Flight Cancelled with Virgin. Claim question?...

Idpullthecurtain

If anyone has experience of this I would be grateful for the responses.

Virgin cancelled my flight from from Orlando to Manchester.  I heard it was technical issues, (but no reasons in writing.)  I claimed to Virgin and they responded with the offer of £520 which is the Regulation 261/2004 compensation they are obliged to pay, I understand.
But being there an extra 24 hours I obviously incurred other costs, so I have responded by asking if they are willing to help with these costs.

Q I probably dont have receipts for fuel, food etc for everything.  But I do have statement entries on the credit card account.  If they agree to pay, do you think its likely they would accept that as evidence or do they insist on retailer receipts?  

TIA

PyGuru

My friend had a similar issue with another airline, and while it took a long and frustrating back-and-forth, they eventually got additional costs reimbursed. Credit card statements were accepted as evidence, but it helped to explain each charge clearly and politely, even without receipts.

Idpullthecurtain

PyGuru said:

My friend had a similar issue with another airline, and while it took a long and frustrating back-and-forth, they eventually got additional costs reimbursed. Credit card statements were accepted as evidence, but it helped to explain each charge clearly and politely, even without receipts.

Thanks for this.  I will try.  I do have some receipts, but some things I would only have a CC statement of.  I was hoping that would qualify as "proof of transaction".  Cheers.

eskbanker

When cancelling a flight and rebooking you onto another, their obligations are to provide specific assistance:

passengers shall be offered free of charge:

(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;

(b) hotel accommodation in cases

• where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or

• where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;

(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

and in many cases they'll accept that the passenger can make the purchases and then submit a claim for reimbursement - did they provide any guidance at the time?

I can't help with the likelihood of them accepting a claim without full proof of purchase though, their online guide doesn't specify exactly what they'd seek, so all you can do is try:

https://content.virginatlantic.com/content/dam/vaa/documents/help-centre/Compensation-assistance JAN2021.pdf

Voyager2002

Your letter to them should be polite, and clear. You are entitled to TWO chunks of money, so these should be in two separate paragraphs: "care"; and "compensation".

They have already agreed to pay compensation (this is usually the difficult bit) and have offered the correct amount. Confirm that you accept this.

They are also obliged to provide "care", and eskbanker has already explained that this means. Since they were unable to provide this directly, they should reimburse your reasonable costs for obtaining the specified services. So explain the amounts that you had to spend on each, and provide your credit card statement as evidence of these amounts.

Idpullthecurtain

eskbanker said:

When cancelling a flight and rebooking you onto another, their obligations are to provide specific assistance:

passengers shall be offered free of charge:

(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;

(b) hotel accommodation in cases

• where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary, or

• where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary;

(c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).

and in many cases they'll accept that the passenger can make the purchases and then submit a claim for reimbursement - did they provide any guidance at the time?

I can't help with the likelihood of them accepting a claim without full proof of purchase though, their online guide doesn't specify exactly what they'd seek, so all you can do is try:

https://content.virginatlantic.com/content/dam/vaa/documents/help-centre/Compensation-assistance JAN2021.pdf

Voyager2002 said:

Your letter to them should be polite, and clear. You are entitled to TWO chunks of money, so these should be in two separate paragraphs: "care"; and "compensation".

They have already agreed to pay compensation (this is usually the difficult bit) and have offered the correct amount. Confirm that you accept this.

They are also obliged to provide "care", and eskbanker has already explained that this means. Since they were unable to provide this directly, they should reimburse your reasonable costs for obtaining the specified services. So explain the amounts that you had to spend on each, and provide your credit card statement as evidence of these amounts.

Thanks to both, appreciated.
When submitting the claim, the form only allowed details of the cancelled flight and the response was the offer of the statutory £520.  I expected them to respond with a form to detail additional costs, car rental, hotel etc.

We will see what they require, I do have email receipts for car rental and accom, so I dont imagine they will be a problem. I was hoping to claim for some additional costs like food and fuel which I only have bank statements for.

Idpullthecurtain

The airline doesnt seem to give an option for additional costs?  Maybe they are hoping that the offer of £520 will end peoples process?

eskbanker

https://help.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/contact-forms.html?webform=feedback--i-need-to-claim-back-expenses-due-to-a-delay-or-cancelled-flight

Westin

Idpullthecurtain said:

If anyone has experience of this I would be grateful for the responses.

Virgin cancelled my flight from from Orlando to Manchester.  I heard it was technical issues, (but no reasons in writing.)  I claimed to Virgin and they responded with the offer of £520 which is the Regulation 261/2004 compensation they are obliged to pay, I understand.
But being there an extra 24 hours I obviously incurred other costs, so I have responded by asking if they are willing to help with these costs.

Q I probably dont have receipts for fuel, food etc for everything.  But I do have statement entries on the credit card account.  If they agree to pay, do you think its likely they would accept that as evidence or do they insist on retailer receipts?  

TIA

Did Virgin Atlantic not offer you and your party accommodation in Orlando following the cancellation?  

If the airline did not offer accommodation and welfare then, as others have said, you can claim back ‘reasonable’ expenses whilst delayed. This would be for things like accommodation (if not offered), meals over meal times, transportation to/from MCO if not provided by the airline. You can also claim for a short call home to tell someone of the delay.

What you are not entitled to are things like paying for an extra day for the dog in kennels, extra car parking costs at Manchester, meals at the service station on the way between MAN and home, loss of earnings. Ditto to things like extra fuel in Florida if you decided to drive to the beach for the day, or passes to a theme park to kill time.

I think a timely reminder to all that if faced with a delay to travel plans and have any thoughts to claim costs back from the airline - make sure that you obtain a receipt for all expenditure.  Far easier to support a claim being made. 

Idpullthecurtain

Westin said:

Idpullthecurtain said:

If anyone has experience of this I would be grateful for the responses.

Virgin cancelled my flight from from Orlando to Manchester.  I heard it was technical issues, (but no reasons in writing.)  I claimed to Virgin and they responded with the offer of £520 which is the Regulation 261/2004 compensation they are obliged to pay, I understand.
But being there an extra 24 hours I obviously incurred other costs, so I have responded by asking if they are willing to help with these costs.

Q I probably dont have receipts for fuel, food etc for everything.  But I do have statement entries on the credit card account.  If they agree to pay, do you think its likely they would accept that as evidence or do they insist on retailer receipts?  

TIA

Did Virgin Atlantic not offer you and your party accommodation in Orlando following the cancellation?  

If the airline did not offer accommodation and welfare then, as others have said, you can claim back ‘reasonable’ expenses whilst delayed. This would be for things like accommodation (if not offered), meals over meal times, transportation to/from MCO if not provided by the airline. You can also claim for a short call home to tell someone of the delay.

What you are not entitled to are things like paying for an extra day for the dog in kennels, extra car parking costs at Manchester, meals at the service station on the way between MAN and home, loss of earnings. Ditto to things like extra fuel in Florida if you decided to drive to the beach for the day, or passes to a theme park to kill time.

I think a timely reminder to all that if faced with a delay to travel plans and have any thoughts to claim costs back from the airline - make sure that you obtain a receipt for all expenditure.  Far easier to support a claim being made. 

No there was no offer.  Just a notification of the flight cancelled and then a notification of another booking 24 hrs later. 

I have receipts for the bigger items like accommodation, car rental extension and fuel.  But I can only evidence the food by money card statement