Advice on appropriate compensation

Hi

I'm a Gold card and traveled on VS206, Upper Class, on a revenue ticket. I'm on this route a lot. This is an overnight 11 hours or so flight to HK.

When in lounge, I was told my seat (5A) was broken - would not convert to a flat bed. It could recline normally, but not a bed. This is critical for me as I eat in lounge, aim to sleep most of the way and wake for breakfast. Then work. Upper was entirely full and I could not be moved. I was stuck with it and had a pretty crap night.

Ground staff did their best to fix it but to no avail; cabin crew sympathetic and helpful and logged the fault asap with customer relations.

Customer relations have offered miles - which for me is largely pointless as I have more than I or family can reasonably use - and we all know that sometimes it's cheaper to buy a fare than pay the taxes.

I've not written this to moan (I should have stuck to the usual seat 5k!) and no complaints at all about staff involved. But, essentially, anyone have guidance on what would be a fair deal for this?

Thanks and sorry its so long.

That's unfortunate and I am very familiar with your routine of eating before flying to maximise rest prior to working on overnight flights.

Considering what you can do is difficult, pedantically airline T&Cs are written in such a precise way as to not guarantee many elements of the flight, for example a flat bed, and VS isn't really geared up to offer anything by miles as compensation when such things go wrong. Monetary compensation is, in my opinion, a highly unlikely scenario.

It really comes back to you, what do you consider appropriate and what do you want to ask for? You could write to VS FC stating that miles are nice, but ineffective, and ask for an alternative ... then depending on whether you're happy with the response you can escalate up to the CEO?

I had a similar situation recently, the clubhouse staff said the seat would not convert to a bed unless the crew used tools to do it manually. They gave me £240 in duty free vouchers to spend on board as compensation, without me asking.The irony was, they had fixed it when I boarded and I still spent the vouchers.

I'd expect some vouchers if miles aren't acceptable, but you may have to fight for them.

How much? Well anecdotal evidence on Flyertalk suggests BA's new CEO has clamped down on compensation and restricted it to a maximum of 10,000 Avios (worth £100).

I'd expect VS to be a bit more generous than that but if you're expecting, say, the difference between the PE & UC fare I fear you'll be disappointed.

I would argue that the bed is the reason you book UC & not PE
As you clearly state you like to sleep & its critical to you.
Let them know it had a detrimental effect on you.
For me, I would expect the difference between PE & UC back.
You paid cash & if it was me, I would want a cash settlement back.
Or maybe your next flight you get UC for the price of PE!

This is where UK do not look after their customers. Their most loyal customers.
Especially where airlines are fighting over each other for business.

Being a gold member, they should have bumped someone for you. I am sure it would have happened with airlines in america.

Being a gold member, they should have bumped someone for you.

Nay, nay a thousand times nay.... I really don't think this should have even been considered.

As an example to why I think this... I was recently on a flight where my IFE failed to work for the whole flight, and the off duty staff were being 'encouraged' by the crew to offer to switch. I declined.. it's my problem, not theirs in the grand seat lottery and one way or the other they have paid for that seat, why should I be treated any differently!? Au member or not.

Back on topic before I go on a ten page rant about the american airlines that you allude to ; I have been in the same position a couple of times and ultimately the seat was mostly functional by the time I boarded - power issues and a bed malfunction. I was offered miles, but like yourself, they wouldn't be useful to me in the short term.. next up their goodwill vouchers which are perfectly suited. You can use them for the VS duty free or put them towards a flight or holiday with VS. As to the amount that you want... how much did you pay for your seat? Start with 60% of that amount and find a middle ground with customer services. They'll hopefully settle on the 30-35% mark.

Let us know how you get on

why should I be treated any differently!? Au member or not.

For Brand loyalty. You can pick & choose who to fly with. They should bend over backwards to keep your business and you spending money with them. The way I shop, if I have a bad experience, then next time I'll try elsewhere.
If I have a good experience, then chances are I will be a repeat customer.
Just look at BT/Sky/Virgin - why is it only new customers who get the best deal? You have to go through the whole cancellation route before someone from retentions offering something that would have kept my business if they had just done it in the first place.

why should I be treated any differently!? Au member or not.

For Brand loyalty. You can pick & choose who to fly with. They should bend over backwards to keep your business and you spending money with them. The way I shop, if I have a bad experience, then next time I'll try elsewhere.
If I have a good experience, then chances are I will be a repeat customer.
Just look at BT/Sky/Virgin - why is it only new customers who get the best deal? You have to go through the whole cancellation route before someone from retentions offering something that would have kept my business if they had just done it in the first place.

A valid point when considering what a company can give you on the high street, but you are suggesting they strand or involuntarily downgrade another passenger on your behalf. If that were offered to me, I would be more enticed to decline and never fly that airline again if that is how they treat people. I think for most people that would have the opposite effect to building brand loyalty.

Perhaps we've wandered a touch off topic now, but if you want to start a new thread on this debate I'm happy to continue my rantings - kinda curious about what experiences you've had with the fun 'elite' programmes in the US.. mine with US and AA haven't been great, then again I didn't have status with them so what use am I as a customer?

I've had an Upper Class seat that would recline, but not convert into a bed on an inbound overnight flight from MCO. The crew tried all they could to fix it, but to no avail (a microswitch had gone faulty, so the seat thought the table was out when it was not).

The FSM advised me it's 20k Flying Club miles for this fault & took all my details. The crew were very apologetic about the fault during the flight & said they could not believe how nice I was about it - I just replied that it was not their personal fault, so no point being nasty. Maybe that is why two bottles of champagne were found by my ottoman when I woke up from sleep of sorts with the seat reclined. (The 20k miles were credited a couple of weeks later once the paperwork had found it's way to Crawley Towers).

20k miles cost £300 to buy, so there is a staring point for monetary compensation. As the OP is FC Gold & if VS see he flies the HKG route often, then there should be some uplift on this sum to recognise his loyalty.

Thanks for all the advice on this.

I should say, in reference to some of the posts, that I don't think Virgin have behaved badly, they are not ignoring their customers (frequent or otherwise) and their response has been exactly what I would expect a business to do if it values its customers. Full credit to them and its why I fly with them. I just wanted an idea of what might be reasonable.

It now appears, at least from the comparison, that Virgin have made me a generous offer - significant miles or substantial vouchers. ( I was not expecting or wanting a cash refund as the point was the loss of amenity, rather than the loss of value). I've not yet decided which to take, so I will report back.

Thanks again.

why should I be treated any differently!? Au member or not.

For Brand loyalty. You can pick & choose who to fly with. They should bend over backwards to keep your business and you spending money with them. The way I shop, if I have a bad experience, then next time I'll try elsewhere.

How do you build brand loyalty by bumping off potential new Gold customers in favour of existing ones?

Is it just me or does it seem like airline travel make us people "precious"?

Yes it does. But that's what you get when you give customers "status". Same with hotels. Some people, sadly, think having superior status makes them more important than everyone else and gives them the right to treat staff and other customers like dirt because they've somehow "earned the right" to be treated like royalty.

That's what I like about VS - yes you get some nice perks as an Au but unlike some airlines, by and large they try and treat all customers equally and don't try to massage their elite status-holders' already inflated egos.

You just need to read some of the threads on Flyertalk to see how some BA Golds and GGLs think they virtually run the airline. When in fact BA really couldn't care less about them, as the decision to make them pay for food & drinks in short-haul Economy along with everyone else proves.

Fact is the only people airlines REALLY care about are big corporate clients and celebrities who give them good PR.