Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

reading_flyer

I am in a similar position to you, having put my claim in 11 weeks ago and was quoted 8 to 10 weeks for a reply. I suspect/hope they are inundated and will hold off a week before I chase. Expect they hope some people will give up, so keep chasing

reading_flyer

If Virgin turn down a claim are there any views as to whether it is best to appeal through the CAA or is it best to go direct to the small claims court. My concern is that CAA will side with the Industry, regardless of their stated remit. But then will the Small Claims Court have sufficient background to opine?


Also, does the EU Claims unit have an email address or does everything have to go through "Customer Services"?

KPB

Can anyone help in advising me if this is worth a try on the compensation front.

On a VA flight back from Orlando to Manchester last year we was told shortly before landing that due to a technical problem we wouldn't be able to land in Manchester so was to be diverted to Ireland this was because the fault had caused the plane to use alot more fuel that it should have so there was not enough left to get us to Manchester and then whilst in Ireland they could repair the fault as well.

We arrived in Ireland a little while after we should of arrived in Manchester (Sunday morning around 8-9 am) and spent approx couple of hours sat on the plane whilst they sorted out what was going to happen from there.

Eventually we was taken by coach to a hotel, all given a room, lunch, evening meal and breakfast the following day was provided then taken back to the airport and left Ireland at 10.00 on the Monday morning on a flight to Manchester.

So whilst we should of arrived back at Manchester at around 8.00 Sunday morning we arrived approx 10.30 - 11.30 Monday morning.

kentishtown

My son was due to travel to from LHR to Shanghai and while preparing to take off a fault was discovered (fair enough) the aircraft then went back to the stand and waited for engineers to try and repair. After four hours they could not rectify the fault and all passengers disembarked waiting for another flight from the Middle East that was going to be used as a substitute aircraft. Due to this delay my son lost his connecting flight in China and we also had to book him into a hotel overnight in anticipation of his later arrival in Shanghai.The second plane came in and was turned around ready for the flight-again the plane made the runway preparing to take off when a different fault was disovered in this second plane(really gives you confidence in Virgin-not!) the plane resumed to the stand- more engineers started to tackle the fault then, after a good few hours stuck on the plane, it was announced that the pilot had t exceeded his flying hours and could not fly. Everyone off-into a hotel and then he eventually took off 24 hours later. We have submitted a claim and recieved a letter stating we would get a response in ten weeks-fourteen weeks later and two chase up letters and nothing-not even a courteosy reply to the chase up letters. It is clear from other posts that Virgin are avoiding their responsibilities under the recent EU directive and I would be very pleased to hear about any success in small claim court as that it the route I will be taking if we are similarly batted off to the stands. The Virgin brand is fast losing its appeal.

holidayhelp_2

Hi. We booked a Virgin flight (airmiles + tax etc) in August 2012 for a holiday this April. We booked our hotel separately through LowCostHolidays on the same day. Unfortunately we had an email in December from Virgin saying our flight had been cancelled but they had put us on a flight for the next day. We immediately contacted our travel agent who informed us we had to pay over £400 to move our booking just one day ahead. We paid this as we had no other option. When we checked out our new flight with Virgin online the original flight was still there! We have written to Virgin asking for an explanation for this and they have said it's a different flight on the original day but they can put us back on it. Obviously this doesn't help us as we have already paid to change the day. Virgin say we should contact our insurance but we have annual insurance and the policy last year only covered Europe and we are flying to the Caribbean. We bought new insurance in January to cover us for any further problems but is there anything we can do now to recover our £400 from Virgin? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Mark2spark

holidayhelp wrote: »

