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We had a fairly awful experience a couple of days ago when we were bumped from our return flight JFK-LHR in PE on the morning of the flight and rebooked on Delta JFK-BOS E connecting to VS BOS-LHR in PE. There were a number of other factors (including landing at BOS less than 30 minutes before the Heathrow flight was due to depart from a different terminal) which made the last day of our holiday a stressful and miserable experience.
Virgin has offered unsolicited compensation as follows –
A select voucher which can be exchanged for a free round-trip ticket, inclusive of tax, in our Premium cabin. The voucher can be redeemed for travel anywhere on our network, subject to reward seat availability, is valid for 3 years. (Per passenger)
Or
75,000 Flying club points (Per passenger)
Or
If your new arrival time means you incur a 2-4 hour delay you are eligible for a refund of £260 (Per Passenger)
Or
If your new arrival time means you incur a delay of 4 + hours or more, you are eligible for a refund of £520 (Per Passenger)
Our flight landed approx 3 hours after our original direct flight was due to arrive.
I will be contacting Virgin about additional compensation as this last day debacle came after our return flight had already been changed 3-4 times and the advice we received on the day, from Virgin personnel, included such nuggets as the 10:15 flight from Boston was not a Virgin flight, it was a Delta flight and Virgin do not fly from Boston!
My question is, in addition to the Select voucher (which seems to be the standout compensation offer) and anything extra I can negotiate for all the stress and misery from when I booked these tickets, are we automatically entitled to the £260 compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 as the rebooked flight arrived 3 hours later than we were originally due to arrive?
Any advice on maximising compensation for this experience would be appreciated, thanks.
The delay threshold for flights over 3,500km is four hours so you may not be entitled to any statutory compensation for the delay per se, but VS appears nevertheless to be offering some for a shorter delay.
What’s complicated is that the situation you describe (assuming you were notified prior to going to the airport?) is neither a cancellation nor denied boarding that would automatically trigger compensation.
You can write and ask for more than the (effectively) three options offered, explaining the additional aggravating factors and you may get some goodwill offer but if you were to pursue the matter at arbitration or MCOL I’m not sure you would get more.
Sorry, a couple of extra points – I’m guessing that the proposal put to you is fairly boiler plate text for various situations, the offers of £260/£520 compensation imply a tacit acceptance of EC261 provisions but that doesn’t take you very far. An airline is entitled to offer you an alternative (ie the voucher or points) but you can insist on cash, but not both.
…An airline is entitled to offer you an alternative (ie the voucher or points) but you can insist on cash, but not both.
That’s really what I was wondering. Virgin do seem to be offering more than the minimum but I was unsure whether I could claim for the delay on arrival in addition to the voucher or points.
…You can write and ask for more than the (effectively) three options offered, explaining the additional aggravating factors and you may get some goodwill offer but if you were to pursue the matter at arbitration or MCOL I’m not sure you would get more.
Yes, that’s the plan. I’m hoping there is some flexibility to improve the offer. Thanks for the replies.
If you can use the voucher take it. Bearing in mind Virgin is still cutting routes. I’d feel happier if it was a system-wide Delta voucher for this reason, or at least useable for Delta flights on Virgin routes or connecting onto a Delta domestic flight, but doubt Virgin can provide this currently.
Alternatively take the 520 Euros quick if you can get it. Smaller amounts are not worth bothering with. If the flight from JFK was operated by Virgin and not by Delta, you do have a right to something. But as @JDB says, not as much as 520 Euros given the delay of only 3 hours.
Though I do understand your day was stressful, I think you were quite lucky it didn’t turn out a lot worse, and no more compensation would be offered or paid for that.
It even looks, from here, a bit greedy to want more. Virgin is offering something decent and you don’t even have to fight. I’d accept it fast and be grateful.
Seeing your story is also good because it shows Virgin is looking after people on irrops on the day so if I was going back to NYC for cash, I’d choose them now, hearing your story.
Have to agree with the above. Virgin is behaving a lot better here than with all the people whose HKK flights they have cancelled and not offered to re-route!
… Though I do understand your day was stressful, I think you were quite lucky it didn’t turn out a lot worse, and no more compensation would be offered or paid for that.
