-
Hi
Hoping some help advice? I am going to Charleston SC in January. I booked an open jaw LHR to IAD then Tampa to LHR using reward voucher. I was advised it is easier and cheaper to book my connecting flights ie from IAD to CHS and CHS to Tampa separately with Delta which I have done.
Yesterday I received an email stating the Virgin flight from Tampa due to fly Jan 23rd has been cancelled and the next available flight is the same flight the following day. My problem now is I have the connecting flights from CHS to Atlanta to Tampa already booked on Jan 23rd – I looked to change to the same flights to the following day and it as going to be an extra $150.
What rights do I have due to the cancellation/24 hour delay? I did ring customer services they said they couldn’t help me I had to email Customer Care which I thought quite ludicrous but I was nice and polite to the customer services person.
The options I put to the customer services person was 1) I accept the new flight on Jan 24th catch the connecting flights on the 23rd to Tampa and Virgin put me up in hotel for the night etc 2) Virgin pays the difference in the new connecting flight fare and I change those flights to Jan 24th. 3) catch a flight from Atlanta to LHR on Jan 23rd but was told that wasn’t an option.
I don’t know if I have any rights with this scenario so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Michele…Virgin’s obligation is to provide you with accommodation, food and maybe telecoms connectivity until the new flight, probably on a reclaim basis. Consequential losses/issues like connecting flights on a separate ticket are potentially an insurance claim. While they have no obligation to put you on a flight from ATL, if that’s your preferred option it may be worth pressing that as a matter of goodwill.
@JBD thank you for your comments. So the fact that they have given me advnce notice they still have to provide accomodation, food and telecoms potentially? I am going to ring them later today or early tomorrow. I really don’t want to have to mess with emailing. It takes ages to get an answer via emial i have found in past experiance. Thanks again.
@JBD thank you for your comments. So the fact that they have given me advnce notice they still have to provide accomodation, food and telecoms potentially? I am going to ring them later today or early tomorrow. I really don’t want to have to mess with emailing. It takes ages to get an answer via emial i have found in past experiance. Thanks again.
Yes, while cancelling more than 14 days in advance avoids any compensation being payable, EC261 Article 9 ‘Right to Care’ obligations still apply.
Great – thank you very much for your help 🙂
If you’re not pushed for time then just accept it as it is, book a reasonable hotel for the night in Tampa (up to £200/night is the BA guideline, but there is no limit in law if you can show it’s reasonable/nothing adequate cheaper), and have a nice meal out, and enjoy the extra day. Virgin will have to pay for the hotel and all meals (excluding alcohol) as long as you don’t go crazy.
Alternatively look for a Delta/Virgin/(?AF/KLM) combination of flights (ie Tampa to somewhere to London) that you can be re-booked to on the route you’ve booked on the day you want.
Thanks Matt
I am bit apprehensive to do that without assurances that Virgin would pay. I did look at hotels in Tampa and they aren’t cheap for a decent hotel. I wouldn’t go crazy – i do like a drink but not mad and i am not a steak and lobster eater normally so unless i had confirmation that Virin would pay i wouldn’t order something like that – to be honest i probably wouldn’t anyway 🙂 Ok great – thank you so much for your help. Again, greatly apprecaited 🙂 I will let you know what happens Michele…If you still haven’t accepted and want to get back, you might want to ask if they can put you on the Orlando flight. Its about an hours drive from tpa.
its only an hour when traffic is light – on a bad day 3 or 4
The I4 can make the M25 look fluid
Thank you all for your input. I have booked the airport hotel. More expensive but I don’t want to have to lug 2 x 23 kgs bags, cabin bag, etc on and off shuttle/taxi to save Virgin circa £100 – i am 63 solo female traveller, not the best of health and i don’t want to deal with all the hassle. They will have to sort it and if they don’t I will argue until blu einthe case. So thank you for all the advice it is much appreciated.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
