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#931026 by Vegascrazy
07 Jan 2017, 18:57
Assuming this is another bug for fixing....
Have been notified of a schedule change in manage my booking

"We're very sorry, but there has been a change affecting your booking. Please click 'Accept' to acknowledge this change and view your updated itinerary. Once you accept, you may be eligible to change your flight(s) at no extra cost. There has been a change in the flight schedule which affects your booking. If you're happy with the changes, please click 'Accept flight changes' to continue."

I'm OK with the change and click on "accept" but just get thrown back to the start. Done this for days, in many browsers but every time I access the booking a huge banner appears with the above message. Just wish they'd fix the sorrowful site....nearly two months now :(
#931028 by mitchja
07 Jan 2017, 19:42
There is a tiny bit of progress.......one thing that actually is now *working* is Miles Booster / Boost your Miles!

The upgrade bid bit still isn't working though :)
#931036 by spacedog
08 Jan 2017, 11:45
DoomWolf wrote:
spacedog wrote:Ugh. I went to check in for our flight tomorrow and we're not allowed mobile boarding passes (as I checked in two passengers at once), and the print button on the website doesn't work and there's no option to e-mail the boarding passes to myself to print from my OH's computer. It says we're fine to pick them up at the airport, so I am hoping that's the case.


Try using the web browser's print option rather than the broken link on the site (the link should trigger the browser's print option). If you haven't got a print button on the toolbar or can't access the menu to get at it, press CTRL+P.


Thank you! In the end we just picked them up at the airport; the check-in agent seemed long suffering when I briefly explained the website woes!

I'm a bit worried as when we return from HKG we'd like to use Revivals, but my OH still isn't Au due to that SAS outbound still being MIA, and I am concerned out outbound flight to HKG won't have credited by then, either. Will the ladies at the lounge be accommodating? Should I call FC when we land and see if they can manually credit the TP? He is only 50TP shy but we're waiting on 175 TP for him, now.
#931037 by slinky09
08 Jan 2017, 12:17
spacedog wrote:
DoomWolf wrote:
spacedog wrote:Ugh. I went to check in for our flight tomorrow and we're not allowed mobile boarding passes (as I checked in two passengers at once), and the print button on the website doesn't work and there's no option to e-mail the boarding passes to myself to print from my OH's computer. It says we're fine to pick them up at the airport, so I am hoping that's the case.


Try using the web browser's print option rather than the broken link on the site (the link should trigger the browser's print option). If you haven't got a print button on the toolbar or can't access the menu to get at it, press CTRL+P.


Thank you! In the end we just picked them up at the airport; the check-in agent seemed long suffering when I briefly explained the website woes!

I'm a bit worried as when we return from HKG we'd like to use Revivals, but my OH still isn't Au due to that SAS outbound still being MIA, and I am concerned out outbound flight to HKG won't have credited by then, either. Will the ladies at the lounge be accommodating? Should I call FC when we land and see if they can manually credit the TP? He is only 50TP shy but we're waiting on 175 TP for him, now.


You can call FC and ask them to send a letter or other communication by email to confirm you are Au - they've done that in the past for people - then you can show this on the door. Alternatively, they can send a message to the door keepers in Revivals for your return!
#931155 by tugpilot
10 Jan 2017, 14:09
I ma sure someone has mentioned how to do this before but I am trying to search availability for mileage upgrades in September and October on LHR-DEL. How do I do this on the new website- the old one used to give mileage redemption showing availability in each class on a monthly calendar .

I have been putting in individual dates and am fed up with playing what seems like a lottery for each individual date. Will I get no seats available or a quote for miles required? This also seems to work quite slowly.
#931156 by gumshoe
10 Jan 2017, 14:55
Under the dates you want to travel, there's an option to show flights for the exact dates, within 1 week or within 5 weeks.

Choose the 5 week option and you get the grid showing availability for 5 weeks. Only in the selected cabin though, so if you're looking for availability in more than one cabin you'll need to repeat the search.