It even looks, from here, a bit greedy to want more. Virgin is offering something decent and you don’t even have to fight. I’d accept it fast and be grateful…
Thanks for responding. I am just trying to understand what Virgin is offering and how it fits with the regulatory requirements. I think I am clear on that now. It seems that they are obliged to offer the £260 for the delay but are offering the 75,000 points or the Select voucher as enhanced compensation so I have a choice of the 3 options.
I agree that a free return trip is generous compensation, given that we did get back to the UK only 3 hours after originally planned and we were seated in PE on the BOS-LHR leg. Unfortunately this came after a series of flight changes, lack of information, misinformation and so on which is why I am not content to just ‘accept it fast and be grateful’.
Fair enough. Can you let us know how you get on, @Tubbs?
Fair enough. Can you let us know how you get on, @Tubbs?
I certainly will.
Its very generous but this normal for Virgin. I flew back from JFK two weeks ago UC. They needed one seat. Gave an UC passenger Economy home to London Heathrow & 75k airmiles or PE open ticket valid 36 months. Same as what you have been offered.
Dont feel hard done by or get greedy. Its a good offer & sometimes these things happen. Virgin offering you more than they should.
Your legal entitlement is £260/each for a 3 – 4 hour delay on a 3500KM+ flight.
I’d take the voucher, including taxes is very generous, and way beyond what you can expect from what is an annoying but everyday re-route.
“Unfortunately this came after a series of flight changes, lack of information, misinformation and so on” If this sort of thing stresses you then air travel maybe a poor choice. Rightly or wrongly this is how it is, and whilst I see some improvement from the summer, I think this maybe the new normal for some time.
“Unfortunately this came after a series of flight changes, lack of information, misinformation and so on” If this sort of thing stresses you then air travel maybe a poor choice. Rightly or wrongly this is how it is, and whilst I see some improvement from the summer, I think this maybe the new normal for some time.
I may not be classed as a frequent flyer these days but this was my 16th TATL round trip. I have flown First, Biz, PE and even Economy (once, and it was a decent experience!). I have flown domestic in USA and flown within Europe. This is the first time I have been bumped and the first time I have experienced several significant changes to a single flight before the flight date.
Perhaps I have just been lucky or maybe this is the new normal. I hope not!
I may not be classed as a frequent flyer these days but this was my 16th TATL round trip. I have flown First, Biz, PE and even Economy (once, and it was a decent experience!). I have flown domestic in USA and flown within Europe. This is the first time I have been bumped and the first time I have experienced several significant changes to a single flight before the flight date.
Perhaps I have just been lucky or maybe this is the new normal. I hope not!
Just my opinion, but I think you’ve been very lucky. The 16 round trips are over which period, because I think post 2020 is a different air travel world to before that. I’ve done 1 TATL in 2021, 2 in 2022 with another in November, all a mix of BA/AA. Every one of them has had significant changes in advance, and 2 of the 3 delays on the day.
I get the want as much as I can get attitude, because frustration is not easily measurable. But I think Virgin have been really generous here, if it was BA you’d be fighting for the £260, and if a US airline you’d nothing.
Just my opinion, but I think you’ve been very lucky. The 16 round trips are over which period, because I think post 2020 is a different air travel world to before that. I’ve done 1 TATL in 2021, 2 in 2022 with another in November, all a mix of BA/AA. Every one of them has had significant changes in advance, and 2 of the 3 delays on the day.
Ouch! My experience is pre-2020 so it looks like I should just expect disruption in future. I have always viewed flying as one of the best parts of the holiday rather than just the way to get from A to B. Perhaps I need to rethink that.
Fair enough. Can you let us know how you get on, @Tubbs?
I certainly will.
It’s been a while as I did not receive 2 emails that Virgin sent several weeks ago. I am not sure what happened there.
We got the select vouchers with no issues and have booked LHR-LAS-LHR in PE for next year, at no cost to us. These vouchers seem to be extremely flexible as we were told they are valid for 3 years and bookings made can be amended for different dates or different routes, any number of times, at no cost. The only downsides are that bookings have to be made by telephone and there needs to be reward seat availability.
Because of the other problems we experienced with the LHR-JFK-LHR booking I put in a separate claim to Customer Care and requested 50,000 FC points as additional compensation. The points were added to our accounts today. I think I would file that under “if you don’t ask you don’t get” as I was really expecting something in the 10,000-25,000 range.
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