Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

A question about : Flight delay and cancellation compensation, Virgin Atlantic ONLY

MSE Official Insert:

This discussion thread is linked to from our Flight Delays Compensation guide. Please read that for full help.

Best answers:

• Has anyone had any luck claiming back for Virgin flight VS002 from Newark on 3/9/2012?
  I claimed and received the following:
  "We regret to advise you that we have declined your claim on the grounds that the cause of the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which were beyond the control of Virgin Atlantic and which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
  "The aircraft encountered an unexpected technical problem prior to take-off with one of its thrust reversers. Our engineers tried to fic the problem however after further investigation replacement parts were need to be sourced in order to rectify the problem, which could not be obtained locally."
  As per the examples above re: technical issues, it sounds like they were wrong to deny the claim (and I will go back and challenge them).
  I was wondering if anyone had successfully claimed for this flight?
  Thanks,
  Mark
• I have now had a successful claim for a Virgin flight my wife and I took at the end of 2006.
  I originally 'requested' some form of compensation in early 2007 but Virgin chose to beat about the bush and wore me down until I gave up. Long story short, I was in Orlando, there were 2 Virgin flights one to Gatwick and the one I was on to Manchester (then onwards to Dublin). The Gatwick flight developed technical problems and Virgin decided to transfer approx 75 passengers from it onto our flight causing a delay of 1 hour and 10 minutes - exactly the length of time I had to make my connection (which was on a single booking). I missed the connection and was rebooked onto a later flight arriving home 7 hours late. I think it would have been fair for them to, for example send my wife and I for a nice meal after we had got home but no they just said technical problems do happen and they were sorry. Well they are now nearly Ј1000 sorry! We will have that nice meal and there will also be a nice donation to charity.
  I would like to thank a few on here, Blindman, RichardW, Mark2Spark and especially Centipede100 who answered my specific queries. I have never raised a small claim before but by reading their collective posts on here I was suitably forearmed and had an idea about what I was doing.
  What I have no idea about is how they keep up with all the posts on here and also have the patience to answer all the (frequently repetitive) queries.
  Thanks to you all
• finally found my booking ref for Virgin so just ignore me :-) cant find my jet2 one though :-(
• Original post:
  I was delayed on a Virgin Atlantic Airways flight from Delhi to London back in 2008. It was initially delayed due to technical problems and then was eventually cancelled.
  The technical problems were only announced after we had boarded the aircraft - so we were held on the plane for several hours whilst the engineers attempted to fix the problem.
  After about 4/5 hours we were taken off the plane and offered either a hotel for the night or to wait for an alternative flight with another carrier. I finally arrived in London on a BA flight more than 12 hours later than expected.
  At the time we were offered 25,000 Virgin Flying Club points which I accepted.
  What I want to know is, do I still have a claim after accepting the points? And is it worth pursuing?
  If anybody can advise, it would be most helpful.
  Update:
  I have had my claim rejected on the grounds of extraordinary circumstances which were beyond the control of Virgin Atlantic. The delay was caused because the captain detected a fuel leak from engine no. 3 after he had pushed back from the gate.
  Surely the maintenance of Virgin's aircraft is their responsibility and these should be found during routine checks.
  Can somebody please advise as whether this is worth pursuing as I am not sure if this situation is genuinely extraordinary?
  Thanks
• For anyone who is interested-I posted this thread about my experiences with Virgin, the info applies to all airlines but it may be of interest:
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...0403&highlight=
• Hi, I'm looking for opinions as to whether I can claim from Virgin for a flight back in March 2010.
  I arrived at LHR at 15.00 for a flight to JNB(VS601) on 14/3/10 which was due to depart at 18.00 to be told that it was cancelled.I was offered a new flight the following morning at 08.30 or to book on the 18.00 flight the following evening.I went for the 18.00 as I was connecting to another airline to go to Durban and the morning flight would have left me stuck at JNB overnight. They put me up in the Premier Inn overnight.
  I believe that the cancellation was due to high winds in New York. Apparently a flight from JFK (VS46 I think) which was due to depart at 19.45 on 13/3/10(the prevous evening) was to become the VS601 to JNB.This flight would have been due to land at LHR about 8 in the morning on 14/3/10.
  However the flights before and after VS46 weren't cancelled and left JFK.
  I hope this is making sense!
  So,firstly no contact was made to tell me the flight was cancelled,I don't know when they made the decision but the inbound from JFK was cancelled some considerable time before.
  Secondly can a claim be rejected based on weather "elsewhere" and as mentioned above the flights before and after departed JFK and they would have been aware of the JFK cancellation for some time.Wouldn't they be obliged to find a replacement plane?I realise it's probably not that easy,I don't supose they have many spares lying around!
  Can I have some views?
  Many thanks
• Not much to say really Norman, it's cut and shut, of course you can claim.
  Read the FAQ's sticky for guidance on the procedure.
• Thanks Mark, I've got a claim form from the Virgin website.I will send it off and see what happens.
  I'll report back on progress.
  Cheers
• i was delayed by exactly 24 hours on a virgin flight to st lucia in oct last year (2012) it was my honeymoon. I knew about the claim situation and put in a claim. recieved a letter just before christmas saying they would not pay out as it was a technical fault beyond their control so the claim would not be valid. they gave us 12,000 miles as compensation, this is no good to me as i do not collect miles. it took a long time to save for my 7 nights st lucia honeymoon and i lost a whole day so only had 6 days, i will never get this back. are they correct in denying me my claim and have they covered themselves by giving me some "miles" !!!???
