Virgin Flight Vouchers

missdiaz123

I’m desperately hoping someone can help or has/is in the same situation. 

In 2021 my partner booked flight to America for a birthday surprise. Due to COVID restrictions America were not allowing UK citizens into their country. We had no other option given to us other than to take vouchers as the flight we were due to fly on was still flying! We were issued the vouchers to use by 2023. Flight prices have sky rocketed and we physically can not afford to book and further flights as the vouchers barely cover the cost of one American flight, let alone two.
I have attempted to speak with someone at Virgin but they weren’t at all helpful! The thought of loosing all that money that was spent on the original flights is heartbreaking, especially right now! Ideally we would like to get a refund.. I was wondering if anyone has had any luck doing anything similar?
Many thanks

bagand96

If your flight operated then you would have had no entitlement to a refund so the vouchers may have been the only option. 

If you elected to cancel the booking and take vouchers, and the flight was subsequently cancelled then you still would have no right to a refund.

When you say vouchers must be used by 2023, is that just to book by, or must travel by 2023? When were you looking to travel? 

missdiaz123

We have to travel by December 2023.. we have no way of doing so now as the prices have gone up so much, plus the crazy cost of
living!
thanks for your response.

Ganga

Do the vouchers have to be used by you or can you sell them? 

stoneman

I was in a similar situation, except Virgin canceled our flight. I chose to take vouchers as VS were adding another £400 to each voucher as a sweetener

Same as you, flight costs have gone through the roof so we had no use for the vouchers (we had originally paid £2K.)

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I went onto the VS website (there is a section where you can cancel your vouchers for a refund). I did this and a couple of weeks later I received the receipt for the refund, and all that I got was my taxes and fees (about £500). The heading of the invoice stated "customer canceled flight". Which was not true, VS canceled the flight.

I sent an email to VS advising them of this, but also went to Flyertalk to seek advice. The consensus was that because I had accepted the voucher and  bonus I had forgone my right to a refund., and canceling the voucher was tantamount to canceling the tickets. 

My contention was that this was not made clear when being offered the choice, and no one could pull up any proof that this was indeed stated when the offer was made. 

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I received the full amount  back into my bank account, and not a word from VS.

My advice, with the voucher there is usually a link to cancel the voucher. Go through that and see how much you will receive