Help - VS cancelled flight

Just checked my booking on- line for a trip departing 3 weeks today to find a note that I have been booked on another flight the day previously for the return part of the journey
Have spoken with FC ( eventually) as furious.....The return flight( from HKG 2+ weeks later ) has been cancelled that day ( she was unable to tell me why) so I've asked to be moved to another carrier as I won't be in HKG on the day of the flight I've been re- booked on.
The very helpful lady has just rung back to say not possible.
Ive been advised I can fly the day before or after - both mean changing current flights ( more cost) to get to HKG . Option 1loses a day of my trip option 2 means unpaid leave ( if I can get it) and additional hotel fees ( grotty seats left on both flights too just to further enhance my mood........)
I spoke to her supervisor but the response was the same . Do I have any other options?
Totally cheesed

DL

Hi,

What dates are these? I'm out to HK on the 18th and back 24th?

Oh dear, feel so sorry for you and yet another horror story involving changes to a flight day after the original booking was accepted, meaning all other parts of your itinerary have been booked & planned around your flights

This repeated senario is getting silly. I had to endue a flight time change a couple of years back which completely would have affected my on going travel arrangements but to actually alter the day of your return is just outrageous and I empathise completely with your anger.

Not sure what advice to give. In the old days an email to the Executive office would often result in a 'gesture of goodwill'. However in your case I'm not sure what they can do. In a TR earlier from 'julmops' his experience of being transferring to Delta after a VS cancelled flight, lead to a list of horrors.

One suggestion I would make .... change your avatar picture. Happy smiling faces represented the Virgin Atlantic brand from the good old days

I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you, I understand how annoying it can be for a well planned trip to be cast into doubt by someone else's actions.

EC261/2004 might help here. By your initial post the trip departs in 3 weeks and the flight in question is 2 weeks after departure so in effect 5 weeks from now. That's well outside the 14 day window for compensation however, that's not what we are going to use EC261/2004 for. The article on Duty of Care makes no reference to time limits.

If I can borrow a paragraph from the excellent EC261 guide by corporate-wage-slave over on FT:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1812051-2017-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-261-2004-a.html

Q5: Does this [hotel accommodation] also apply in case of cancellation that was notified to me more than 14 days in advance?
A5: While EC261 excludes compensation for cancellations that are notified more than 14 days in advance, there is nothing in its wording to suggest that the right to care does not apply in those situations. That said, a ‘common sense’ approach probably needs to be adopted in determining what the right to care covers here. It is far from clear, in particular, that a passenger could insist on making two phone calls at the expense of the airline. Whether the passenger can charge the airline for meals and refreshments is also debatable (except perhaps where the reschedule results in a long wait between flights at the airport). On the other hand, there is a stronger argument to be made for the airline to be responsible for providing accommodation when the new itinerary requires an additional overnight stay.
There is, in any event, no authoritative interpretation of the Regulation by a superior court of law to rely on here.

It would be worth suggesting that if you take the later flight, Virgin should pay the additional hotel costs as per their duty of care responsibility under EC261.

As another approach, do you have any travel insurance that might help?

Fume hat on - VS is really diving down the pan at the moment in its level of communication and customer service. I'm so sorry this has happened to you but I would call back quoting EC duty of care words and say something along the lines of 'your offer is not acceptable, either you must book me on an alternative flight on the same day or agree to cover my additional costs under EC duty of care, please consider this and call me back within 24 hrs'. I'd also remind them how long you've been flying with VS and how long Gold etc.

Delta really has ruined VS.

At such short notice, I would insist upon being moved to a flight on my original travel date. Give them 24 hours and if not movement I'd issue a notice before action letter.

Also sorry to hear this.

Perhaps I might tentatively suggest that going directly to a letter before action leaves you little room if they just turn round and call you on it! Quoting the duty of care in a "let's solve this together" way might be a better start...?

I have given up.... migrating to oneworld because it can't be worse than VS.

