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Our Shanghai-London flight with Virgin in 2 months has been cancelled. We have been rebooked to the same flight next day and refused rerouting as reward ticket.
So our options is either accept or refund. That means we have to pay the change fee for our connecting flight next day back to MAN with BA.
Anyone has experience dealing with Virgin under same circumstance? Thanks!
Virgin should reroute you on another airline if there’s a flight on the same day, but the experience when they ceased the HKG route was that they were very unhelpful. Note that BA on this route is still old Club. The law doesn’t differentiate between reward and cash tickets for rerouting, so if you are very focussed on travelling in the same day, write to the CEO’s office, citing the APR and giving specific alternatives that are acceptable to you. Ask them to rebook you on one of those within 14 days failing which you will make your own rerouting arrangements and seek to recover the costs thereof, although personally I wouldn’t take them to MCOL.
An extra day in Shanghai = great news and insurance may be the BA change fee (less maybe) but in the context of a holiday, it’s not exactly a big cost.
@JDB Really appreciate your suggestions.
We would prefer to travel on the original date as OH has limited holidays for the first week of 2024. Also we have to pay the BA change fee as they were booked in separate booking.
However, if we can manage to get an extra holiday and stay 1 more day at Shanghai, would Virgin compensate the extra hotel cost? According to Virgin call centre the answer is no as the cancellation is notified more than 14 days before departure.
@JDB Really appreciate your suggestions.
We would prefer to travel on the original date as OH has limited holidays for the first week of 2024. Also we have to pay the BA change fee as they were booked in separate booking.
However, if we can manage to get an extra holiday and stay 1 more day at Shanghai, would Virgin compensate the extra hotel cost? According to Virgin call centre the answer is no as the cancellation is notified more than 14 days before departure.
Yes, for a next day rerouting, Virgin is on the hook for Article 9 ‘Right to Care’ expenses, principally hotel and food, irrespective of the notice period given for the cancellation and it applies to both cash or redemption tickets. The over 14 days notice ‘get out’ only applies to compensation. They won’t pay for a day trip to Suzhou or Hangzhou though if you think you have ‘done’ Shanghai during the planned days!
Thanks so much for your reply.
I had a great read of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and my case should be quite straight forward. However, I also checked Virgin website for EC261 Care form it did mention only to claim if your flight is cancelled within 14 days of departure. Here is what they say:
EC261 Care
Under EC261/2004, you have the right to claim back reasonable costs if your flight is cancelled within 14 days of departure, or delayed more than three hours. Here’s how.A bit naughty from Virgin Atlantic
Gosh, that’s very poor. The CAA CAP2155 document from May 2021 provides a good summary as it is written in plain English and incorporates all the court decisions that have changed the 2004 law.
This is the relevant section:-
Reimbursement of care and assistance expenses
6.9 In the case of a flight cancellation, airlines are required to provide the care and assistance to passengers set out in Article 5(1)(b). Again, the CAA does not expect airlines to fail in this obligation. However, where such a failure occurs, the case of McDonagh v Ryanair Ltd has confirmed that passengers can claim a refund from the airline of the expenses incurred in purchasing their own meals, hotel accommodation, etc, so long as the expenses were necessary, appropriate and reasonable to make up for the shortcomings of the air carrier in the provision of care to that passenger. Airlines should provide prompt re-imbursement of any such expenses.The referenced Article 5(1)(b) is not time limited by the 14 days notice as is clear from the next sections of Article 5.
If you are writing to Virgin, you should reference this document plus also the joint CMA / CAA Letter to Airlines dated 21 July 2022 that reminds them of their obligations.
To follow up.
Submitted claim for one extra night accommodation plus one meal and a taxi ride to airport, in total of £450 for 3 of us on 5th Jan. Got rejection from Virgin on 21st Jan without gave much information. Replied that email for reconsideration with @JDB ‘s reference and still waiting for a final decision before going to CEDR.
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