Virgin Atlantic Abandoned 19 year old daughter in San Fransisco

beckif6

Help needed as I don't know where to start to complain or the eu laws as we have been in Sydney for the last 10 years.

My 19 year old daughter was due to fly home from London to Sydney via LAX on 22 Dec- this was return journey from a outbound flight taken in Sept 2023

The flight was booked through Expedia and was a Virgin Atlantic booking - on the evening of the 21st virgin sent an email to say the flight for 11am on the 22nd was canceled due to operational reasons.

the email advised that they would rebook on a similar route - shortly after new flight details came through for Lon/Heathrow to San Fran - San Fran to Sydney departing 1pm on 22nd Dec.

Our daughter was unable to complete online check in and had to queue at the virgin customer service desk at Heathrow for nearly 3 hours where she was given boarding passes for both flight - Virgin Atlantic to San Fran and the United Airlines to Sydney. After a rush through security she just made her flight.

On arrival in San Fran she collected her luggage cleared immigration and put her luggage on the international transfer belt. She then changed terminals and cleared security ready to board. As she went to board the plan the united staff scanned her boarding pass and then told her she didn't have a booking - the pass contained the right flight info and a seat number - they pushed her aside and told her to go the the united service desk - At the desk the response from the united staff was its not our problem call virgin. sh

She is 19 and this is her first experience of flying long haul alone, she called us in total tears and despair. we all set about trying to get through to virgin. As it was Friday 9pm in San Fran we weren't happy with having to send a young lady find a hotel room in a not particularly safe US city . After 45 mins of being in a queue with Virgin we had no choice but to make a new booking on the last flight of San Fran with United to get her home for Christmas Eve. The cost of this was $3200 Aus dollar - a one way ticket from San Fran to Sydney.

When she finally arrived the next day 4 hours later and on a flight booked totally separate she had no suitcase and was very distressed.

After 2 hours of frantic calls we tracked down her suitcase - arrived 2 days later.

We are significantly out of pocket but more so I am disgusted at Virgin Atlantic for this horrific experience.

Any advice on where to start to try an recoup costs would be greatly appreciated 

Many thanks 

kazwookie

Start with the airline, then the insurance company.

Mark_d

I had something similar happen to me when I was flying back to UK from Bangkok.  Air Italy left me stranded at an airport in Milan!

As there were no further flights that day, I called the travel agent's emergency helpline and insisted that they provide me with a hotel plus taxi to and from hotel, as well as arrange the soonest flights home.  They agreed but if they hadn't, I was ready with my travel insurance paperwork in hand.

With Virgin unreachable to help when your daughter was stranded in San Fran, were Expedia/travel insurance unable to help in any way?

I can absolutely understand you wanting your daughter home for Xmas Eve.  No-one should be forced to spend Xmas alone in a foreign city.  However problems do occur from time to time and if you commit significant money without prior authorisation, then I think it's unlikely you'll be able to recoup anything from Virgin/Expedia/travel insurance.

Having said that, I would absolutely try to recover as much as I can.  As per the previous post I would attempt to claim via the airline, then travel agent, then travel insurance.  If/when you are unsuccessful then I know that people have achieved some success by complaining on social media (Twitter) or to newspaper columns.

Best of luck!