Hi. We booked a Virgin flight (airmiles + tax etc) in August 2012 for a holiday this April. We booked our hotel separately through LowCostHolidays on the same day. Unfortunately we had an email in December from Virgin saying our flight had been cancelled but they had put us on a flight for the next day. We immediately contacted our travel agent who informed us we had to pay over £400 to move our booking just one day ahead. We paid this as we had no other option. When we checked out our new flight with Virgin online the original flight was still there! We have written to Virgin asking for an explanation for this and they have said it's a different flight on the original day but they can put us back on it. Obviously this doesn't help us as we have already paid to change the day. Virgin say we should contact our insurance but we have annual insurance and the policy last year only covered Europe and we are flying to the Caribbean. We bought new insurance in January to cover us for any further problems but is there anything we can do now to recover our £400 from Virgin? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Same flight number as your original booking?

holidayhelp_2

No just checked and it's a different flight number. This was the reply we received today:-
I am sorry to hear that our schedule change has caused you financial impact and has inconvenienced you. Please rest assured that we do all possible to keep our schedule changes and cancellations to a minimum, as we understand the inconvenience that this can cause our passengers, and it also has a financial impact to us. However, these changes are often out of our control.

The flight that is now available on your original date of travel is a different flight number and has been scheduled after your schedule change was made. We are currently receiving in new Aircrafts, and therefore we are continually updating our schedules and making additions to our flights.

We can offer to move you back to the flight now available on 05th April free of charge. Therefore, please do let me know if this is an option that you would like to accept. I do however understand that you may have already confirmed your changes with your hotel, preventing you for now travelling on your original date. If this is the case, please contact your Travel Insurance to enquire as to whether cancellations are covered within your policy, as you may be able to claim back the additional money spent.

Once again I am sorry for the inconvenience caused. I would like to thank you for choosing to fly with Virgin Atlantic and we look forward to welcoming you onboard. Please do not hesitate to contact us if your require any further assistance."

zippy99

We were scheduled to fly on VS015 5th Sept 2009 at 1pm ish, whilst at home I got an email from Virgin at 6am (before the flight would have arrived from its inbound leg I believe) to say there was a technical fault and departure was now at 5pm.

Fortunately we live just 45 minutes from Gatwick so stayed at home and travelled up later. When we arrived we were given the standard food vouchers in light of this delay so we grabbed a free lunch. Then at 3.30 we had another delay announced that due to an ongoing technical problem we would not be leaving until the following morning at 9am!!

We were put up in the Hilton overnight with more food vouchers and then travelled the following day. All in all we had a 20 hour delay and when I check Flight Stats I can see our original flight shows as Cancelled and we flew under a new flight number of VS115.

I sent the template letter on 31st December and was asked to find the hidden form and send these. These were dutifully completed and sent and on 15th January I received confirmation that they had my claims and I would hear back in 6-12 weeks - we hit the 6 week mark tomorrow so just waiting now.

Now if they want to give me £500 x 4 travel voucher for VA - I would happily accept this! It must cost them less too!

Will post updates as and when I hear.

Alanrichard

My wife and I travelled on flight VS015 on 4 November 2011 from Gatwick to Orlando. The flight was delayed for quite a while ( did not keep note of time) as they had to bring another plane in from Manchester.
Just checked the Virgin delay time and it is shown as 3 hours 59 minutes!
Was anyone else out there on this flight, and should we have to accept this?

Doogiekay

Our Virgin Atlantic flight to Havana was substantially delayed in January 2007. It was delayed by over 10 hours due to a mechanical fault with our original plane, which we believe fully fits within the compensation criteria.

We submitted a claim for compensation in early November 2012 and we received a confirmation of receipt and a reference number from Virgin Atlantic in early December 2012.

We both received letters this morning informing us that

"We regret to advise that we have declined your claim on the grounds that your application for compensation was not made within 6 years of the scheduled arrival of the flight. This time bar is in accordance with the UK time limit for bringing a claim to court for compensation.

As you have not made a claim or started court proceedings within the time allowed we are not processing your claim any further"

What steps should we take from here? We completed EU Compensation Application Forms well within any 6 year deadline (and I understood that you could claim for delays further back than 6 years anyway).

I appreciate that it may now be too late to start a small claims court application as more than 6 years have passed, but can Virgin Atlantic just disregard our claim for compensation like this in the light if the recent EU legal ruling?

Any thoughts or advice would be greatfully received.