Reply To: Virgin Atlantic rebooking master thread

[Jon]

Virgin have given me a re-route for my cancelled HKG-LHR flight next year (Upper Class, originally booked as a miles redemption). Getting it was somewhat frustrating, and the outcome is not as good as it should have been, but at least I have a flight.

Usual BA-esque story initially – I called a week or two after the cancellation notice, and was told my only options were refund or voucher. I asked for a re-route (as I do need to make the trip) but was told they can’t offer that. Mentioned EC/UK261 etc. That resulted in what was evidently a prepared statement being read out to say they’d be emailing affected customers in a week or two with options.

I didn’t receive anything, so I called again about three weeks later, same story.

I then emailed the CEO, and the next day got an email from ‘Customer Solutions’ (I suppose that does sound somewhat better than Customer Services maybe, although perhaps implying that customers have problems more often than they need services? 😉 They’d booked me onto an Emirates flight – leaving 2.5 hours earlier, routing HKG-BKK-DXB-LHR, arriving 10 hours later than my original schedule, and turning a 13-hour direct flight into a 25-hour two-stop itinerary. Not ideal.

I did push for a better option – e.g. Cathay has a direct flight with a very similar schedule, and another an hour later – but they said they don’t have a ticketing agreement with them (which shouldn’t really be an excuse, but what can you do if they insist on refusing…). Plenty of other options that would have made for a shorter journey, fewer stops, and better arrival time, but none were offered – I was basically told ‘take it or leave it’. Frustrating as even on Emirates there was a shorter routing available (seats for sale), with a 2 hour transit in Dubai rather than almost 5. But they refused that too.

The other big issue for me was that they told me (although only after I asked – so be careful to check this if you’re in the same position) that once I accept the ticket, no changes or cancellation would be possible. So going from a fairly flexible ticket that can be changed or cancelled for £30 to a completely non-flexible one. Not sure whether ‘comparable transport conditions’ in EC261 was intended to apply also to the fare conditions, but it probably should!

They then said I had 48 hours to accept the re-route or they’d cancel it and refund me. Which struck me as pretty poor – almost coercive. Especially as they had provided very little information to help me make an informed choice (eg I went back and asked for the full fare conditions as they’re not shown in the booking; they didn’t send them, but they did at least confirm that, despite what they’d said earlier, the ticket would in fact be cancelable for the usual £30 fee – just not changeable. I can live with that, but really they should have booked a flexible ticket. I’m left with the impression that they’ve basically booked the flight that’s cheapest and easiest for them, without paying any regard to my inconvenience, or to the CAA guidelines re minimising disruption, avoiding extra connections, keeping the journey time as close as possible to the original etc. They’ve basically done the exact opposite of what the guidelines say lol. And it’s not as though they haven’t had plenty of time to put in place agreements with other airlines.

In the end I decided to accept the re-route on Emirates, despite the much later arrival and extended journey time. They weren’t really giving me any other option, other than to take a refund or I suppose buy a ticket myself and LBA/MCOL for reimbursement (which I imagine might be a bit hit and miss, as strictly speaking they have provided a re-route, just not one that comes particularly close to meeting the guidelines or the spirit, if not the letter, of the regulations).

I’ll make the best of it, and I suppose there are worse places to be than Business Class on an Emirates A380 (at least it has a proper bar! 😉 But it has left a bad taste, and has dented my goodwill towards the Virgin brand.