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image.png (132.15 KiB) Viewed 11151 times


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#932332 by scruickshank
05 Feb 2017, 14:17
Hi Everyone, given that it is almost three months since the "downgrade" of the website, I'm quite surprised the lack of constant issues being posted. From my own experience, including today when no matter what I did on my iPad, I could not stop it defaulting to "Exact Dates" instead of "5 weeks" (I realise I'm expecting too much here!) it still seems to be pretty much useless.

For me, the challenge of getting the best deal and being able to search for options are what I consider to be part of the experience of booking a trip (non work related). It's just taking the whole shine off the experience, and I'm loathed to waste hours of the customer service agents time. I'm guessing they are having a torrid time. They have always been great and I do feel for them.

The company line of the IT swap over being heralded as "it did not stop a single aircraft from taking to the skies" may be, but it's not much use if they are empty?

So are we all doing the very British thing of just lying back and excepting how terrible it is and moaning as we go along? I'm just curious as to the lack of posts for the last few weeks in this thread. I'm so disappointed in the whole thing, it's like someone has taken away my hobby I've had for years. An expensive one at that. I can't be alone, but as I've posted before, even as one of the biggest ambassadors of VS, I'm really losing faith. I'm astounded a company of such scale can have the worst of websites, and with that, seemingly doing very little about it.

It does seem to be, like it or lump it.

I'm going to give it another month or so "putting up with it" then I'm pretty sure that's another Au they are gonna lose. Anyone else got that empty feeling of being led along for years hoping to get 10yrs of Au then the T&C's being changed at the last minute? If even the strongest supporters are losing faith, then the average Joe's must just be giving up at the first hurdle. I've even found small short cuts to make the website work. Even some of them haven't lasted. Should it really come to that?

They will realise the effects eventually, but it will all be too late by then sadly. Think in 18mths we will all get an email asking to come back?

Hmmmmm.

S
#932335 by mitchja
05 Feb 2017, 14:53
Other than the ongoing issue with my tier point balance still being incorrect, I've not had issues with the website here, certainly not when booking. I've easily just booked another flight, I can manage the 2 flight bookings I've already got.

Not sure what browser you are using, but I can quite happily use the 'within 5 weeks' option here on both my iPad using Safari and when using Safari on a Mac desktop?

You are not trying to book specific fare codes are you? If so that will only work when you select 'exact dates'
#932355 by NorthernLad
05 Feb 2017, 21:07
My Post of Dec 13th outlined my problem booking a trip we have done may times previously using the VS site, and how I then booked very easily with Delta site - and felt guilty!
I sent a screen shot to VS customer service to outline the problem and show them the result I was seeing and also to tell them I was worried for their future.
No answer .

I have tried the same booking just now and am still getting this message:
No results were found for your search, please check your route. Try changing your cities, dates or any other search criteria. #101761R

Does anyone else get that message - or is it just me?
I also tried other dates.
Search was Feb 26th MAN>MCO, March 24th TPA>ATL>MAN No other requirements selected for cabin etc.
#932357 by mitchja
05 Feb 2017, 21:36
NorthernLad wrote:Does anyone else get that message - or is it just me?
I also tried other dates.
Search was Feb 26th MAN>MCO, March 24th TPA>ATL>MAN No other requirements selected for cabin etc.


Seems to work OK for me:

VS.jpeg
VS.jpeg (211.17 KiB) Viewed 10636 times


Lets me go right to the payment page without any issues. Works for Premium Economy too. There is no availability in Upper though on the MAN>MCO leg on Feb 26th.
#932364 by Martin
06 Feb 2017, 11:21
scruickshank wrote:Hi Everyone, given that it is almost three months since the "downgrade" of the website, I'm quite surprised the lack of constant issues being posted. From my own experience, including today when no matter what I did on my iPad, I could not stop it defaulting to "Exact Dates" instead of "5 weeks" (I realise I'm expecting too much here!) it still seems to be pretty much useless.

For me, the challenge of getting the best deal and being able to search for options are what I consider to be part of the experience of booking a trip (non work related). It's just taking the whole shine off the experience, and I'm loathed to waste hours of the customer service agents time. I'm guessing they are having a torrid time. They have always been great and I do feel for them.

The company line of the IT swap over being heralded as "it did not stop a single aircraft from taking to the skies" may be, but it's not much use if they are empty?

