Shanghai flights cancelled

[mark29]

I wonder how Virgin are treating their Chinese customers who book PVG-LHR-PVG, who may not be aware of Virgin’s legal responsibilities to re-route. This route can be quite busy around the start and end of school/university terms as there are quite a few Chinese students travelling to London. Most likely sending them yesterday’s email translated into Chinese.

It will be very difficult for Virgin to re-enter this route once they have left.

[slidey]

What happens with status/points when rerouted? If you get put on the BA flight for example, do you get BA TP or do you get VS?

They are apparently still sorting out other reroute options, I’m not sure whether to try to get it sorted out now or wait til next week and the other potential options as the BA flight will be old style club world, but then while I’m fine with a one stop return, I dont want a chinese carrier.

[Dace]

@slidey you get the tp and avios for the cabin.

[AJA]

@slidey if on a BA reward and you get rerouted on another alliance you do earn that alliance’s TP and miles so I’d assume you would also earn in reverse.

Also with BA you can claim Original Routing Credit and get the TP and Avios as you would’ve if you had flown as booked.

Not sure if Virgin has an equivalent.

[Tim416283]

Just spoke to them, initially all seemed fine and would re-route onto BA. Then they called back and said “as it’s a rewards booking, the only option is a refund of points plus fees and taxes”. I was under the impression that the booking method wouldn’t matter, could anyone with better knowledge comment on this?

Thanks in advance

[Flyer78]

Called Customer Services this morning too and had 4 x economy tickets over Christmas school holidays transferred onto the BA flights with no issues (was the first reroute option I was offered).

Whilst the email was obviously misleading, I have no complaints with options offered over the phone.

[iscreamkoan]

Called up earlier today and they’re pushing back on rerouting my points + upgrade voucher booking saying that there is no ability to rebook onto a ‘points’ flight with BA. Other member in my party was cash only so they could possibly reroute. Declined the offer on both PRNs and did nothing, but what are my options here?

[Dace]

@Tim416283 I was on points and they did it. Maybe it is dependent on the agent you get.

[Tim416283]

Thanks @Dace

Seems like there’s not a lot of consistency here which is frustrating! I’ll try them again on Monday and see if I get through to someone reasonable

[scb201]

Legally speaking, I can’t see anything that suggests points bookings can be treated differently. Is anyone aware of previous occasions where this has been challenged?
My only previous experience was during Covid when my partner was returning from the far east with JAL, booked using BA Avios. They tried to rebook after a cancellation but said they couldn’t find anything possible. Eventually they managed to rebook him on Qatar, though the booking kept dropping out. Eventually after many hours of calls over several day, I managed to get him on a mixed Qatar/BA routing. I thought at one point I was going to have to give up.

[mark29]

@Tim416283 – they are required to reroute you irrespective of whether you booked by cash or points. Try again and it will eventually be sorted for you. Don’t take a refund.

[Dace]

As a tip this is what I did:

1) Went via ‘Anything else’ I did not select the change/cancellation option as felt they would then say I was through to ‘cancellations’

2) When asking/discussing the situation I said ‘seeking advice on my rerouting options as per legal guidelines’.

3) If they try to avoid moving you, ask them their legal basis for doing so, point them in the direction of the relevant legal articles and mention that you have ‘friends’ in a similar situation on points who have been rerouted.

I also had to do this during Covid with Qatar, point 3 in that instance was what I do, whereas this time I have gone down points 1 & 2.

Good luck everyone.

[Lady London]

@Tim416283 award tickets, sale tickets, etc., the legislation covers all these regardless of how the ticket was paid.

Keep a note of any contact with Virgin, date, time, communication method, who you spoke to, and what they said.

This is a gem as they are trying to make a differentiation that is illegal.

Don’t let Virgin bully you anyone, if you want rerouting they are obliged to provide it. If you’ve asked (important to be seen to do so, so keep good records of who said what) and they have failed to provide rerouting when you’ve informed them you want to exercise the legal right you have to choose rerouting (rebooking) and not the refund option (which is your right to choose not theirs) then they will end up being responsible for the cost.

