How to get some recompense from Virgin Atlantic

[MJH1948]

Hi my first post here so I hope I’m doing this right.

I’m looking for some helpful information please because I am so confused on how to pursue a claim with Virgin Atlantic. Sorry for this lengthy explanation.

I am a Virgin Atlantic silver flying club member. I have recently had a disastrous experience with VS and they are not being very communicative!

Firstly we was caught up in the Heathrow chaos of 21st March. We was due to fly to the Maldives for our 25th wedding anniversary. Like thousands of other passengers we were informed our Friday evening flight was cancelled. Not Virgin Atlantic’s fault due to the exceptional circumstances.
They rebooked us, offering two seats the next day but..

We had booked two PE reward seats but upgraded the outbound to UC using a companion voucher.
However the seats on offer meant they were downgrading us to PE. Now we had been planning and saving for this trip for 2years, so we was so disappointed to loose our UC experience. I would add they couldn’t offer any UC seating until 4days later, so we had no choice but to take the involuntary downgrade.

Before travelling to the airport, We contacted VS to ask if we could still use the DTCI experience and the lounge, bearing in mind we had not received any refund difference between the fare classes,
so we were really still UC passengers. The answer from VS was a categoric No!

The stress, anxiety and disappointment had an already ruined our excitement and build up to our holiday so we tried to move on.

We spent 8 lovely days in the Maldives and Virgin Holidays (accommodation booked thru them) were so helpful and supportive.

Our return day came around so quickly and we was ready for our early 10am flight back to Heathrow on Monday 31st March. A relative woke us in the middle of the night to inform us the return flight VS385
had in fact been cancelled due to aircraft tech issues. I had received a text from VS also in the early hours but it didn’t wake us. The outcome was, we were again downgraded on the first available flight Tues 1st April. This time they took away our PE seats and dumped us in economy.

Needless to say, we are not happy with Virgin Atlantic and I would really appreciate any advice on what we are entitled to claim from them in terms of refunds/compensation etc.

I fully understand they are not responsible for the chaos which developed on 21st. I do however feel they let us down and could have made the choice of allowing us to at least use some of the UC perks we had paid for many many months in advance. In the end, we actually paid (again) to use the Lounge which certainly was not heaving as I expected. The reception staff could have shown some empathy but said no entry until you pay for it.

So as for the outbound flight, am I right thinking I should be entitled to a refund of the points I used, the cash fare difference of taxes & surcharges relating to the downgrade from UC to PE and a return of the companion voucher which I used to upgrade but didn’t get?

Then secondly does the same apply to the downgrading of the fare class relating to our cancelled inbound flight.

I read this somewhere “If your airline downgrades you to a lower class than the one you booked (for instance, economy instead of business), you are entitled to reimbursement of a percentage of the price for the flight on which you were downgraded” which apparently in our case is 75% but I’m not sure what that actually means?

Someone also told there is a totally separate entitlement Virgin must pay out (EC261/2004) regarding our 2nd flight because in this instance they were responsible.

If anyone has any experience of this kind of issue or has any advice I would be very extremely grateful, thanks. Martin

[slidey]

This is what I think you should be entitled to –

For the outbound –
no delay compensation as it was an extraordinary event
75% of the cost of the flight and virgins fees and points used (per person) back due to being downgraded, excluding the govt tax as you would still have to pay that.

For the inbound –
£520 delay compensation per person
75% of the cost of the flight and virgins fees (per person) back due to being downgraded, I think in this instance you should also get some govt tax back as you would be now flying in a class that has lower APD but I’m not certain how that works.

Not sure what lounge youre referring to as having paid for, but the fact you were paying for the lounge suggests its a contract lounge so the staff wouldnt be letting you in for free as they have no idea what virgin have done.

[NorthernLass]

You were really unlucky to get caught up in something like this where re-routing options were very limited due to the scale of the issue. I agree with @slidey as regards what you should be entitled to – you will need to work out the figures and set them out separately and very clearly to Virgin in a claim.

Have you had any communication at all so far from Virgin about reimbursement/compensation? They are usually very good at offering more than the legal minimum and may well end up offering you free flights or similar if you wanted to take such an option.

Would the lounge not have been the Virgin Clubhouse which you get access to by cabin or status, not payment?

