Unfair fee to correct rescheduled flight mistake

iltisman

I had a similar situation when I booked direct with Virgin . They rescheduled my 3 hour layover in Atlanta down to 40 minutes . I contacted Virgin and they said they could fix it straight away but they wanted £160 !

Westin

bagand96 wrote: »

If it is all through ticketed on the same itinerary then you should be re-booked onto an alternative flight at no cost. As you say, 3 minutes is a stupid connection.

Have you been explicit with mytrip that you need to change your flights because of the schedule change and not just because you want to? It would appear that whoever you've spoken to hasn't really grasped the situation properly.

You could try escalating with mytrip and see if you can get anyone who speaks some more sense. Or speak to Virgin again and ask their advice.

When you log onto your booking on the Virgin website does it show all the flights with the 3 minute connection?

I think it is likely that this is the problem.

This online ticket seller is based in Greece. The offshore call handler may not of understood the situation, or was poorly trained.

If you said, or they interpreted your request, as needing to change your flights they may not have understood your reasons and assumed this was something you just wanted to do and hence the suggested charge.

You need to make sure they know that the flight due to an airline rescheduling no longer meets the minimum connection time and your itinerary need to be changed. There should be no charge for this.

I would first check yourself on the https://www.delta.com website for flights between ATL/ORD and find a suitable time. Armed with this information let MyTrip know of the airline rescheduling/MCT and ask that they ask Delta to accommodate you on this earlier ATL/ORD service.

All a bit of a faff and worry isn't it? Perhaps you can see why it is not always wise to book purely on price and not understand who you are giving your money to. A reputable UK agency or booking direct with the airline can be better than picking the cheapest from a search engine result and ending up dealing with an overseas business when plans change.

Hope you get it sorted.

Jsew

Thanks for all the replies on this - much appreciated. I’ve certainly learned a lesson on who to book with. My focus now is how to sort this issue out. Is there any way to get more leverage with the travel agent? It seems all too easy for them and Virgin to shrug their shoulders and say there’s nothing they can do. Mytrip are accredited by IATA - is there any point contacting them?

It’s starting to feel like blackmail. I pay money in good faith - they change things so that what I’ve bought is unusable and demand more money to put it right.

steve1500

In Virgins defence (who I've always booked direct with) never had a problem with them, their call centre is in Wales


The obvious route with Virgin in Man JFK JFK - ORD Delta


See if you can sweet talk them

Westin

My reply may have crossed with your last post and perhaps you have not read it and the suggested actions.

IATA can not help.

MyTrip is not a travel agent. Don’t expect service. MyTrip are a reseller of airline tickets set up for web sales, little more.

I feel sure this can be sorted as the new schedule falls short of the MCT. You will just likely have to take a proactive approach and make the calls to them.

Whilst not a certainly that they will accept doing this, if efforts with MyTrip fail I would try Virgin again and explain that the agent is not wiling or able to amend the inbound connection to meet MCT and ask that they therefore do this instead by booking you onto an earlier Delta connection.

jpsartre

Jsew wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies on this - much appreciated. I’ve certainly learned a lesson on who to book with. My focus now is how to sort this issue out.

You need to sort it with Mytrip. Call them again and make it clear that you have an illegal connection.

Heliflyguy

Dont say its illegal as its not.

Just say it breaks the minimum connection times which is 1 hour at Atlanta for domestic to international flights.

Westin

OP - can you confirm your flight details and dates of travel.

From what I can see the VS flight ATL MAN departs at 18:00.

There are up to 11 direct ORD ATL flights a day and up to 6 MDW ATL flights. None completely match to just a 3 minutes difference from arrival in ATL to departure.