Virgin Atlantic - lost baggage - any experiences?

MiseryChastain

Hello

I took a flight with Virgin Atlantic as part of a party of six direct from London to Barbados on Saturday 16th February. It was for a pretty special trip and I am also here for my birthday. My suitcase never arrived. I was given a PIR incident number report on arrival but otherwise had only the clothes on my back. The bag is still missing and Virgin eventually confirmed that it never left Gatwick but that, despite having a description of the bag, there is currently no trace of the bag at the airport which was checked in on Saturday.

They advised me on the second day to go and purchase essentials and clothes. I discovered that Barbados is not cheap and having visited a duty free shop and a supermarket, having purchased only 4 outfits and essentials and toiletries, I was set back £650.

They have no idea where the bag is and given we are only here for a week, being half way into the trip it seems highly unlikely it will even arrive here and after 21 days it will be deemed to be irretrievably lost.

This has been so unnecessarily upsetting and stressful. I had waited for this trip for a long time only for it to be ruined by Virgin at the last minute.

Does anyone have any experience of what they will cover / offer as a good Will gesture? They told me they will ‘consider’ my expenses for essentials but I am worried it just will not cover the cost of what I’ve incurred which was a few outfits and toiletries.

1. Will they likely cover all reasonable expenses including phone bill expenses for all of the calls I’ve had to make to them from overseas?
2. How much would they likely offer if they bag is never found again?
3. Will they likely offer me anything on top of financial loss as a goodwill gesture for total ruining the holiday (eg a free flight)?

Any experiences or advice welcome as I am staggered they have simple lost a piece of luggage - I thought virgin were meant to be a premium airline so this is quite shocking.

bradders1983

MiseryChastain wrote: »

Hello

I took a flight with Virgin Atlantic as part of a party of six direct from London to Barbados on Saturday 16th February. It was for a pretty special trip and I am also here for my birthday. My suitcase never arrived. I was given a PIR incident number report on arrival but otherwise had only the clothes on my back. The bag is still missing and Virgin eventually confirmed that it never left Gatwick but that, despite having a description of the bag, there is currently no trace of the bag at the airport which was checked in on Saturday.

They advised me on the second day to go and purchase essentials and clothes. I discovered that Barbados is not cheap and having visited a duty free shop and a supermarket, having purchased only 4 outfits and essentials and toiletries, I was set back £650.

They have no idea where the bag is and given we are only here for a week, being half way into the trip it seems highly unlikely it will even arrive here and after 21 days it will be deemed to be irretrievably lost.

This has been so unnecessarily upsetting and stressful. I had waited for this trip for a long time only for it to be ruined by Virgin at the last minute.

Does anyone have any experience of what they will cover / offer as a good Will gesture? They told me they will ‘consider’ my expenses for essentials but I am worried it just will not cover the cost of what I’ve incurred which was a few outfits and toiletries.

1. Will they likely cover all reasonable expenses including phone bill expenses for all of the calls I’ve had to make to them from overseas?
2. How much would they likely offer if they bag is never found again?
3. Will they likely offer me anything on top of financial loss as a goodwill gesture for total ruining the holiday (eg a free flight)?

Any experiences or advice welcome as I am staggered they have simple lost a piece of luggage - I thought virgin were meant to be a premium airline so this is quite shocking.

You are aware that all baggage that goes through Gatwick (?) is handled by a third party (e.g. Swissport, Servisair, whoever the airport use), dont you? It isnt Virgin staff that carry it from the check in to the plane, could easily have happened to a bit of luggage meant to go on an EasyJet flight.

So blaming Virgin for losing it is a bit premature.

photome

No chance of 3 happening, .




£650 for 4 outfits ? have you kept receipts although i cant see any one reimbursing that much.


do you have home insurance with articles taken from the home on it that may cover you for more than your travel insurance





taken from citizens advice.



they suggest your travel insurancce is best.

• check deadlines - you may have to claim within 7 days of your flight

If you have travel insurance or home contents insurance that covers luggage, you’re likely to be better off making an insurance claim instead. You’ll probably get more money and find it easier to claim this way.
What you could get from the airline

What you can get from the airline is usually limited to money for:

• the bare essentials you need if your luggage is delayed, eg toiletries and underwear

• part of the cost of replacing or repairing lost luggage and contents

If you have to collect delayed luggage yourself, you may be able to get the airline to pay for transport costs.
Airlines often want receipts for everything included in your claim, and they won’t usually pay:

• ‘new for old’ replacement for anything lost or damaged

• for anything valuable, fragile or perishable in checked-in luggage

• more than around £1,000 total compensation - and it’s usually a lot less

• for stress, inconvenience or other things that happen because of a problem with your luggage, eg you miss a connection

• if your luggage was faulty