[MJH1948]

Firstly thankyou to both @slidey & @NorthernLass for replying to my query, I am honestly really grateful as I had no clue how to proceed. Yes it was a very unfortunate day on that Friday 21st and much worse for those thousands of poor folk who were re-routed and couldn’t get home. At least we did get out the following day.

The Lounge I was referring to was the Virgin Clubhouse. I hoped they would shown some compassion and let us in because the disruption but no heartless agent said “you have to pay because you are not now travelling Upper Class”. I tried to explain that we had paid for UC and it was not our choice to downgrade. Fell on deaf ears! Virgin have put 7930 points into my FC account. We have had no other communication.

With the information so kindly given, I can now start to compose my claim.

I had booked Reward fares in PE and used an upgrade voucher for the outbound bit. I used all Virgin points and paid in cash for the taxes, surcharges etc which came to £1497 covering both flights for 2passengers. So I’ll have to try to break that down between the two separate flights.

Can I clarify the info provided relating to our outbound flight. So I am still entitled to claim 75% of the points I used for that sector? Not just the points difference between UC and the downgrade to PE even though the cancellation was not “Virgin’s fault”??

Oh I wish I had a paper trail to refer to, coz the virgin Flyimg Club does not show the points I used and I can’t find the breakdown of points & cash used.

Thanks again

[NorthernLass]

Do you have a Virgin Red account? For some reason there seems to be a better breakdown in there of points activity than in the VFC account! Any cash payment should be recorded in your credit card or bank account.

Yes you are entitled to the 75% – though you may need to argue the value of the upgrade voucher with Virgin (and I don’t know if that’s been returned as your original flight was cancelled?) Re-routing and downgrade rights aren’t based on whose fault it was.

I’m still confused about the Clubhouse, can you pay for access?

[slidey]

How much did they charge for clubhouse entry? I didnt think it was possible to pay for entry, but apparently it can be if the flight was booked with Virgin holidays – but either way I dont think they will be liable to refund that.

What would the 7930 points represent? How many points did you have to pay for the PE>UC upgrade?

For the outbound, the downgrade was still virgins responsibility even if the reason for the original cancellation wasnt.

Make sure that you’ll come out better off by taking that the 75% downgrade for the outbound than you would be to just take the upgrade refund tho, as given virgins variable prices I expect theres some situations where taking the 75% could end up making the PE booking more expensive for example if the original PE booking was 10k points and then the upgrade was 90k, taking the refund would get the 90k back (plus voucher presumably) whereas taking the 75% would give 75% of the total 100k cost back and so result in the PE segment then effectively being more at 25k.

The other thing is if you had to pay for a hotel and food for that extra night on the 31st, Virgin would need to cover the cost of those too.

[ChasP]

Clubhouse is part of the UC experience – and a major part of the experience at that, it isnt priced or even available separately
Based on that I dont think you are entitled to anything other than the standard compensation for the downgrade (as outlined above) and the fact that you hadnt received the compensation at the point of flying is irrelevant

As you say the original cause wasn’t Virgins fault and there wouldnt be space for all of the rebooked but downgraded passengers in the clubhouse as most of the delayed passengers probably took then downgrade I cant see any other airline acting differently after such a massive closure

[MJH1948]

Good evening to @NorthernLass & @Slidey.

Sorry I’ve not got back to answer your questions but it’s been a nightmare trying to get hold of the details of our Virgin flights. In the past I’ve kept notes and had a paper trail but this booking was made over the phone and I never kept any info/screenshots etc

No we don’t have a Virgin Red account.

When it comes to our claim, it is the points we used which are our problem. The FC app shows our booking reference but doesn’t state the deduction of the points from our FC account which were used and neither does the fare breakdown on the ticket info. I did take a screenshot back in May 2024 of a dummy reward fares booking I was playing around with, so I could get a rough idea what my outlay might be but not sure if that’s what we actually used.

I think this is the details:

For two passengers travelling on Reward fares, PE each way to Maldives = 135,000 points total needed.

We then used the upgrade voucher on the outbound flight PE to UC.

For 2 passengers I paid £1497.38 cash for the return fares which covered all the taxes and surcharges. Virgin obviously increase the YQ surcharge when the reward fares go from PE to UC. However there is no way of being able to separate that cash amount between the outbound and inbound fares.

This is how they showed the fare breakdown for both of us :
YQ surcharge = £916
UK service charge = £97.78
UK APD = £398
+ some nearly £50 of Maldives entry tax

So when you both talk about we should be entitled to 75% of the fare on both the outbound and inbound flight, does that actually mean
75% of 135,000 Virgin points and 75% of most of the £1497.38?

