Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

HDL3613

blondmark wrote: »

You should send a Letter Before Claim providing 14 days' notice of the service of proceedings.

That's great. Thanks for your help.

Mehmet99

Flight VS010 on 8th June 2012 from JFK, New York was delayed and arrived at LHW 288 minutes late. After following the information on this forum, I wrote to VA seeking 600 Euros for 3 passengers. I was asked to complete their EU Claims form which I did and received the following response:

"We regret to advise that we have declined your claim on the grounds that the cause of the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which were beyond the actual control of Virgin Atlantic and which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

In your particular case the flight delayed due to an unexpected technical issue with the number 2 engine sensor probe, which came to light upon the aircrafts arrival into New York. In order to prevent the cancellation of your flight, a replacement was taken from another aircraft situated in Newark.

The transport and fitting of this replacement part took several hours to complete therefore resulting in the delay to your flight.

With this information in mind, I can confirm that this delay was a result of an extraordinary technical problem and as such, we are not liable to pay complensation in line with Regulation (EC) 261/2004."

Having read what has been written on the forum, I think that this does not qualify as "extraordinary circumstances" and I am considering a LBA and then court. I would appreciate any views on this.

Also, if I do send a LBA, do I send it to the head office or to the VA EU Claims address?

Mark2spark

I agree, this isn't an EC.
Strictly, a NBA or LBA, should be addressed to the Company Secretary at the head office, however if Virgin have indicated publicly that all EU claim correspondence is to be sent to a certain address, then that is fine.

Ich_2

But did they take reasonable steps to allow the flight to depart, though late?

Mark2spark

... therefore compensation is payable?

AGirlWrites

Hello, this is my first post but I have read the whole thread before posting! :-)

I was flying from Las Vegas to London Gatwick on 9th December 2008. Our flight arrived at Gatwick 27 hours later than we were supposed to. I sent the 14 day letter, to which they responded I must fill in the form and post back. I did this and got this response this morning.

"We regret to advise that we have declined your claim on the grounds that the cause of the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which were beyond the actual control of Virgin Atlantic and which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.

In your particular case the flight was delayed due to an unexpected oil leak which occurred on the aircrafts journey to Las Vegas. Once the aircraft had landed, our engineers were working tirelessly to rectify this as quickly as they could. However, as this did ultimately take longer than anticipated, we had little choice but to delay your flight overnight, whilst this work was completed.

As the fault could not have been avoided or predicted, no compensation is due, I'm afraid. In addition, the cost of the resources and equipment needed to eliminate this event would have been unreasonable.

We offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by the disruption to your flight and any disappointment this decision brings."

So my question is, am I right in thinking this is a technical fault and not an extraordinary circumstance and if so, what is my next step, should I go staight to the small claims court??

We also had to fill in 4 separate forms for the 4 of us on the plane. Could I send further correspondance in one letter for all 4 our us. We're on the same booking reference.

Mark2spark

You've given them 14 days notice, they haven't provided an EC reason, so straight to court IMO.
No need to send any further correspondence to Virgin.

worriedwoman_2

Just thought I'd let you all know what has happened so far regarding my claim for a 23 hour delay from Gatwick to Las Vegas last year...
First of all I emailed Virgin after my holiday last year and was told that the delay was due to the undercarriage door being damaged whilst the plane was on it's way back to Gatwick. As it was taking so long to repair we were to be put on another plane which was undergoing safety checks. Then we were told we would actually be flying the next day as the crew could not work any more hours. I was given 12500 Virgin miles as compensation.
When I heard about this new law I wrote to Virgin at their address in Dunstable claiming compensation for my husband and myself. I received a reply saying I had to fill in the claim forms which were on their website and send them to the Dunstable address. I did this. I then received a reply (after 2 weeks) declining my claim as "the damage to the plane could not have been forseen or prevented" They did not mention the crew's working hours at all. I then sent a notice before action letter, addressed to the company secretary, to the head office address in Crawley. After nearly 2 weeks I received my letter back in an envelope with a claim form!! It seems like I am going round in circles!! I have now sent a copy of my notice before action letter to the address in Dunstable, and will start court proceedings on 30th March if I do not receive settlement by then - which I doubt I will!! I would like to thank Mark2spark for all of his help in guiding me on what to do!!! I will update you all when this all comes to an end!!

robyoung81

Just read through this whole thread and looks like every single claim has been denied by Virgin due to EC!!

We've just had the same denial come through after claiming a couple of months ago.

My question is has anyone here gone on from this and made a claim after being denied initially and been succesful?

Seems like Virgin are just denying everything and hoping people will give up, not really on! Either that or they've been really really unlucky with EC's over the past 6 years!

Rob

milton77

worriedwoman wrote: »

Just thought I'd let you all know what has happened so far regarding my claim for a 23 hour delay from Gatwick to Las Vegas last year...
First of all I emailed Virgin after my holiday last year and was told that the delay was due to the undercarriage door being damaged whilst the plane was on it's way back to Gatwick. As it was taking so long to repair we were to be put on another plane which was undergoing safety checks. Then we were told we would actually be flying the next day as the crew could not work any more hours. I was given 12500 Virgin miles as compensation.
When I heard about this new law I wrote to Virgin at their address in Dunstable claiming compensation for my husband and myself. I received a reply saying I had to fill in the claim forms which were on their website and send them to the Dunstable address. I did this. I then received a reply (after 2 weeks) declining my claim as "the damage to the plane could not have been forseen or prevented" They did not mention the crew's working hours at all. I then sent a notice before action letter, addressed to the company secretary, to the head office address in Crawley. After nearly 2 weeks I received my letter back in an envelope with a claim form!! It seems like I am going round in circles!! I have now sent a copy of my notice before action letter to the address in Dunstable, and will start court proceedings on 30th March if I do not receive settlement by then - which I doubt I will!! I would like to thank Mark2spark for all of his help in guiding me on what to do!!! I will update you all when this all comes to an end!!

I have read your earlier posts and realised I was on the same flight as yout o Las Vegas last August. The Hilton fire alarm going off in the middle of the night made me realise it was the same flight.

I too submitted a claim to Virgin using the form on their website and received the standard reply. I then wrote back to the address in Dunstable stating that I did not accept their decision and asked that they reconsider otherwise I would refer the matter to court. I received a letter back a week or so later stating if I wished to make a claim I needed to do so via an application form on their website! They had clearly not read my letter at all and I expect you will get the same response from them as I have. I made a complaint to the CAA when I received their initial rejection letter but I expect that they will back the airline. I am in the process of starting court proceedings but I wonder where I stand with proof that I have issued an NBA as I have received no official acknowledgement of my NBA letter from Virgin. The only reply I have states that if I wish to make aclaim to do so via the form on their website.