Cancelling a Virgin Atlantic reward booking

[Jon]

Does anyone know how long it usually takes for a redemption booking (booked via VS website, with FC points, on VS metal) to show as cancelled or be removed from Manage My Booking etc?

I have a redemption for which there’s been a schedule change that doesn’t suit me, and nor do the alternatives, so I’ve decided to cancel. The Cancel Flight button in MMB leads to an error message linking to ‘contact customer services’, which in turn leads to a 404 Not Found error page. The Make a Change button leads to a pop up, advising to use the Chat function – which doesn’t work. 🤦‍♂️😂

I eventually found instructions telling me to fill out a refund claim form, which I’ve done (a few days ago now), and got an email back confirming my request has been received and will be processed. I’m aware there’s a 21 day timeframe for receiving the refund.

But meanwhile, my flight is still showing in MMB exactly the same as before – no indication that I’ve cancelled it, and it still happily lets me choose seats and meals etc. Is that normal? Or does it mean something’s gone wrong? I was assuming it should at least show something like “You have cancelled this flight, we’re processing your refund”…

[memesweeper]

My last cancelled flight (cash, refundable) stayed in MMB until the day of flight. I called up a few days before to confirm it really was cancelled. I did (eventually) get my refund, but had to chase.

[Jon]

Thanks @memesweeper, good to know their IT and processes are right up there with the best of them! 😉

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Processing the refund includes cancelling the flight so I’m not surprised that it is still showing as ‘live’ and it may still continue to show in MMB until the day of the actual flight.

Best just to ignore the MMB entry as well as any emails re checkin being open etc

[davefl]

My refund of points and taxes/charges took two and a half months, 5 phone calls and the 1st activity I got after the initial email and 2 phone calls was points and only half the cash. 3 more calls to get the rest.

Incompetence thy name is virgin’s back office.

[Hilda M]

I was wondering the same about a flexible Premium ticket I cancelled on 8th March – flight was yesterday and it stayed online. I too tried the Chat bot – grrr – perhaps Klarna could give them some hints (supposedly K’s new AI help function had a higher satisfaction rate than their call centres)

I’ll give it another 2 weeks before I start calling 🙁

[dougzz99]

I filled in the form and it was ignored as best I could tell. I then phoned up and it was cancelled immediately, with points returned instantly. The cash took a while longer.

[davefl]

@Hilda M don’t wait, call asap. And if you get the message that they’re too busy and to call back later ignore those and typical connection wait after navigating the menus has been 5-10 mins over the past few months.

[Jon]

I think I might give them a call sooner rather than later… 😉

[PeteM]

My last VS refund ended up being an Amex chargeback – when they eventually got to the complaint they agreed it was my best course of action and gave me 10k miles as an apology…

[Hilda M]

davefl wrote:

@Hilda M don’t wait, call asap. And if you get the message that they’re too busy and to call back later ignore those and typical connection wait after navigating the menus has been 5-10 mins over the past few months.

(Un)fortunately, I have been in SE Asia for the last 10 days, back in the UK at the beginning of April – my roaming charges on Orange (Spain) can be horrendous, though good to hear it might be only 5-10 mins. My email welcoming to Gold VS no doubt won’t hold so no priority line for me 🙁

[NorthernLass]

Don’t Virgin have a free international number? We called from Florida once on the toll-free number but the agent was English – though of course he could have been based in the US.

[PeteM]

Skype should do the trick too!

[Hilda M]

NorthernLass wrote:

Don’t Virgin have a free international number? We called from Florida once on the toll-free number but the agent was English – though of course he could have been based in the US.

They do give a 1 800 number for the US and several other countries have details listed but not Thailand or Singapore.

I did get an acknowledgment of my application for a refund saying 10-12 working days and that was just up as the flight was due to leave.

[davefl]

Hilda M wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Don’t Virgin have a free international number? We called from Florida once on the toll-free number but the agent was English – though of course he could have been based in the US.

They do give a 1 800 number for the US and several other countries have details listed but not Thailand or Singapore.

I did get an acknowledgment of my application for a refund saying 10-12 working days and that was just up as the flight was due to leave.

10-12 days is the stock answer every time you call to chase as well. 🙁

So 10-12 after 1st call, 10-12 after escalation, 10-12 after I got half the cash, 10-12 1st time chasing the rest of that cash… then 10-12 chasing that again.

Dismal!

[Hilda M]

Major shock 😮 Was all ready to start my phone campaign for a refund to find it was actually paid back to my Visa card yesterday (18 working days later)