Any length I can keep a cancelled ticket?

[aceman]

I have a LHR-LAS ticket that was supposed to fly May 2021 but was cancelled. I never rebooked it.
I have some WhatsApp messages with virgin support that don’t suggest any sort of time frame, but is there anything I need to be aware of in terms of validity?

Is asked if I could keep it open and this was the reply:

The problem is, if we convert the booking to a travel voucher to keep it open you would then lose the option to rebook free of charge to a later date as the history with the flight cancellation would no longer be viewable. So, ideally we would need to get you rebooked fairly soon if possible.

I asked if it was possible to just keep it as is and was told:

Hi you’re speaking with Liam today. Most certainly, we can keep the booking as it is for you for the time being.

So, thoughts?

[WaynedP]

Does the flight appear on your Virgin App ? If so, it should have some sort of indication of any expiry date held in the system.

I had a VS Upper Class LHR-JNB return originally for October 2020, but re-booked twice to Jan 2021, then Mar 2021 due to Covid cancellation.
By the time of VS’s third Covid cancellation in Mar 2021, VS offered an “open ticket” without change fee (but incurring any fare difference) for travel as far out as Sun 30 April 2023.

You may have been offered the same sort of flexibility if you can track down Virgin’s cancellation email, although I note that when another VS flight that I had was also Covid cancelled in June 2021, Virgin simply provided contact information to rebook, but did not commit themselves to offering an open ticket out to 2023 as they had done only three months prior, so it’s possible that generous flexibility provided earlier might have been curtailed only a few short months later.

I was so impressed by VS’s flexibility provided at the time, that I was happy to leave them with a bit of extra working capital until I needed the flight.

It has been visible in my Virgin App since then, now showing as “NTK” with a dummy departure date of 01 Mar 2023 (presumably chosen to allow up to 30 days a return flight within the 30 March 2023 expiry window).

Must phone up VS to make use of it, probably for nothing more than a long weekend in Cape Town in Feb or March (given annual leave limitations).

[memesweeper]

For the time being isn’t forever. Any reason you’ve not called up and asked them? At some point it will be purged from their systems — you’ll want them to intervene, even if it’s just to extend it again, before that happens.

[Gary]

VS LHR CPT in UC x4 seats
Booked Mar 21 to travel Dec 21
Flight cancelled Sep 21

Cancellation email stated
“If all of your flights have been cancelled you have several options available to you. So we can update your booking as soon as possible, please choose your preference at your earliest convenience. The options include:
– Rebook your flights for a new departure date, any time between now and 30 April 2023
– Convert your ticket to a Virgin Atlantic voucher, which will generate a credit equal to the value of your booking, for use on a future flight with Virgin Atlantic”

Did not contact VS until ready to rebook in May 22 for travel in Feb 23. Re-routed with no questions asked even though travelling 2 years post original tickets’ issuance. All done in one short online chat. Was super impressed with VS adhering to the letter & spirit of EC 261!