So are we all doing the very British thing of just lying back and excepting how terrible it is and moaning as we go along? I'm just curious as to the lack of posts for the last few weeks in this thread. I'm so disappointed in the whole thing, it's like someone has taken away my hobby I've had for years. An expensive one at that. I can't be alone, but as I've posted before, even as one of the biggest ambassadors of VS, I'm really losing faith. I'm astounded a company of such scale can have the worst of websites, and with that, seemingly doing very little about it.

It does seem to be, like it or lump it.

I'm going to give it another month or so "putting up with it" then I'm pretty sure that's another Au they are gonna lose. Anyone else got that empty feeling of being led along for years hoping to get 10yrs of Au then the T&C's being changed at the last minute? If even the strongest supporters are losing faith, then the average Joe's must just be giving up at the first hurdle. I've even found small short cuts to make the website work. Even some of them haven't lasted. Should it really come to that?

They will realise the effects eventually, but it will all be too late by then sadly. Think in 18mths we will all get an email asking to come back?

Hmmmmm.

S


I'm very much in your camp, S, and I agree with every word you write.

I have been Au for 8 years and fiercely loyal since I joined "Virgin Freeway" in 1997, as Flying Club was then called. The current fiasco is such a huge dissappointment and makes the whole online interaction with Virgin Atlantic a painful and depressing process. The "product" is still very good when you finally get to the airport and on a plane, but it is getting progressively harder to do that with the new website and systems. Add to that all the FC woes with difficuty logging in, missing miles, missing tier points and changing TP years, it is a sorry state of affairs.

My other problem is lack of routes and codeshare partners. I recently went to Australia (Brisbane) booked directly on Singapore; and I'm booking to go to Indonesia on Cathay Pacific (all in J), because VS have few useful airline partnerships. I tried hard to use Virgin metal through HKG, but there are no options. Delta is only good if you want the USA.

I'm very pleased I used VS for Sydney, Tokyo, Mumbai and Hong Kong while they were still available, but I can't see their Eastbound routes lasting much longer. The slow steady decline in VS's eastbound routes, driven IMO by the competiton from Emirates, Etihad, Qatar et al will only get worse. They can't compete on flexibility or price with an airline who wants to fill its huge fleet of A380s.

I'm sad because I've been a huge fan of VS over the years, but once I have used up my remaining 650,000 FC miles, I can't see that I'll fly them again. Its just too hard and I want to visit places other than the USA. I'll probably dump my VS credit cards too.

It really does seem as if they don't care about their customers - and that is a huge shame. (I actually suspect there are people in Crawley Towers who do care passionately, but the IT team and executive management are unable to sort out this sorry mess in a timely fashion).

scruickshank wrote:They will realise the effects eventually, but it will all be too late by then sadly. Think in 18mths we will all get an email asking to come back?

Hmmmmm.

S

I don't think that will happen, S. They would have to be able to do a "mailmerge" of an email with a list of addresses and that is clearly beyond the capability of anyone in VS IT dept :D :D :D !
Martin
#932393 by Silver Fox
07 Feb 2017, 11:14
It's the same with all businesses today, they couldn't care less about customer feedback these days.

As for the website, it has decided not to work on Firefox for me today, so had to switch to IE. It has been behaving oddly of late but searching for flights with the 5 week window has been working consistently for me. There are annoying little oddities but I am just getting used to them now. At least I have memorized my FC number now.
#932400 by Hev60
07 Feb 2017, 17:55
scruickshank wrote:Hi Everyone, given that it is almost three months since the "downgrade" of the website, I'm quite surprised the lack of constant issues being posted.

It does seem to be, like it or lump it.
S


In the three months since the first post by Mitchja on 4th Nov, there have been 513 comments and 56+k views. Amazing really and coupled with the other post relating to the FC Changes there have been 257 comments and 35k views. At this point, I personally cannot be bothered to make any further comments because sadly I have lost confidence in VS. My heart is just not in the brand any more.

