V-Flyer

Anyone know why the 18:05 from MCO on Sunday was cancelled? Apparently it never came in from London, but the MCO staff didn't know anything else

My wife and I were booked in PE on VS28 and after standing in line for 3 hrs we got bumped to the later Sunday flight and downgraded to Econ...a lot of Econ passengers were being bumped 48hrs to Tuesday evening!

We didn't get offered any kind of compensation, and were told that we were 'lucky' because even if they bumped us to Tuesday they still couldn't fly us in PE.

This being my first experience of being bumped, I'm not sure where I stand...is it usual to be downgraded if travelling in PE or UC? And do I have any recourse with Virgin to claim a) money back for the PE fares and b) compensation for the inconvenience of losing the PE perks?

any replies much appreciated








Edit to thread title by mod for clarity......... Nick

I believe that you should entitled to the difference between the PE fare for that sector and the relevant Economy fare, if the PE fare is higher than the Economy fare, as you were involuntarily downgraded.

Beyond that, the airline isn't required to 'compensate', but may choose to give you some Flying Club miles as a sign of goodwill, which should not affect your rights to a refund of the fare difference.

Hopefully, as well as saying you were 'lucky', the agent handling you should have explained your statutory rights as a result of the involuntary downgrade. If they didn't, this should be made clear to VS when you contact them regarding this issue.

Mike

My uncle was schedule to be on the VS027 from London on 2 Dec. That was cancelled (as you mention) and he was booked on to the later VS015. He was in PE, remained in PE and was only delayed by an hour and a half as the VS015 left on time, more or less, that day. So he fared better than you. The reason the VS027 was cancelled, as he found out from the crew, was that the flight from Antigua was cancelled as it was virtually empty, and that was to be the plane operating it.

I wouldn't appreciate being told i'm 'lucky' to be delayed and downgraded - that would come across as patronising, and would certainly warrant a letter to Customer Relations. The situation does anyway, as you have not been compensated.

It seems to me that the EU Travel Regs apply, as you were flying on an EU member state carrier into the EU, and you were compulsorily downgraded on a flight of over 3500km. I think that means 75% should be refunded.

Refer to article 5 of this.

You should be entitled to:

Article 8
Right to Reimbursement or Re-routing

1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:
(a) - reimbursement within seven days, by the means provided for in Article 7(3), of the full
cost of the ticket at the price at which it was bought, for the part or parts of the journey not
made, and for the part or parts already made if the flight is no longer serving any purpose in
relation to the passenger's original travel plan, together with, when relevant,
- a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity;
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest
opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date
at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.
2. Paragraph 1(a) shall also apply to passengers whose flights form part of a package, except for the
right to reimbursement where such right arises under Directive 90/314/EEC.
3. When, in the case where a town, city or region is served by several airports, an operating air carrier
offers a passenger a flight to an airport alternative to that for which the booking was made, the
operating air carrier shall bear the cost of transferring the passenger from that alternative airport either
to that for which the booking was made, or to another close-by destination agreed with the passenger.

- Û600 per passenger via article 7
- 75% of ticket price due to downgrade via article 10.


Article 9
Right to Care
- 1. Where reference is made to this Article, 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).
2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or
e-mails.

If they try to wriggle, remind them of points 3 & 4 from Article 5:
3. An operating air carrier shall not be obliged to pay compensation in accordance with Article 7, if it
can prove that the cancellation is caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been
avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
4. The burden of proof concerning the questions as to whether and when the passenger has been
informed of the cancellation of the flight shall rest with the operating air carrier.


Any issues, or if you need any help - let me know.

Thanks,
Richard

Doesn't the airline also have a statutory obligation to inform people of their rights? If so, seems VS ground crew in MCO failed on several fronts ...

odd. Just checked in for the 27 this morning (PE) and was told the flight was just over half full, seat map yesterday for PE was showing about 10 seats in the bubble free and all the PE lower deck free.

Whoops, just notices it was the 28 not the 27 sorry!

Originally posted by slinky09
Doesn't the airline also have a statutory obligation to inform people of their rights? If so, seems VS ground crew in MCO failed on several fronts ...

Correct. They are meant to have notices regardign the EU regulation; problem is that I've seen some very creative (edited) versions of it being used by certain airlines; and also in my experience the groudn staff are not fully trained/aware of it. I always carry a copy of it with me just in case.

Twice this year I have had to deal with airlines (on behalf of my family) that have tried it on in regards to not having to pay out; if they think they can wriggle, they will try.

The orlando flight was cancelled because the VSO34 from anu to lgw went tech on the runway on saturday night. I know becuase i was on it. A problem with the wheels. Was on the plane 4 hours then offloaded and sent to hotels. Finally took off 24 hours later

Just though you might be interested

Just as a side-point. What are your rights if you are travelling on miles? Do you simply get the miles back or do you also qualify for compensation?

FM

thanks for all the posts...I've sent customer relations a lengthy email and I'll post details of their response once I get it

I hope your plight doesn't mirror the one I once had regading invol downgrades.

It's been 11 days since I sent Virgin customer service an email about this, and I've heard nothing back (besides an automated response)...I chased three days ago but still nothing. At the very least they owe me the difference between PE and Econ fare, and according to the EU reg they probably owe me a load more.

anyone had experience of dealing with customer service...is there any other way to contact them besides the standard email address or postal address?

Virgin replies to praise usually come back by return. If you have a complaint, be prepared to wait anywhere from 3 weeks to many months. The first official response will often not cover all your concerns, meaning you'll then start chasing by phone.....

Okie, I was also affected by this - I was meant to be on the VS027 on the 2nd December and also the VS028 on the 9th December, both of which were cancelled.

I have to say though, I checked in for the VS028 at DTD and they were wonderful, very, very helpful and no stupid comments made. A person I met in the lounge at MCO had checked in at MCO (and was downgraded), they too were not impressed with the staff at MCO.

I hope you'll hear back soon but it doesn't sound too good by what ukcobra has just said. [V]

Clare

Okie - if I were you I would send a letter to Crawley for a better response. I guess you have used the customer service email address from the website. The reply you will eventually get will be a very standard offering from a foreign outsourced member of staff, who will spend half the letter repeating what you put and then putting a standard company line reply afterward, and if you are anything like me it will probably end up leaving you feeling very frustrated.

I wrote to SRB's office, got a very prompt, 'real' reply from someone who was interested in my problems and after a couple of communications I had my query solved very satisfactorily.

Neil

good idea Neil, will try that

thanks everyone for all the responses