Virgin VS026 ot of Orlando 19 Jan

chrisdoc365

I originally posted this in another thread but there are 30 pages after my post and I have only just received my response from Virgin.

"On take-off on Saturday from a Virgin Atlantic flight out of Orlando the plane developed an engine fault and had to make an emergency landing back at Orlando. It is suspected that there was a multiple bird strike.

We were put up in a hotel for the night. The next day we were ferried back to the airport to find out that the Manchester flight that day was full and that they were putting us on a flight to Gatwick with BA with a 5 to 6 hour coach drive from Gatwick to Manchester. I refused saying I had paid for a direct flight but was told if we refused then I would have to pay all costs until I could get a flight with Virgin to Manchester so reluctantly I accepted.

It cost me extra baggage costs on BA after I had already paid Virgin for extra baggage and it cost me an extra 2 days parking at the airport. I ended up being delayed at the airport by over 24 hours and I was 32 hours extra in getting home. "

Virgin have emailed to say tough, they will refund my extra baggage but they won't refund my excess car parking. Though they have given me some free airmiles. Should they refund me for all out of pocket expenses incurred?

My insurance company won't get involved until I deal with Virgin and I have an excess anyway which means claiming from them will be pointless.

Doing some research on the internet I have found people saying that the courts treat bird strikes as normal day to day operation because they are so regular and can't be deemed as extraordinary circumstances but I can find no case law of this, can anyone help?

I have today emailed Virgin back reiterating my claim for compensation stating I will take them to court if they don't pay up.

Centipede100

chrisdoc365 wrote: »

I originally posted this in another thread but there are 30 pages after my post and I have only just received my response from Virgin.

"On take-off on Saturday from a Virgin Atlantic flight out of Orlando the plane developed an engine fault and had to make an emergency landing back at Orlando. It is suspected that there was a multiple bird strike.

We were put up in a hotel for the night. The next day we were ferried back to the airport to find out that the Manchester flight that day was full and that they were putting us on a flight to Gatwick with BA with a 5 to 6 hour coach drive from Gatwick to Manchester. I refused saying I had paid for a direct flight but was told if we refused then I would have to pay all costs until I could get a flight with Virgin to Manchester so reluctantly I accepted.

It cost me extra baggage costs on BA after I had already paid Virgin for extra baggage and it cost me an extra 2 days parking at the airport. I ended up being delayed at the airport by over 24 hours and I was 32 hours extra in getting home. "

Virgin have emailed to say tough, they will refund my extra baggage but they won't refund my excess car parking. Though they have given me some free airmiles. Should they refund me for all out of pocket expenses incurred?

My insurance company won't get involved until I deal with Virgin and I have an excess anyway which means claiming from them will be pointless.

Doing some research on the internet I have found people saying that the courts treat bird strikes as normal day to day operation because they are so regular and can't be deemed as extraordinary circumstances but I can find no case law of this, can anyone help?

I have today emailed Virgin back reiterating my claim for compensation stating I will take them to court if they don't pay up.

Some courts will treat bird strikes as extraordinary, others not, but there is no precedent case law on this. I think you will find that small claims judgments are split 50/50 on this particular point.

The airline was correct to refund the extra baggage fee and also correct that they are not obliged to refund the extra car parking. If you incurred expenditure on food/refreshments whilst waiting for your re-routed flight and have receipts for these, then you can be reimbursed by sending copies of those receipts to the airline.

Bj87

People like you drive me mad.... Why buy travel insurance but never claim??? Also it is best to go direct to travel insurance firstly as they can pay out more than an airline