Yes I believe it is a case of 'lump it' coz Virgin sure are not going to address the compliants highlighted. I am absolutely sure people are still very unhappy but some comments of late refer to 'getting used to it' or simply just going elsewhere.
#932409 by s2driveruk
07 Feb 2017, 22:11
Just to record it here and FYI anyone else trying, I failed 3 times to book a MPM fare over the weekend. Failed first on submission of payment details (always a confidence killer), second time i did it on the phone with a FC agent, it bombed I screenshotted and email them so they could investigate and call back - she never did. Tried again the next morning, failed again. Rang FC again, they tell me they can't take a MPM booking over the phone anymore ?!?!?!?

I explained that all I wanted to do was use miles and pay money for a flight - not exactly rocket science for a company flying planes and running a loyalty scheme you would think....off to discuss with VS IT dept....they tell me not sure how to fix. I ask them to call me back when they have worked it out and eventually a call back and theyare able to process finally.

Seems crazy that this whole migration/merge shambles seems to have taken place with their eye off those who actually want to use it....customers! How can you know you have a longstanding issue with taking a pretty standard booking from a loyal crowd during a sale period and no bright spark has thought it neccessary to establish at least a tactical solution to enable a booking to be made :)

Then there is an issue with funky fare codes that dont map to cabins, try an N fare which is infact a K or the inference that a z fare includes car and driver. I am surprised they havent been done by advertising standards too.

I dont get it...ties up FC helpdesk staff, annoys people ready to part with miles and/or cash, potentially churns longstanding customers fed up of trying to resolve simple issues and so on. Whoever was in charge of the change should have been walked from VS after this...how they could defend the mess that was introduced and leave front line staff to mop up is beyond me.
#932411 by Silver Fox
07 Feb 2017, 23:30
Well we did have some VS person bothering to post but he soon realised he was out of his depth dealing with grown-ups. That tells me all I need to know about Virgin's commitment to their customers. They don't care that they are destroying the brand, it's all about bolstering their CV.
#932413 by stuart_f
08 Feb 2017, 00:38
You missed the inability to book flights including children on-line. It's understandable that the exhaustive testing* missed such a niche capability* but it's good to see that it's been fixed so quickly*.

* delete as inapplicable.
#932414 by tontybear
08 Feb 2017, 00:58
Silver Fox wrote:Well we did have some VS person bothering to post but he soon realised he was out of his depth dealing with grown-ups. That tells me all I need to know about Virgin's commitment to their customers. They don't care that they are destroying the brand, it's all about bolstering their CV.


It wasn't just 'some VS person'.

It was Oli Byers SVP, Revenue Management & Loyalty who posted a grand total of 5 times.

His last post was 13th November.
#932439 by Silver Fox
08 Feb 2017, 23:00
tontybear wrote:
Silver Fox wrote:Well we did have some VS person bothering to post but he soon realised he was out of his depth dealing with grown-ups. That tells me all I need to know about Virgin's commitment to their customers. They don't care that they are destroying the brand, it's all about bolstering their CV.


It wasn't just 'some VS person'.

It was Oli Byers SVP, Revenue Management & Loyalty who posted a grand total of 5 times.

His last post was 13th November.


Good old Oli, I knew I could rely on him when the going got tough. Sounds like the veeps in my company, don't like the tough questions and run away. I really don't know why he bothered.
#932443 by tontybear
08 Feb 2017, 23:37
Silver Fox wrote:
Good old Oli, I knew I could rely on him when the going got tough. Sounds like the veeps in my company, don't like the tough questions and run away. I really don't know why he bothered.


Think I've said this before but probably to tick a box in the project plan.

"engage with v-flyer and accept the accolades they throw at us for designing such a brilliant website experience"
#932444 by Hamster
08 Feb 2017, 23:54
tontybear wrote:Think I've said this before but probably to tick a box in the project plan.

"engage with v-flyer and accept the accolades they throw at us for designing such a brilliant website experience"


HAHA!

Well some of the employees on the project for the new back office systems and website did start tweeting how successful the whole project had been...
#932478 by Silver Fox
09 Feb 2017, 20:17
Hamster wrote:
tontybear wrote:Think I've said this before but probably to tick a box in the project plan.

"engage with v-flyer and accept the accolades they throw at us for designing such a brilliant website experience"


HAHA!

Well some of the employees on the project for the new back office systems and website did start tweeting how successful the whole project had been...


Millenials no doubt. :)
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