Help - Virgin have really let us down!

NicAdams16

Hello all

New here and hoping someone can help!

Me and my partner booked an extremely expensive trip through Virgin (£10k plus) for our Honeymoon next year. Out to New York for 4 days, then on to Barbados for 10. We are by no means 'loaded' but we simply wanted this trip to be the best it could be.

After booking this at a Virgin Holidays shop/concession, and under the advice of the Virgin rep, we booked our own internal flights from New York to Barbados through JetBlue - Virgin rep said Delta (Virgins Partner) are not good!

All was well until last week we received an email from Virgin saying that the return flight from Barbados (back to UK) was cancelled, giving us two options:

1.) Cancel and get a full refund
2.) Push the holiday back by a day

Obviously the first option would be the last thing we would want to do as this is meant to be a once in a lifetime trip, and now to book something similar would likely be even higher!:(

The second will leave us out of pocket as we would have to pay a cancellation fee and the increase in the cost of the flight, not to mention it ruining all the plans we had made for NY (Shows, MSG etc).... not to mention the extra day we would have to take off from work!

We have been speaking to Virgin and the only other option they are willing to entertain would be to pay halves for an additional night in Barbados, which would cost us an additional £325.

I don't see why we should be forced to suffer and be left out of pocket for something Virgin (Holidays and Atlantic) have messed up!

Any advice would be so gratefully received. Me and my partner are so stressed and upset by this, our once in a lifetime holiday has almost been ruined before its begun!:mad::mad:

photome

Flights are always liable to change if booked so far in advance.


If you were to take the second option why would it mess up your NY plans, i assume you would still fly out on the same day


If it was me I would take the extra day at the end but try and get Virgin to contribute more for it, either that or take the refund. they cant fly you home if there isnt a flight.

mgdavid

photome wrote: »

.........

If you were to take the second option why would it mess up your NY plans, i assume you would still fly out on the same day
.............

exactly what I was wondering; the OP doesn't make sense!

isplumm

NicAdams16 wrote: »

Hello all
The second will leave us out of pocket as we would have to pay a cancellation fee and the increase in the cost of the flight, not to mention it ruining all the plans we had made for NY (Shows, MSG etc).... not to mention the extra day we would have to take off from work!

Hi,

Like others I am confused - if you fly back into NY a day later, why would you have to pay a cancellation fee?

Or are you flying directly from Caribbean back to UK & that is the flight that is cancelled?

You need to clearly explain your schedule & what the potential new schedule is.

Mark

Westin

NicAdams16 wrote: »

After booking this at a Virgin Holidays shop/concession, and under the advice of the Virgin rep, we booked our own internal flights from New York to Barbados through JetBlue - Virgin rep said Delta (Virgins Partner) are not good!

I am very surprised that this would be said. Virgin Atlantic is more or less owned by Delta these days. The bearded one only has 20% of the shares now. I would have also thought the store would encourage you to book as much as possible via them.

NicAdams16 wrote: »

The second will leave us out of pocket as we would have to pay a cancellation fee and the increase in the cost of the flight, not to mention it ruining all the plans we had made for NY (Shows, MSG etc).... not to mention the extra day we would have to take off from work!

As others have mentioned, there is no need for your plans in New York to change, or your flight from New York to Barbados. Surely the issue is around your stay in Barbados and if shortened or extended.

The "pushing the holiday back by a day" does not need to happen. The stay in Barbados needs to be adjusted.

Would you prefer an 11 night holiday with half the extra hotel cost for the extra day paid by Virgin - or - a shortened stay in Barbados with hopefully a part refund on that part of the trip?

NicAdams16

Hello

I see where confusion may be might, I’ll try to explain better (apologies)

We booked outbound to New York, hotel in New York, Hotel in Barbados and flight back to uk from Barbados through Virgin holidays. They advised to book internal ourselves (we were surprised by this also but took it on good faith) which we did with JetBlue. All was fine then last week we received an email from Virgin stating the return flight from Barbados was cancelled. With the options stated above this means we either lose the holiday, lose money cancelling and rebooking jetblue flights for a day later or have to fork out another £325 for another night in Barbados.

Hope that helps clarify

richardw

Virgin is an EU community carrier and therefore EU261:2004 applies, article 8 Re-routing and Article 9 apply, look up your entitlement and then ask for the return flight that suits you. Thankfully you aren’t returning on Delta.

Skibunny40

Sorry, but I still don't understand even after your further explanation...why would you need to change your flight from NYC to Barbados?

NicAdams16

Originally We fly to nyc on the 21st, 4 nights there, then fly to Barbados on the 25th.

If the holiday is delayed our flight from NY to Barbados would need to be on the 26th, not 25th - hence cancelling and rebooking

Westin

NicAdams16 wrote: »

Originally We fly to nyc on the 21st, 4 nights there, then fly to Barbados on the 25th.

If the holiday is delayed our flight from NY to Barbados would need to be on the 26th, not 25th - hence cancelling and rebooking

Sorry, I am still confused.

If it is the return Barbados flight that is cancelled on the original return date there is no change necessary to the flights to New York, your time in NY, your flight between NY and Barbados. What you have is an amendment to your time in Barbados. Virgin are offering a return one day later (with a part cost). There may however also be an option to return a day earlier if work commitments mean a holiday extension is not possible. Is that not the case?

There is no need to cancel, the holiday booking just needs to be amended.

Skibunny40

From your OP this is what I understood: the difference between the holiday you booked and the holiday you are now being offered is that your flight from Barbados home to the UK will be one day later, at the end of the holiday.

But that can't be right, because that wouldn't cause you to need to change your flight from NY to Barbados - so what am I missing?! Sorry!