Virgin change of airport and travel date

GaryMatthews75

Could someone help with advice on the following please, I booked a holiday with Virgin holidays (on 27th December) for travel in November from Gatwick.  I recently received an email saying we are now flying from Heathrow on the day before we were originally due to fly, so the holiday is now 11 nights instead of 10 and my holiday cost has increased by over £400.  Are they able to increase my holiday rate for the inconvenience? Thank you in advance for comments / advice. 

bradders1983

The airport change alone wouldnt be enough for it to be considerer a significant change but a) an extra day and b) £400 extra, certainly would.   I would suggest you can cancel with a full refund based on these two elements.

GaryMatthews75

Thanks for the reply, however we still want to go on holiday (providing all OK to do so), but I am arguing that the inconvenience of changing airport / date of travel / extra costs incurred by me for these changes (ie car park costs / hotel stay, travel etc), its not right to charge me for this extra night, as its the holiday company making the changes. I have been offered a free cancellation, but really wanted to know what rights I / they have regarding the  request for extra payment?

bradders1983

Well I assume there is an extra day added because they no longer fly on the original day. So i suppose yes they can, but given its free cancellation you have a convenient bail out.  They arent going to waive the £400 when you have this bail out as an option.

I mean, you can ask, but you may not get.

Westin

Are you saying that Virgin Holidays have asked you to pay an extra £400 for the extra night (11 nights rather than 10 night holiday) - or - is the £400 the costs you are calculating you might have to spend to cancel/re-book things like airport car parking, travel to LHR?

If the former, then they should not be asking you for more.

If the latter and these are your supplementary costs then they are not obligated to cover them.  You might get some contribution as an ex-grata payment but I would not expect them to be paying £400 of supplementary travel add-ons.    

GaryMatthews75

Yes, they are asking me to pay another £400 plus, because they stopped flying from Gatwick, moved my flight to Heathrow, they  fly a day earlier from LHR, but back the same day as planned, so my holiday will now be 11 nights instead of 10. But I have to pay the difference?

Westin

That doesn’t sound right.  If this was the only option offered (11 nights instead of the 10 nights) and a package holiday then I find it strange that they are insisting on you paying an extra £400.  Had any other options be offered (a shorter 9 night trip for example).

photome

Westin said:

That doesn’t sound right.  If this was the only option offered (11 nights instead of the 10 nights) and a package holiday then I find it strange that they are insisting on you paying an extra £400.  Had any other options be offered (a shorter 9 night trip for example).

I agree it does sound odd
the flight price shouldnt change, so effectively its £400 for one nights accommodation

wonder if they are just trying to charge the difference in price of the new 11 night holiday if booked now, which shouldnt be the case
OP have you looked to check the price of the new holiday if you booked it yourself

GaryMatthews75

Its very frustrating, as on top of a very expensive holiday, they're demanding an extra £430 to cover the extra nights accommodation or cancel (free of charge), this is not what i call great customer service, especially as its Virgin who are changing my holiday plans.

Mickey666

I suppose from Virgin's point of view the original holiday 'package' is no longeravailable due to them moving operations out of Gatwick and the closest new 'package' is the same destination but for an extra day and out of Heathrow.  The price of this new 'package' is an extra £430.  Because of this change they are offering the option of cancellation and a full refund.

I agree it's not exactly good customer service but I doubt they can be forced into changing it - I'm sure they'll have had their lawyers check the legalities.

So, pay for the extra night and enjoy (presumably somewhere nice) or cancel the holiday.  Perhaps if everyone cancelled they would take notice.

Westin

I still think it is excessive.  +£430 for one extra night in a hotel?

I would personally just ask them for a full refund (which should not be an issue given the change in length of holiday and the request for more money) - then start again.