Just a quick update on this and thank you for all the advice.
Customer services arranged to ring me back at a predetermined time in the evening so I could explore the options I'd been given.
Long story short they didn't. I waited 3 hours past the arranged time and then rang them, as I was fearful the flights they had held for the the days either side would be released again . The supervisor I'd spoken with had told me were both very busy (as she presumed most people from my cancelled flight HAD been contacted and been moved onto them).
The agent I dealt with was rather unhelpful. No apology for not ringing back-.I went through the whole spiel again and told him I was taking (as I had no option) the flight the day after as they wouldn't move me to another carrier .He told me he couldn't process this and would need to speak with a supervisor......after being put on hold for five minutes he came back and said it was done. Hoorah ( not).
I'm not impressed with VS- I'm out of pocket ( I will speak to Amex re claiming for a hotel night on the insurance as VS flatly refuse ) . I've a day in HKG I don't want ( I just want to get home !!) .
slinky my AU status went a while ago
Let's hope there are no more issues.
Cheesebag - you should be OK . It seems that it's the ex-LHR Monday flights that are bring cancelled .A sign that there are plans to pull the route perhaps ( especially as the CH closes on the 5th)?
They have eventually updated the website ( ? Yesterday as it was still showing on Thursday) that the HKG CH is closing.
It appears they are cornering off a bit of the Premium plaza lounge from 8pm for VS .
Now looking forward again to my jaunt around Asia ( 9 flights in 20 days ).I really am travelling light this time though ...


DL

Sorry to hear about your troubles DL but glad that it is all sorted now. As to the extra day in HK, there's plenty of 'transit tours' that are quite a good time filler. Otherwise, might I suggest something involving alcohol and Victoria Peak

Poor showing for VS not to even call you back when they said they would - I hate it when companies do that.

I am actually heading out to Hong Kong today, back on the 2nd.. I just had to say goodbye to my favourite clubhouse on the network.

Safe travels around Asia, 9 flights in 20 days.. sounds like a lot of TRs that I look forward to reading

HKG was one of my fave CHs too joey .Have a drink ( or three) for me whilst you're there
I can't see us doing much in HKG - we'll be exhausted after Thailand , KL, Cambodia and Vietnam and we've stayed in HKG a fair bit over the years ( usually on the way to and from Oz).
I'll do some TRs - the flights are a bit of a mixed bag Cathay - ( in J) ,Cathay Dragon,Air Asia, Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines.
Have a good flight tonight.
DL

The wife is panicking a little bit... Saturdays' 206 was also cancelled. She's sure it will happen to us !

Every possibility , the forum is littered with posts where Virgin have done this to other pax ( including me - in my case moving my return date forward by TWO days ) . Best advice at the moment is : check your booking frequently .

The saddest thing is this is happening just when VS could poach a massive amount of BA custom.

There's a bunch of people wanting out from the cost cutting of BA, and when faced with VS's J product, it would look wonderful. TSA Pre as well on the US end for GE members makes it even more appealing.

Except that VS has been an utter disaster in the last three months. Total and utter clusterf**k of a level I've not seen with any airline. I've not touched them for a couple of years, due to BA's 2 for 1 rewards and gold status, but clearly wasn't that sort of problem during that time.

It's as if someone hired their nephew who's just left school to do the IT. It sounds like the call centre is having a collective nervous breakdown over the continued problems. Even the most loyal of long term customers are now thinking its not worth the bother.

All this when they could have actually won a hell of a lot of business...

You very rarely hear people switching from BA to Virgin, the ME3, Cathay and AA yes, but rarely VS. It's just become too much of a niche airline and can't compete with the large network carriers.

Is the closure of the CH in HKG a precursor to a withdrawal? Only time will tell...

Except that VS has been an utter disaster in the last three months. Total and utter clusterf**k of a level I've not seen with any airline. I've not touched them for a couple of years, due to BA's 2 for 1 rewards and gold status, but clearly wasn't that sort of problem during that time.

Isn't it just . It's as though VS handed over the keys to a kindergarten to screw up every customer facing part of the organisation, with the exception of cabin crew themselves and the fine folk in the cockpit. Years of IT disasters should have taught them a lesson on how not to implement an 'ahem' upgrade and yet they still failed, and failed worse than ever before. Then left the real people on the phone to deal with that mess while compounding it with a complete rewrite of FC at the same time and then heaped on top schedule change after schedule change - oh well I suppose at least the management principle about shoving out all the crap in one go applies at the top of VS despite screwing the faithful customer many of whom are now left with a bitter taste.

Thankfully my flights have fared better while onboard even though the crew have been squeezed - thanks to their professionalism and approach it's still a pleasure to fly.

Lady DL, at least you have a resolution if a poor one at that. I do feel that in the past VS might have sorted this better.

You very rarely hear people switching from BA to Virgin, the ME3, Cathay and AA yes, but rarely VS. It's just become too much of a niche airline and can't compete with the large network carriers.

I'd say that the recent introduction of BoB and the wearing away of all the classes across long haul has meant a change this way, VS has Delta to connect to now, and offering such a significantly better lounge than BA has meant that stalwarts have been trying VS, and speaking well of them...

The wife is panicking a little bit... Saturdays' 206 was also cancelled. She's sure it will happen to us !

May be wrong, but I think Birthday girl went tech and flight was delayed overnight...