We intend to claim the return of the upgrade voucher back to my FC account because it wasn’t used after they downgraded us.

I am also entitled to the inbound PE seat reservation of £70 each.

As far as the lounge is concerned, I am not bothering to mention that again. It was our choice to pay for a Lounge. For info, if the Virgin Clubhouse is not busy then apparently you maybe able to negotiate entry at £60 per person.

As far as our entitlement for overnight accommodation and meals was concerned for the cancelled 31/3 homebound flight, Virgin said we could make our own arrangements and send in receipts for “reasonable expenses”. There is no way they will pay the cost of our all inclusive hotel but we were not prepared to be moved to what the website described as “ a no frills, airport hotel”. We just expect to be reimbursed an amount comparable to what they paid to other passengers.

Finally we will claim for the £520 cancelled inbound flight.

So if you would clarify and comment on the 75% entitlement you both mentioned in your replies, I would be so grateful.

Again thank you so much for your support and advice.

[MJH1948]

To @Slidey. Sorry I didn’t answer your question … “What would the 7930 points represent? How many points did you have to pay for the PE>UC upgrade?”

I have absolutely no clue why they’ve credited my FC account with the 7930 of points.

I didn’t pay any more points to upgrade from PE to UC. The voucher covers that. But Virgin do increase the YQ surcharge by about £200-300 I think.
So if we have just bought 2 PE reward fares that YQ would have been less than £916 but I’ve got no idea what the figure was before I used the upgrade voucher.

[JDB]

Re claiming expenses, you should claim for any additional night at your all inclusive hotel, if that’s where you were staying prior to the cancellation. That’s “reasonable” in the context of the Maldives and there’s no express limit. Virgin cannot expect you to pack, move to a grotty hotel, unpack and pack again – that would be unreasonable. I would expect them to pay.

You should get 75% of the 135,000 points as you were downgraded both ways, but you need to deduct all those non airline charges/taxes you have identified first, so it’s basically the YQ surcharge @ 75%. Plus the seat reservation charge. Plus inbound cancellation compensation @ £520pp.

To give your claim the best prospects of success, set out each of the elements very clearly, ideally in a table cross referenced to the evidence of cost incurred etc. and add the supporting bills for your extra expenses all in one PDF.

[NorthernLass]

Apologies if I’ve missed this, but what happened with your airport transfer on the return – did you stay in your original hotel or did you transfer to Male as planned and stay in a different hotel on your last night? You mention your AI hotel, but don’t clarify if this was the same one as per your holiday booking.

If your transfer was delayed until the following day, and you therefore had no way to get to a cheaper hotel, then Virgin would have no option but to pay for your last night, IMO.

[MJH1948]

@NorthernLass. The airport transfers were arranged for us by Virgin Holidays. They were so brilliant.
They knew we would now be arriving a day later than planned but they had rearranged the transport for us.
We had used them to book our accommodation and the transfers to & from the resort at was included in their costs.

Yes we stayed at our original AI hotel for the extra night. TBH as it turned out, we had originally lost the first night of our holiday but then gained an extra night at the end, so being truthful the accommodation didn’t cost us any extra and Virgin Holidays dealt with it all for us.

@JDB I am so sorry but I’m not getting to grip with the second part of your explanation, “but you need to deduct all those non airline charges/taxes you have identified first, so it’s basically the YQ surcharge @ 75%. Plus the seat reservation charge. Plus inbound cancellation compensation @ £520pp”
So I can claim 75% of all the 135,000 points. My maths say that is 101,250 ?

but the next bit is leaving me confused? Is there any % of the taxes, surcharges etc I should be refunded.

Like you say it’s really important to be precise and clear about all the elements I’m trying to claim for.

[JDB]

@MJH1948 – yes, your involuntary downgrade compensation should include getting 75% of the £916 YQ reimbursed as well as the points as you were downgraded on both legs.

[MJH1948]

Thank you to those forum members who have taken the time over the past few days to offer so more support and helpful advice.

I now feel I am in the position of presenting my claim for compensation and expenses to Virgin Atlantic. No doubt they will be very unhelpful but with the knowledge I have gained from this forum, I will pursue my claim with confidence. Whenever I get a final acceptable offer I will come back to report to you. I think sharing the outcome will also help other passengers in the future.

Thanks again, Martin