Still no refund for Summer 2020 flights

Upsidedownandaround

csmith848 said:

Upsidedownandaround said:

Yes it is. But in your opening post you also said

"providing documents such as evidence of the governmental restrictions on travel to the US from the UK (not permitting us to fly) and written proof from Virgin Atlantic that we did not take the flight and that they were unable to provide us with a refund (because of our type of ticket)."

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but that implies the reason you didn't fly was because of US entry restrictions and you didn't take the flight rather than the flight was cancelled.

Why did you not just ask Virgin for a refund if you are saying the flight was cancelled?

Sorry, to be clear, we only obtained the letter from Virgin Atlantic confirming that the flight was cancelled after originally putting in my insurance claim.

(Out of interest here, if no one is permitted to fly from one country to another, do flights still go ahead and we just have empty planes in the air 😂.. wouldn't surprise me in this day and age.)

Virgin Atlantic just say that the ticket is non-refundable, unfortunately.

I'm still not sure what actually happened. Your credit card company is liable in the same way as Virgin are. If your flight was actually cancelled by Virgin then you are entitled to a refund from them and if you are entitled to a refund from them and they refuse to then your credit card company is jointly liable so yes you should be taking it up with them and making a complaint if they are not dealing with it.

However if you are not entitled to a refund from Virgin then you won't be entitled to one from your credit card company so maybe this is why they are refusing to also agree you have a valid claim.

"(Out of interest here, if no one is permitted to fly from one country to another, do flights still go ahead and we just have empty planes in the air 😂.. wouldn't surprise me in this day and age.)"

I don't think the US ever prevented US citizens from flying to the US so I doubt flights from the UK to the US

would have been empty.

csmith848

Upsidedownandaround said:

I don't think the US ever prevented US citizens from flying to the US so I doubt flights from the UK to the US

would have been empty. 

Good point!

ratechaser

Upsidedownandaround said:

csmith848 said:

Upsidedownandaround said:

Yes it is. But in your opening post you also said

"providing documents such as evidence of the governmental restrictions on travel to the US from the UK (not permitting us to fly) and written proof from Virgin Atlantic that we did not take the flight and that they were unable to provide us with a refund (because of our type of ticket)."

Maybe I'm misunderstanding but that implies the reason you didn't fly was because of US entry restrictions and you didn't take the flight rather than the flight was cancelled.

Why did you not just ask Virgin for a refund if you are saying the flight was cancelled?

Sorry, to be clear, we only obtained the letter from Virgin Atlantic confirming that the flight was cancelled after originally putting in my insurance claim.

(Out of interest here, if no one is permitted to fly from one country to another, do flights still go ahead and we just have empty planes in the air 😂.. wouldn't surprise me in this day and age.)

Virgin Atlantic just say that the ticket is non-refundable, unfortunately.

I'm still not sure what actually happened. Your credit card company is liable in the same way as Virgin are. If your flight was actually cancelled by Virgin then you are entitled to a refund from them and if you are entitled to a refund from them and they refuse to then your credit card company is jointly liable so yes you should be taking it up with them and making a complaint if they are not dealing with it.

However if you are not entitled to a refund from Virgin then you won't be entitled to one from your credit card company so maybe this is why they are refusing to also agree you have a valid claim.

"(Out of interest here, if no one is permitted to fly from one country to another, do flights still go ahead and we just have empty planes in the air 😂.. wouldn't surprise me in this day and age.)"

I don't think the US ever prevented US citizens from flying to the US so I doubt flights from the UK to the US

would have been empty.

Plus there was a lot of repurposing for cargo...

nilanteh

Out of curiosity did you perhaps cancel before Virgin? I note you say you didn’t know the flights had been cancelled. Is that because you had already cancelled because of entry requirements? If so then I think they are right in saying this would be a matter for insurance if you were covered for such an event 

Westin

nilanteh said:

Out of curiosity did you perhaps cancel before Virgin? I note you say you didn’t know the flights had been cancelled. Is that because you had already cancelled because of entry requirements? If so then I think they are right in saying this would be a matter for insurance if you were covered for such an event 

Same thinking from me.

lisyloo

(Out of interest here, if no one is permitted to fly from one country to another, do flights still go ahead and we just have empty planes in the air 😂.. wouldn't surprise me in this day and age.)

There could be several reasons this occurs yes

1) it may be that holidays are cancelled but essential travel is allowed
2) planes may be carrying cargo in the hold but no passengers
3) they could be relocating because the plane and crew are required to be in another location for another flight

so yes it does happen

if you weren’t allowed to board then I’d still call that a cancellation of your contract even if the flight was in the air. They can’t say they’ve fulfilled the contract if they would not have taken you.

sheramber

A few months later it became clear that we were not going to be able to go, so I contacted Virgin Atlantic, who told me to contact my travel insurance (Virgin Money), who told me that I could not file a claim until after the date of the flights.

What did you say when you contacted them?  

As they told you to contact your  insurance company it would  appear Virgin considered you had cancelled.

csmith848

To try and clear things up, at no point did we cancel - there was no reason for us to do so given that our ticket was non-refundable (i.e. we would have gained nothing by cancelling).

When we called earlier in the year, we asked them what the situation was with the governmental restrictions in place, all they said (at that point) was that our ticket was non-refundable and that a lot was dependent on the UK advice at the time of the flight. So when it came to the day (and the advice was still the same - I have evidence of this too), we simply didn’t go to the airport and take the flight (as Virgin Atlantic have also confirmed in writing).

Thanks again

csmith848

nilanteh said:

Out of curiosity did you perhaps cancel before Virgin? I note you say you didn’t know the flights had been cancelled. Is that because you had already cancelled because of entry requirements? If so then I think they are right in saying this would be a matter for insurance if you were covered for such an event 

Sorry mate, i’m not sure where i said that, feel free to direct me in case i’ve missed it!

See my latest comment for clarification on cancelling

Upsidedownandaround

The stuff about government restrictions and you not flying is irrelevant with regard to a refund and only relevant to an insurance claim and appears to be causing a lot of confusion both on here and potentially with Amex.

Either the flight went ahead or it didn't go ahead. That's all that matters with regard to a refund from Virgin and Amex.