

Ladylean wrote: »

Well, maybe not the quickest way...... Virgin contested my claim which gave them 28 days to submit a defense. They have now done this, claiming pilot sickness is an extraordinary circumstance (sound familiar anyone?). So the small claims court has now sent me a copy of the defense and something called an allocation questionnaire, which I have had to complete and return within 14 days, (It basically asks when I'm not available to go to Court, whether I want to use any expert witnesses, whether I need to use an interpreter, whether there is any more info I want Virgin to provide etc.) I have just sent it back today and will wait to see what happens next. Anyone else in mid legal action please keep in touch with progress. I am sure Virgin are hoping we will all be intimidated by the thought of Court action and will give up. Please don't give up. It is disgraceful that a company that purports to offer excellent customer service should treat its customers/passengers like this. :mad:

Just today received a cheque from Virgin settling my claim for €600 in full together with the £60 court fee (although they don't accept liability!). So it didn't get as far as court. Anyone thinking of pursuing a claim, you just have to be persistent and do the paperwork. Great result. Good luck to anyone else in the process.:T

dstainer

I was on VS043 to Vegas on the 7th August last year that was delayed 23 hours. Had the standard rejection due to EC, so submitted a claim via the Small Claims Court for the 4 members of my family. Received a cheque today for £2120, as long as I drop the case! Very pleased, so thanks to everyone on here for their excellent advice.
Need to get on Monarch's case now for another delay in 2011, but have a feeling that one's gonna need even more perseverence!

Lil_Me_2

Ladylean wrote: »

:j

Just today received a cheque from Virgin settling my claim for €600 in full together with the £60 court fee (although they don't accept liability!). So it didn't get as far as court. Anyone thinking of pursuing a claim, you just have to be persistent and do the paperwork. Great result. Good luck to anyone else in the process.:T

Great news! Congratulations!

I sent a follow up letter to Virgin yesterday basically quoting the Friederike Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia case and stating that I don't accept that their excuse constitutes ECs. I'd rather they rolled over now instead of taking it to court but that will be the next step for me.

Happycomper

Absolutely fab news that people are now getting paid out on this, albeit we are seeming to have to submit a claim to the small claims court.

I had my claim rejection letter yesterday. We had a 25 hour delay back in 2007. The reason for decline was given as
'.... a bodygear steering warning that came to light after the aircraft had pushed back from the stand in preparation for departure...'. Quoting EC because it is a mechanical discrepancy outside of the standard maintenance manual.

I'd love the advice of the people on the forum - Do I have a strong enough claim to take this to the small claims court?

Just typing out my NBA now, although I know nothing will come of it at this stage.

Congratulations again to those that have been paid out.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

111KAB

Happycomper wrote: »

Absolutely fab news that people are now getting paid out on this, albeit we are seeming to have to submit a claim to the small claims court.

I had my claim rejection letter yesterday. We had a 25 hour delay back in 2007. The reason for decline was given as
'.... a bodygear steering warning that came to light after the aircraft had pushed back from the stand in preparation for departure...'. Quoting EC because it is a mechanical discrepancy outside of the standard maintenance manual.

I'd love the advice of the people on the forum - Do I have a strong enough claim to take this to the small claims court?

Just typing out my NBA now, although I know nothing will come of it at this stage.

Congratulations again to those that have been paid out.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

Main factor is the actual date in 2007. ??

Happycomper

I think I'm fine on the date - it's 1st December 2007. Thanks.

111KAB

Happycomper wrote: »

I think I'm fine on the date - it's 1st December 2007. Thanks.

Well then yes you have a very strong claim and not that it makes any difference once you are over the 3 or 4 hour threshold but a 25 hour delay is ridiculous plus a technical problem is not an extraordinary circumstance.

Word your NBA letter well and you may get paid out before having to lodge a claim with your local small claims court.

Happycomper

Thanks for your advice KAB. I was wondering what the significance of the part of their letter where they say it was outside of the maintenance manual - whether their defence will be that as its outside of the maintenance manual, quoting the Sturgeon case - ECs '...are not inherent in thenormal exercise of the activity of the air carrier concerned and are beyond itsactual control'.

Anyways, I've sent the NBA and referred to the Sturgeon case. Let's see what they come back with. Just looking into how the MCOL thing works now!

Thanks again for your help.

Ladylean

Ladylean wrote: »

:j

Just today received a cheque from Virgin settling my claim for €600 in full together with the £60 court fee (although they don't accept liability!). So it didn't get as far as court. Anyone thinking of pursuing a claim, you just have to be persistent and do the paperwork. Great result. Good luck to anyone else in the process.:T

For anyone else who is trying to get compensation from Virgin in respect of the 23 hour delay on flight VS043 from Gatwick to Las Vegas due to depart on 10 April 2012, please feel free to say that you are now aware of a passenger who has received compensation for this delay and that there is therefore no justification in them refusing to pay other passengers on the same flight.......;)

Ladylean

Lil_Me wrote: »

Great news! Congratulations!

I sent a follow up letter to Virgin yesterday basically quoting the Friederike Wallentin-Hermann v Alitalia case and stating that I don't accept that their excuse constitutes ECs. I'd rather they rolled over now instead of taking it to court but that will be the next step for me.

I think you will probably have to start the small claims to get them to take you seriously, but I don't think they will let it get as far as court as once they have a decision registered against them (and publicized) that would really open the floodgates. I think they are just hoping people will be put off by the process and give up, but as you can see from my case if you just keep at it they will pay up in the end. So if you don't get a positive response from them, do keep going and start the court process. Good luck!