Quite disgraceful when Virgin still tries to promote themselves with all this happy clappy hippie stuff using totally insincere language and knowing full well they are trying to evade their legal responsibilities as to what they owe passengers.

[JDB]

@iscreamkoan – I wouldn’t waste your breath arguing the toss with agents if they refuse to reroute any points or voucher booking. The law makes no distinction between these bookings and cash ones. You have the identical Article 8 rerouting rights. I would email the CEO’s office plus Corneel and Louise (author of the email) their email addresses are all above from 09.58 yesterday. Please copy (and say in the email that you have) Rob Bishton and Jonathan Spence at the CAA. They are up to speed and will be quite unimpressed by Virgin still not complying.

In the email simply say you called at x time and the agent refused to reroute you on the basis of your form of payment. Such refusal was unlawful – ask them to get an agent who is properly advised to call you forthwith and ensure that all agents are properly advised for future callers.

Their while conduct is inexcusable. Proper tinpot airline.

[Lady London]

Could post on their Twitter account. That should set the cat amongst the pigeons.

[scb201]

Just been rebooked on BA without any trouble. Reference seems to work and was able to add my BA executive club number and pick seats. My booking (as others) was using Virgin points and an upgrade voucher.
Decided to go for the BA option now, rather than wait as we are going the week before Christmas, and I would like to avoid any extra stress. The plane currently looks very empty – though of course that could just be people not selecting seats this early.

[Pogonation]

For those of you re-booked on BA, was it on VS ticket stock or did they somehow just buy a new ticket on your behalf on BA ticket stock?

[ZW]

Also just been rebooked on BA without any trouble. Called this afternoon, been told I can choose refund, BA, or scandinavian airlines. rebooked to BA within 5 mins. Same booking reference number but I can see teh flight details are changed, in BA R class. Felt like the call agent has a better understanding of the EU261 than Whoever sent that “I’m sorry” email.

[Princess]

No luck today for me! I’ve just called VA and when I told them I was calling about the cancelled flight the agent asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to be rebooked on the Ba flight, he then went to check and told me there wasn’t availability. When I shared my surprise, as I could see availability on Ba website, he told me that their system didn’t show any option for rebooking neither on other airlines.
Should I waited Monday to call? Maybe agents at the week end are not well prepared?

[Princess]

He suggested three time to take the refund and buy a new ticked! Of course I politely but firmly declined his offer stating I was aware about my rights of rerouting, but he just suggested to send a complaint!

[HampshireHog]

Princess wrote:

He suggested three time to take the refund and buy a new ticked! Of course I politely but firmly declined his offer stating I was aware about my rights of rerouting, but he just suggested to send a complaint!

HUACA, hang up and call again, some agents are not knowledgable on this

[Mcrpanda]

Tim416283 wrote:

Thanks @Dace

Seems like there’s not a lot of consistency here which is frustrating! I’ll try them again on Monday and see if I get through to someone reasonable

Same here: return reward tickets booked with points. I had a smooth experience with the rebooking process. The agent quickly rebooked my flight, but instead of just asking me to wait for confirmation in 24-72 hours, she put me on hold to double-check with the ticketing department. After that, I received my BA reference number and Virgin Atlantic confirmation. When I checked on Virgin Atlantic’s website, I could already see the changes and my BA flight. Also, I can successfully view my booking by entering the BA reference number on the BA website.

However, I did notice some ongoing unsuccessful stories. Is it still possible for VA to cancel my successful BA flight rebooking?

[Bob]

just spoke to Virgin, they said they don’t have any rebooking options currently available for reward bookings however they are working with another carrier for a new solution, maybe during next week more news

[Princess]

I called back this morning and I got the same message!

[Tim416283]

This is the response I received from the executive office:

“Hello Timothy,

Thank you for your email.

I hope you are well.

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you in regard to your cancelled flight.

EC261 Compensation does not apply to this booking / cancellation as on this occasion the flight has been cancelled outside 14 days of departure.

As you have booked this ticket as a reward flight, we are unable to rebook you on another reward flight with another airline.

You have the option to apply for a refund.”