• Hi
  I was delayed on a flight from Gatwick to Las Vegas last August. Firstly we were told that the aeroplane was damaged on it's way back from Colombia or somewhere and we were going to be on another plane which was undergoing safety checks. Every time we looked at the departure board it was delayed a few more hours. Eventually we were told that although the plane was ok to take off, the flight crew were unable to work as they would be exceeding their duty hours. Surely this means we can claim? Instead of taking off at 11.35am on Thursday, we took off at 10.10am on Friday. We were put up in the Hilton hotel at Gatwick (where the fire alarm went off at around 11pm and we all had to stand outside in the rain for an hour while the fire crew checked it out)
  I did complain and received 12500 Virgin miles each for myself and my husband, but I have written the template letter which was on this site and am still awaiting a reply (12 days ago so far)
  Hopefully I will receive something but if I am told that I have received the air miles instead I will ask them to take them back and give me the money!
  I will update this once I receive my reply.
• Hello!
  I have never been on a Forum before, so please bare with me!
  Query over a delayed Virgin claim. Our return flight from Orlando to Gatwick in 2010 was delayed for 23 hours due to Technical issues. The captain even got off plane and came to departure lounge to discuss the fault and problems as other passengers were becoming impolite with Virgin staff/crew. We were given food vouchers and then after many hours, finally luggage removed from plane and we were put up in hotel at MCO airport for the night. Then flew home next day.
  Just wondering if husband,myself and two children are entitled to claim.
  We were given air miles equivalent as compensation/courtesy does this matter?
  Thanks in advance to anyone who has time/patience to respond!
• Hi I'm just wondering if I can get compensation for my delayed flight from Havana Cuba to London Gatwick. It was with Virgin and the flight home was cancelled without any notification this January 2013. I turned up at the airport and there was no plane. They didn't fly me home for 3 days!! So I was stranded in Havana with no money - they had a cholera outbreak at the time. I missed 3 days of work and didn't like being in Havana as a woman on my own. From what I've read it seems to suggest that the flight needs to be from a EU country although it says I might be able to claim if it was with an EU airline (is Virgin one?) or returning to EU destination (I did). The flight was really expensive but I took it because it was direct and travelled on the days I needed. Any help appreciated. Cheers Syddarthur
• I was delayed 23 hours on a Virgin flight from Gatwick to Las Vegas in April 2012 due to pilot sickness. I tried to get compensation when I got back from my trip, but was fobbed off (when the company eventually deigned to reply to my claim) and told there was no requirement for compensation to be paid. When the ECJ judgement ruled in favour of compensation payments to passengers delayed on flights, I tried again, first by letter (which was ignored) then by using the form hidden away on the Virgin Atlantic website. Virgin has denied my claim for compensation on the grounds that pilot sickness qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance; clearly, it does not. I have contacted the CAA but they are taking up to 8 weeks to reply other than to acknowledge my email. I am so fed up with the attitude adopted by Virgin and the total lack of customer service that I intend to make a claim against them in my local Court under the small claims procedure. I will let you know how it goes. (Perhaps Virgin should set aside some of the advertising budget they have used on their latest ridiculous TV advert to compensate their passengers.....) Needless to say, I shan't be travelling with Virgin again.
• Hi
  New to the world of forums, but I was wondering if anyone has had the same waffle back from Virgin as our family in 2 separate responses.
  Similar to post #3 by gadders we were told that our flight back from Orlando to Gatwick (VS0016 May 10th 2012) was delayed (6 hrs) due to an engine thrust reverser that would not stow, do not have the parts there, blah blah blah, "extraordinary circumstance", goodbye.
  We found it odd that they could also mention in the reply that the fault happened on a previous service at one of their outstations, no plane turned up in Orlando close to the scheduled departure time and yet there is nothing to be accountable for.
  With 2 young children in tow and being delayed into the next day with not enough supplies for the kids(luggage checked in) in an airport closing down for the night, $9 food vouchers each where the food court is closing too just is not good enough.
  Has anyone had a similar reply or any success in getting compensation from Virgin?
  Might have to go to the top rather than customer services.
  Thanks
  Noddy
• Hi, this is a long shot. June 2010 from Orlando to Manchester. We were waiting to board when one of the loading vehicles damaged the plane so that the luggage hold could not be shut. They had to fly both the part and mechanic in to fix it. Initially we were given food vouchers and eventually taken to a hotel for the night. However our luggage was not returned to us until we landed in Manchester, so many people had no change of clothes. We were delayed 24 hours. Will they simply class this as technical problems beyond their control?
  Many thanks.
• Hi Centipede
  Yeah my flight was 14th January but I didn't fly out till 17th January and didn't get home till lunchtime 18th January.
  I managed to get someone on the phone and they said the flight had been cancelled for ages (would have been good to let me know!).
  So it seems I can claim 600 euros for the flight and the 3 days living expenses. I have written to Virgin but haven't heard anything back. From this forum it seems as if Virgin may have a compensation form I could fill in - but its tricky to find! Do you know anything about this?
  Thanks for starting this forum - its sooo helpful
  Cheers
  Sydd
• My flight from Delhi to London was delayed and then cancelled for 24 hours in 2008. I filled in the forms and they've claimed technical problems qualify as a reason not to pay out. Has anyone successfully appealed their decisions?