Broken Upper Class seat compensation

[Robbie]

Hi all,

I recently had a daytime from MLE-LHR (12 hours), and was told when checking in that my seat was broken and wouldn’t be able to lie flat. I was given a stamped letter explaining this, and in it was told I’d be given 8,000 points.

I haven’t had to ask an airline for compensation before (other than the odd delay), so I’m unsure on what to ask for here. I’d be happy with points, but 8,000 does seem a bit pitiful given that I was unable to make use of the main feature of the cabin class.

Am I being unreasonable in wanting to ask for further compensation here, has anyone else had to do this for similar reasons? Unsure if this is relevant or would help my claim, but I’m a Flying Club Gold member.

Thanks.

[AL]

I think 8,000 is pitiful – I got 10,000 for no pie on a LHR-LAX about 16mo ago! – so, I think you should probably call the Gold line, not mention the 8,000 offer, and go from there. They’re usually reasonable – but if you get through to someone who doesn’t seem to understand what a problem it is, mention that the seat working properly is a core reason that you chose to fly Upper. And 8,000 doesn’t get you very far…

But, they’re usually good in these scenarios. Let us know how you get on!

[Robbie]

AL wrote:

I think 8,000 is pitiful – I got 10,000 for no pie on a LHR-LAX about 16mo ago! – so, I think you should probably call the Gold line, not mention the 8,000 offer, and go from there. They’re usually reasonable – but if you get through to someone who doesn’t seem to understand what a problem it is, mention that the seat working properly is a core reason that you chose to fly Upper. And 8,000 doesn’t get you very far…

But, they’re usually good in these scenarios. Let us know how you get on!

Thanks AL! Just gave them a call and was unhelpfully pointed to the website form, apparently this is the only way of getting through to the right people.

[peckishpassport]

I reported a filthy seat on my NYC-LHR Upper Class flight evidenced with photos. I had to fill out the form, and emphasized on the point that this was my first UC experience – upgraded from PE to UC using the CC voucher. I don’t have status with VA but I was credited 23700 miles which the agent stated was the amount for a reward upgrade If I didn’t use a CC voucher.

On the contrary, AF credited me with a whopping 2700 FB miles for my recent AF seat on a CDG-AUH flight which was arguably filthier with Croissant and food bits visible everywhere.

[Man of Kent]

For context. I think the letter offering 8k points is a stock letter as I was given one on checking in at LHR last year due to a broken tray table. I spoke to a lady in the VS lounge and she wasn’t able to offer anything more. In reality it was only a minor fault that didn’t affect the use of the table so I didn’t push it. The 8k didn’t get credited but when I chased it they gave me a further 10k points as an apology.

[supergraeme]

Coming back from Delhi in Autumn last year they told me at check-in that my table was broken – the offer was 4000 points and a different seat, which I thought was pitiful. My partner wouldn’t do well with me on the other side of the plane so they said they’d see what they could do. TBH I wouldn’t have minded if couldn’t do anything so I could have complained and got a lot more than 4000 points (or so I thought), but in the end the moved both of us across the aisle.

[Jonathans]

With BA last year, my seat broke in the bed position which proved a little inconvenient for a day flight and was tricky at landing. Anyway, BA gave me 80,000 avios for it.

[BBbetter]

On Y long haul, I got 7k points for IFE not working.
8k does seem pitiful. Call them.

[danimal]

I got 8000 from Virgin for the wrong sort of chicken.

[Pogonation]

At a minimum I would be requesting the difference between PE and J plus compensation (8000 is a laugh). An UC seat that can’t go flat is a PE seat as far as I would be concerned.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Pogonation wrote:

At a minimum I would be requesting the difference between PE and J plus compensation (8000 is a laugh). An UC seat that can’t go flat is a PE seat as far as I would be concerned.

This is as sound a logic as any from where to start a request. 8000, what a liberty!

[ryaneberry]

LHR to PVG and the Upper Class handheld console wouldn’t retract back automatically, effectively meant it needed to be stowed the whole time or spend 5 / 10 minutes pushing the cord back.

8,000 points offered which I was happy with, I’m not a massive gamer anyway

[kempc23]

I flew Virgin Upper Class in January, from Miami to Heathrow. The seat didnt fully close properly, right at the end. Im not very tall, so to be honest I barely noticed it.

Staff were great, tried for 10 minutes to fix it, then offered to swap seats with a staff member who was sat in UC. I declined (no pun intended) because I didnt want to ruin their experience. Anyways, the onboard staff offered me 10k points, which he said was the maximum they could do from there.

[Robbie]

Thanks for everyone’s past experiences, that’s been valuable.

After emailing them the first time they increased the compensation from 8k points to 12k. I explained how I wasn’t happy with this given that the upgrade from PE to Upper costs 32.5k points, and as someone above suggested my issue basically gave me a PE seat.

They just got back today and said what they offered is in-line with their policies for this type of issue, but have increased it to 20k due to me being a Gold member.

IMO this still feels a bit tight given the circumstances, but hey-ho it’s better than 8k.