Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

Daisysmom

David_e wrote: »

Looks like Virgin are getting so many claims they are using some standard wording (see #348 frm Lil_Me).

It's certainly not being thick. The small claims does look a bit daunting and I am sure that airlines are relying on that.

Yes I was thinking the same thing ... all the replies from Virgin are similar .... Im going to use a recommendation from Centipede - have emailed them but waiting for them to get back to me .... I would love to do everything with the small claims court myself but its a bit too technical for me really so we will go with the no win no fee people and if we get something back its a total bonus x

Thanks to everyone on here for their brilliant advice xxxxx

Elb74

Today was a great day! After following the advice on this forum I received my cheque from Virgin Atlantic today!!

Anyone out there who was on flight VS16 from Orlando Florida to Gatwick on 7th October 2010 take heart and stick with it! (23 and 3/4 hour delay).

After reading all the advice and posts on this site I decided to pursue my claim. Never done it before, and was paranoid about getting it right. So I contacted Virgin and confirmed the flight I was on, they even supplied me with the details of why I was delayed, " surface damage to large area of flap which would have resulted in a flight safety shortcoming if the flight had proceeded". They sent me their claim forms, which I completed and sent Feb18th.
I received the "Extraordinary Circumstances letter" back on 7th March.
I then sent the NBA Letter on 12th March. Heard nothing.
Went on the MCOL website, completed the details on 30th April, paid the £80 and then crossed my fingers.

Today's cheque, for 4 people and £80 court fee covered was for £2136.21!!!!:

Huge big Thankyou for all the fantastic info provided here, and I have to say it is easy to do this, just requires patience!!

Vauban

Elb74 wrote: »

Today was a great day! After following the advice on this forum I received my cheque from Virgin Atlantic today!!

Anyone out there who was on flight VS16 from Orlando Florida to Gatwick on 7th October 2010 take heart and stick with it! (23 and 3/4 hour delay).

After reading all the advice and posts on this site I decided to pursue my claim. Never done it before, and was paranoid about getting it right. So I contacted Virgin and confirmed the flight I was on, they even supplied me with the details of why I was delayed, " surface damage to large area of flap which would have resulted in a flight safety shortcoming if the flight had proceeded". They sent me their claim forms, which I completed and sent Feb18th.
I received the "Extraordinary Circumstances letter" back on 7th March.
I then sent the NBA Letter on 12th March. Heard nothing.
Went on the MCOL website, completed the details on 30th April, paid the £80 and then crossed my fingers.

Today's cheque, for 4 people and £80 court fee covered was for £2136.21!!!!:

Huge big Thankyou for all the fantastic info provided here, and I have to say it is easy to do this, just requires patience!!

Another one for the Court Success thread - very well done!

I wonder why Virgin chose not to defend? Actually, I don't!

Take heed folks: you can dance the airlines' silly dance, or get serious and get your money. The choice is yours!

rob3770

Hi our flight was cancelled yesterday from Cancun to London due to heavy rain.
We have been put up in a hotel that is flooded, even the rooms have 1/4 ' of water in them.
Access to telephones was denied so family are unaware that we were delayed.
Any chance we have a claim?

Caz3121

rob3770 wrote: »

Hi our flight was cancelled yesterday from Cancun to London due to heavy rain.
We have been put up in a hotel that is flooded, even the rooms have 1/4 ' of water in them.
Access to telephones was denied so family are unaware that we were delayed.
Any chance we have a claim?

assuming the weather was the cause of the cancellation then not for EC compensation however Virgin have a duty of care which will include accommodation, meals and telephone calls.
You should be able to claim reimbursement of a couple of short phone calls to let family know what is happening but you will need to claim that back after you are home

Mark2spark

What a surprise. - not! Virgin deny the claim but then cough up when faced with a CCJ from the court.
Disgraceful way to do business.
Lets get a few more success stories and then get Anne Robinson to grill Richard Branson.

Lil_Me_2

Logged into MCOL last night to see that VA are defending my claim. They have until the 28th June to lodge their defence.

Kevtamuk

Virgin have filed a defence in relation to our court case for Flight VS3 4/8/2007 LHR to JFK - 3 hours and 40 minute delay.

They state that "Due to an unforeseen technical problem which affected the safety of the aircraft it arrived late..... A fault with the spoiler was detected just prior to take-off whilst the aircraft was taxiing. They returned to the stand for engineers to carry out an inspection. They did a test with the electronic flight control system and a spoiler/aileron function test in accordance with the manufacturer's manual. All tests passed and the spoiler alert was cleared.

As the aircraft pushed back for the second time and began to taxi another fault indicated that there was still a problem with the spoiler. The aircraft returned to gate and the engineers deactivated the spoiler which allowed the aircraft to operate safely. In accordance with the manufacturer's advice, airlines can operate under a minimum equipment list which allows us to deactivate the spoiler and schedule repairs when there is more time in the flying programme."

However they state our delay was due to extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided. They took all reasonable steps to rectify the fault.

We believe this doesn't constitute extraordinary circumstances and feel compelled to take it further. Do you think we have a case? As an aside we were sat on the plane for the whole time (nearly 4 hours) and received no compensation at the time.

Thanks for any advice

worriedwoman_2

Just a quick update on my claim against Virgin, which they are defending.
I sent my questionnaire back to the court on 18th May but have not heard anything yet. I have just phoned the court who said that as myself and Virgin have both ticked YES to mediation, that is what will happen, and someone will be in touch within 10 days (from 30th May).
To be honest I am quite looking forward to explaining how Virgin have contradicted themselves - In their defence on the claim form they have stated that the plane was damaged and had to be taken out of service but unfortunately a replacement aircraft could not be arranged until the following day. However, in my email from Virgin last year they told me that the flight was delayed overnight due to the legalities of crew working hours. Surely they don't have a leg to stand on? Any thoughts on this?

worriedwoman_2

.... oh and one more thing to add.... my flight was meant to depart Gatwick at 11.25am. Would it really take until the next day to arrange a replacement aircraft? Surely the aeroplane would have been checked etc a couple of hours before it was due to take off?