VS142 cancelled

Our flight from LAX to LHR got cancelled after 4 hour delay last night. Technical fault, although story around door got damaged after landing.

Had the usual in hotel overnight, ground agents saying contact customer service, etc etc

What compensation are we due. Have been rebooked to fly to Paris then to London today. Although not in Economy when we were due to fly back UC.

You should get Eu261 compensation plus reasonable costs given your overnight stay - including accommodation, food and phone calls. Any downgrade to Y from J should also be compensated. Have you checked the options VS provided online - often they'll have other options that may keep you in J if available but involve some longer lay overs.

Got put up in Hilton and received food vouchers. Ended up flying back with Air France via Paris yesterday.

The Virgin app to rebook the flight was difficult to tell what cabin would be ending up in, just saying would be different and didnt see what cabin till after rebooked. When a whole flight is trying to rebook and flight availablity is disappearing as you do its a stressful operation, furthermore at 1am with 2 kids who had been up since 7am dont really have time or patience to go through things, just want to get home.

Will be interesting to see what excuses, they give for the cancellation aside from techincal fault. Unofficial story at airport was the previous flight the aircraft arrived fine, then the door was damaged at LAX, numerous engineers looked to assess if safe to fly and after the delay was then cancelled, suspect flight crew hours also played their part.

Have emailed customer care and so far only the generic we'll get back to you within 5 working days so far. As you say there is the standard compensation, but will be interesting to see additional from being moved to Eco from UC. From a previous experience when we voluntarily downgraded from UC to PE we received select vouchers to fly return anywhere on network in UC, a forced downgraded i would be expect at least this?

Have emailed customer care and so far only the generic we'll get back to you within 5 working days so far. As you say there is the standard compensation, but will be interesting to see additional from being moved to Eco from UC. From a previous experience when we voluntarily downgraded from UC to PE we received select vouchers to fly return anywhere on network in UC, a forced downgraded i would be expect at least this?

Best of luck on that expectation Over the past couple of weeks there have been several flight cancellations due to ‘tech’ issues. More often than not, PE & UC passengers get downgraded when being allocated to alternative flights. Not sure the compensation of UC vouchers which you hope for will be forthcoming coming from VS even though you was involuntarily downgraded in this instance!

You don’t have to accept the downgrade through and and you can insist to fly to the final destination in the cabin you had booked and paid for, whether it’s on their metal, airline partner, or another airline. I suppose it depends of how much of a rush you are in to get to wherever you’re flying to.

When my LHR-BOS was cancelled 12 hours before departure last year due to ops/tech issues, they downgraded me to PE on the later flight. Called up and they put me on LHR-JFK in UC and then JFk-BOS with Delta in main. Also claimed the EU261 and got the 520gbp per person comp.

The way LAX to LHR is staffed, it’s actually fairly short when it comes to crew hours, so I would think it’s fully due to the technical issue. No reason for them to lie to you about it either, unless they’re saving face because of a heavy landing or offering a simpler version of events.

You don’t have to accept the downgrade through and and you can insist to fly to the final destination in the cabin you had booked and paid for, whether it’s on their metal, airline partner, or another airline. I suppose it depends of how much of a rush you are in to get to wherever you’re flying to.

When my LHR-BOS was cancelled 12 hours before departure last year due to ops/tech issues, they downgraded me to PE on the later flight. Called up and they put me on LHR-JFK in UC and then JFk-BOS with Delta in main. Also claimed the EU261 and got the 520gbp per person comp.

We didnt get any choice. Its 12:30am, everyone around us was frantically trying to rebook, kids crying, fighting to get hotel vouchers and any information, the ground agents at LAX just showed me how to arrange alternative flights on the app which said would be a different class but given it involved a stop over it never showed which legs or class it would be till after accepted the new booking.

Later when I tried again the app said no flights were available. Two calls to customer service also said there were no other options. No suggestion of flying on another day in cabin booked, not that we could delay getting home any longer, but not told that was even an option.

FWIW, VA have contacted me regarding the statutory compensation, however the involuntary double downgrade was paultry and tantamount to insulting, especially with how they have tried to justify it. I have emailed them back with detailed information to explain my position and feel if I dont get a satisfactory response will seek legal advice.