Virgin Atlantic Disappointment and Help

W72

Hi, I'm new to this forum so go easy on me, just wanted to get a bit of advice really and warn others about our situation. OK, this is a long story.

Firstly, we love flying with Virgin Atlantic, we have flown long haul with them since 2002 to Orlando many times and Hong Kong and would always pay the extra money we had to to fly with them.

We had booked to fly with them this October to Orlando, we paid a whopping £4,387 to fly direct in 3 Premium seats, a lot more than we wanted to, but, like I say we love flying with Virgin and it was a special occasion, to make the holiday that bit more special, it's part of the holiday for us.

To buy flexible tickets (option to cancel or change the flight) it would have cost us an extra £3,000 which is simply ridiculous £7,387 for a flight in Premium is scandalous in my opinion, in fact, £4,387 is as well. So the customer really does have no option but to buy non flexible tickets when flying with Virgin Atlantic, which means you lose your money whether you fly or not.

Unfortunately due to both of my in-laws becoming seriously ill a few months ago and my mother-in-law needing an operation just as we were due to fly out and being unable to fend for themselves at the moment we had to cancel the holiday. Not a problem, we have Travel Insurance that covers this situation so knew that we could at least get the money back through that.

This is where the fun begins, we contacted Virgin about a refund, explained the circumstances, no chance, non-refundable that's it, you can get the VAT back, OK we thought that would be the case. I asked about moving the flight to next year, yes for an extra £1200, meaning £5,587 would be the total cost of the flight but at the time to book the same flight with new dates on the VA website would have cost £3,700, £687 less than what we paid for the flight originally. I spoke to them again and they offered them for £600 more, half the price less but still nearly £5,000 total outlay for the flight and due to us being able to get a flight with Thomas Cook at the time for a lot less with flexible tickets meaning we could cancel if our situation didn't change when we came to go next year we had the weekend to think about it, big mistake.

Thomas Cook went down that week, so we contacted Virgin Atlantic to go for the £600 offer, no, sorry it is now £3,000 extra, at this moment in time the sympathy levels are non existent and Thomas Cook had just gone down so they are literally milking the situation as much as they can. I just want to clarify that at no time other than the last conversation I had with them had I been anything but pleasant and calm during the whole process.

We were left with no other option than to cancel the flight and claim the money back off the Travel Insurance, they told me I had to email Virgin and ask for a receipt to prove that I had cancelled the flight and had paid the money, why I don't know, surely they could just send me one right? This receipt is needed to give to my Insurance company. Anyway, I email them and it comes back saying I need to send a signed copy of all the flight details and a picture of photo ID to prove it's me, this is all a bit strange. So I do that and send it straight back, that was 31 days ago and I still haven't had a receipt.

I have emailed them to no avail, I have rang them and all they say is give it 30 days, all I want is proof that they have taken £4,387 of my hard earned money for no reason and that we haven't flown, in this time the Insurance company are still waiting for the proof and my outgoing flight date has come and gone.

I contacted Disney about the non-refundable £1,300 we spent on Theme Park Tickets and their response was "no problem we will transfer them to next year for you", job done.

I contacted Disney about the non-refundable £360 we spent on Halloween Tickets and their response was "so sorry to hear about your in-laws and wish them a speedy recovery, we have refunded the £360 back to the card you used for payment", job done.

Yet Virgin still can't just send me a receipt and proof of my payment and non flying. I'm not sure why airlines are able to get away with what they do, the flexible ticket option is not an option for people when it is nearly double the price, a few hundred pound extra I could understand, like hotels do. Flight prices are extortionate for people and to not have the option to cancel, in my eyes, is wrong. Virgin Atlantic just wanted my money and more, there was no sympathy towards our situation, in fact there still isn't and we have paid them their money and cancelled the flight.

We are still waiting for an email, I really do not know what our next step is, so could do with some advice. I just want to warn people to be aware of the situation if you are ever in a position that you need to cancel your flights and always check for the price of flexible tickets just in case they are cheap enough to buy.

[Deleted User]

I think the question hidden in all that is how do you get Virgin to confirm you didn't fly.

The answer is to call them, ask them again for it and escalate the matter if necessary.

BoGoF

If you want people to read keep it brief stick to the facts, not opinions. And what Disney did is irrelevant to be frank.

As above, progess chase your request and invoke their complaints policy if need be.

Alan_Bowen

Surely if you booked direct, you should have a copy of the CC statement showing the payment to Virgin Atlantic which should go some way to proving to your insurer that you paid the amount you claimed? If they are not happy then ask them to get in touch with the airline, and consider whether they are the best insurer for your next trip!

W72

Hi zx81, I asked this question before we cancelled the flight and they told me to email them at a certain address for a letter, apparently it wasn't a problem, but looks like it is.

elsien

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Surely if you booked direct, you should have a copy of the CC statement showing the payment to Virgin Atlantic which should go some way to proving to your insurer that you paid the amount you claimed? If they are not happy then ask them to get in touch with the airline, and consider whether they are the best insurer for your next trip!

They don't need proof they paid. They need proof they didnt take the flight.

W72

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

Surely if you booked direct, you should have a copy of the CC statement showing the payment to Virgin Atlantic which should go some way to proving to your insurer that you paid the amount you claimed? If they are not happy then ask them to get in touch with the airline, and consider whether they are the best insurer for your next trip!

I have the paid invoice and the credit card statement, but, the insurer want proof of cancellation of the flights and that we didn't fly, which is why I have had to email Virgin Atlantic to request a letter. Not sure why Virgin couldn't just send me an email as soon as I cancelled the flight with them?

[Deleted User]

Because the flight was still in the future.

You just need to call Virgin. No one here can help you get the letter.

W72

BoGoF wrote: »

If you want people to read keep it brief stick to the facts, not opinions. And what Disney did is irrelevant to be frank.

As above, progess chase your request and invoke their complaints policy if need be.

The reason I mentioned Disney is to show how different companies respond to exactly the same situation and to emphasise just how badly Virgin Atlantic have responded to this situation (ie the disappointment part of my post), some companies customer service are good to deal with others aren't.

W72

Deleted_User wrote: »

Because the flight was still in the future.

You just need to call Virgin. No one here can help you get the letter.

I have called Virgin and emailed them, they just keep stalling the situation, someone on another forum has mentioned sending an email to the CEO which is going to be my next step I think.

shaun_from_Africa

W72 wrote: »

. I asked about moving the flight to next year, yes for an extra £1200, meaning £5,587 would be the total cost of the flight but at the time to book the same flight with new dates on the VA website would have cost £3,700, £687 less than what we paid for the flight originally.

If the original tickets that you purchased were non changeable then Virgin would charge you to change the class of tickets to one that did allow changes so that would account for a good proportion of the extra money requested.
This is fairly common practice with many airlines.