Just a heads-up in case this hasn't been discussed before.
I cancelled a flight online a few days ago, received the 'refund request' email but the flight still showed on my account, no indication that I'd requested a cancellation. Seemed odd to me because while it's 'live' those seats aren't available for anyone else to book. I left it a few days but then this morning phoned to check.
The Virgin agent said sometimes online cancellations get lost in the system so she would put it through again. Then she said it would cost me a £30 admin fee. I pointed out that it was a fully refundable fare, very clearly advertised as "fully refundable", no mention of any fees. Yes, she said, it's fully refundable but cancellation incurs a £30 fee. I asked her to tell me exactly where that was shown when I booked. She disappeared for 10 minutes, during which time I scoured the full T&Cs on a dummy booking, wondering if somehow I'd missed it, but there's no mention of any fee let alone the specific cost of £30.
When she came back to me she confirmed that there is no admin fee. But presumably if I hadn't stood my ground I would have ended up paying it. Of course there's always the chance they'll deduct it from the refund anyway, whenever that gets processed, in which case I'll have to phone again.
By comparison, I recently cancelled a refundable ticket with KLM, also online. Flight showed as cancelled on my account straight away and the money was refunded to my credit card within a couple of days. Perhaps Virgin should consider upgrading to the same, apparently superior, software as their partner airline.
I cancelled a flight online a few days ago, received the 'refund request' email but the flight still showed on my account, no indication that I'd requested a cancellation. Seemed odd to me because while it's 'live' those seats aren't available for anyone else to book. I left it a few days but then this morning phoned to check.
The Virgin agent said sometimes online cancellations get lost in the system so she would put it through again. Then she said it would cost me a £30 admin fee. I pointed out that it was a fully refundable fare, very clearly advertised as "fully refundable", no mention of any fees. Yes, she said, it's fully refundable but cancellation incurs a £30 fee. I asked her to tell me exactly where that was shown when I booked. She disappeared for 10 minutes, during which time I scoured the full T&Cs on a dummy booking, wondering if somehow I'd missed it, but there's no mention of any fee let alone the specific cost of £30.
When she came back to me she confirmed that there is no admin fee. But presumably if I hadn't stood my ground I would have ended up paying it. Of course there's always the chance they'll deduct it from the refund anyway, whenever that gets processed, in which case I'll have to phone again.
By comparison, I recently cancelled a refundable ticket with KLM, also online. Flight showed as cancelled on my account straight away and the money was refunded to my credit card within a couple of days. Perhaps Virgin should consider upgrading to the same, apparently superior, software as their partner airline.