Virgin Cancelled Flights

kaggi

For a 40th next year 4 of us have booked a long weekend in New York next March.! The flights were booked through Virgin airways direct from Edinburgh to New York, and we then booked a (non-refundable) hotel for that weekend once the flights were confirmed.! Virgin have now cancelled the direct flights from Edinburgh and have offered us an alternative which has two stops in each direction (so three flights) instead which is not a viable option when we are only away for 4 nights.! They have now said they will refund the money but it will take about 4 to 5 weeks for us to get the money back so we can’t even try and book alternative flights at the moment.! We have been saving and looking forward to this for ages, so are really disappointed that a reputable airline like virgin could do this without offering a viable alternative.

Are we entitled to any compensation or additional support from Virgin as they accepted the booking and took the money for these flights and on that basis we booked the hotel?!

blindman

kaggi wrote: »

The flights were booked through Virgin airways direct from Edinburgh to New York, and we then booked a (non-refundable)

have offered us an alternative which has two stops in each direction (so three flights) instead which is not a viable option when we are only away for 4 nights.!

like virgin could do this without offering a viable alternative.

Are we entitled to any compensation or additional support from Virgin as they accepted the booking and took the money for these flights and on that basis we booked the hotel?!

Without knowing the exact T&C's of Virgin Atlantic I think they "should" offer you a "suitable" alternative -irrespective of the carrier.

If their alternative flight is not suitable then you could try the following:

Find a suitable flight from EDI -no matter which airline- get times flight numbers etc.

Ring Virgin Atlantic and tell them that is the flight you want.

Stick to your guns.

Maybe ask on v-flyer as they are all thing Virgin Atlantic.

richardw

Who is the "operating air carrier" that you are booked to fly with?

Have you given the green light for a refund?

Caz3121

Virgin Atlantic do not operate this route, they offer a codeshare arrangement on the Delta flights so it will have been Delta that have cancelled the flights (looks like they end in January)

Westin

+1 on caz3121.

Likely a code share flight. VS flight numbers but on a Delta aircraft (or at least should have been).

Are we entitled to any compensation or additional support from Virgin as they accepted the booking and took the money for these flights and on that basis we booked the hotel?!

As they have given more than two weeks notice of the cancellation you will not be able to claim compensation or any right to have them contribute to any additional associated costs.

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm extract below;

With cancelled flights, you won't receive compensation if:

- the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances for example due to bad weather, or
- you were informed 2 weeks before the scheduled flight date, or
- you were offered an alternative for the same route with a similar schedule to the original one.


You can certainly obtain a refund (and I doubt it would take as long as you mention for it to come through).

They will likely offer you an alternative, which it seems they have done.

If you do your own research for suitable alternatives you can certainly put those to them but I very much doubt this will be on other transatlantic carriers. More likely within the DL/VS alliance framework or on DL/AF partnership. Is there for example anything suitable EDI/CDG/JFK or EDI/LHR/JFK or EWR?

Perhaps take the refund and book again from another airport. Anything direct ex GLA on your dates?

They may also be open to changing your flight dates so perhaps you can stay an extra night in NYC (although you have to cover the hotel).

They may possibly help with additional reasonable costs but they are not obligated to. These might be a contribution to a hotel at LHR if you have to fly down the evening before to connect. They are not obligated to do so - just ask sweetly!

Hope you get things sorted.

fifeken

Caz3121 wrote: »

. . . .so it will have been Delta that have cancelled the flights (looks like they end in January)

They were only ever seasonal, and resume again towards the end of March, increasing to daily at the end of May.