Virgin spoil surpirse

Wanted to upgrade my brother, his wife and their daughter to PE this August to Orlando as a surprise, but Virgin say they need to make the change themselves, I could understand this if I was trying to cancel or downgrade their flight, but to upgrade I cannot see what the problem is? I can see many people complaining if their flight had been upgraded without their knowledge! [n]

[Nottingham Nick]

It is a pity, but I can see all sorts of problems with a surprise upgrade paid for by someone who isn't in the party.. especially if the travellers ring up in advance to discuss seating or other arrangements with VS.

I am sure there must be a way round it.. did they give a reason, other than 'they need to make the change themselves?' Security issues, for example?

Nick

sorry to hear that you having problems

[i]cant you have a sneaky look at there invoice and get the booking ref and ring up pretending to be them and upgrade them[}:)]don't virgin do voucher's or someting.

[i]or a more legal way put the money in a envelope and its then sorted or go and see them and get customer services on the phone and get them to speak to CS and you pay [y]i would be gobsmacked if someone done that for me wow i can see they faces now:D what a gift[^]

good luck

many regards


Dave

Virgin gave no other reason than that they had to speak to one of the travelling party. I have their booking reference, so could pretend to be sister-in-law I suppose.

[Pete]

I *think* (and I stand to be corrected!) that it may have something to do with Data Protection, and the fact that Virgin aren't legally allowed to discuss the booking of a third party with anyone else.

[RichardMannion]

You could, but then there is the matter of paying for the upgrade. You would have to use 'your' card and obviously the name will not match - they will want to speak to the cardholder per se.

I would ask to speak to a supervisor and see if there is another route to try and achieve this - obviously you are wanting to give them more revenue!

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by pixuk
I *think* (and I stand to be corrected!) that it may have something to do with Data Protection, and the fact that Virgin aren't legally allowed to discuss the booking of a third party with anyone else.

Indeed it is, and a pretty reasonable request I think, or anyone could phone up and change your booking. I say confide in the person who booked it, it'll still be a surprise for the other two.

There doesn't seem to be much consistency in what is allowed.

Miss PVG flew here on VS at christmas, and had booked her tickets through a travel agent in china. Becuase of this she didn't have a reference number that allowed us to check in online for the return to PVG, (which we wanted to do as we were travelling together).

So I emailed VS customer services and asked if it was possible for Miss PVG to contact them with her ticket number and then they could tell her the online reference number.

Instead they emailed me back asking for her name and flight no/date and then sent me the reference number to manage her booking online.....

I mean, I could have accidently cancelled her booking and she would have been stuck in the UK with me for ever [}:)]

Yes - its definitely Data Protection - I once tried to change a seat reservation for my in laws and even though I had them booked on my invoice and I was paying the bill Virgin insisted they had to do it over the phone.

As has been said - you could pretend to be the other person but if something goes wrong then you woudl be liable!

If it's a surprise or 'present' then it seems a bit unfair as they are not in any way downgrading the booking. I've booked a cake and bubbly before for my folks and I wasn't on the booking or the flight.

From a Data protection point of view, if they did this it would be confirming to a 3rd party that they are on that flight, which would breach the act. I work for a Building Society and we have to be really careful that we don't confirm someone has an account with us, even if it is a Grandma trying to be helpful and pay money into their Grandchilds account!!!

Originally posted by ade99
If it's a surprise or 'present' then it seems a bit unfair as they are not in any way downgrading the booking. I've booked a cake and bubbly before for my folks and I wasn't on the booking or the flight.

Did Virgin actually look into their booking and confirm they were on the flight, or take the flight details from you and a cake will arrive whether they are on that flight or not. If Virgin did give you any details about their booking, it's a poor show on their behalf.

Saying that, if anyone wants to book me a cake for my first UCS flight, I'll send the PNR over [}:)]

Originally posted by locutus

Originally posted by ade99
If it's a surprise or 'present' then it seems a bit unfair as they are not in any way downgrading the booking. I've booked a cake and bubbly before for my folks and I wasn't on the booking or the flight.

Did Virgin actually look into their booking and confirm they were on the flight, or take the flight details from you and a cake will arrive whether they are on that flight or not. If Virgin did give you any details about their booking, it's a poor show on their behalf.

Saying that, if anyone wants to book me a cake for my first UCS flight, I'll send the PNR over [}:)]

I just rang FC up and told them what flight they were on and ordered it.

Originally posted by Gill Smith
Virgin gave no other reason than that they had to speak to one of the travelling party. I have their booking reference, so could pretend to be sister-in-law I suppose.

What a lovely thing you are trying to do - and what a shame it is if Virgin can't accommodate you because of a data protection issue ... It does seem muddled to me, it seems one can book and pay for a flight for another person but then can't change it or know anything more about it, that's odd!

Why not try asking for a supervisor to see if there is a way around it. Alternatively why not just take one of your brother, his wife or daughter into the secret and make it a surprise for the other two - 67% is better than nought?

Ahhh VS and the good old data protection!

Last year i rung up Flying Club to get a quote on a flight to CHC via SYD on VS and using miles on NZ from SYDto CHC and having answered the questions to check I was who I said I was (post code, date of birth etc) she refused to serve me as she didnt believe I was who I said I was!!!! [:0] So of course I put down the phone and called them back up- got a different operator and was given the quote I wanted straight away!

But sometimes the data protection act does get in the way a wee bit!

[honey lamb]

Careful, folks! We've got a Data Protection Officer on board.

OK, VS start talking to anyone, who rings them claiming to be a relative, about my flight itinerary. I return home to find all my possessions stolen. Not good news. I understand their reticence.

How could they possibly return home to find all possessions stolen, when I have not asked for their address just wanted to upgrade them.

[Pete]

Originally posted by Gill Smith
How could they possibly return home to find all possessions stolen, when I have not asked for their address just wanted to upgrade them.

I think what Ian means is that if someone was just trying to confirm the house would be empty, that would appear to be the way to do it. Of course, they'd have to know a little more about you than just your potential flight dates.

I guess this is one of those situations where it's clear your intentions are honourable, but the law (which is there to protect us) cuts both ways. It's not really fair to blame VS for not breaking the law, no matter how innocent the request.

As others have suggested, the only way to do this is take one of the party into your confidence and surprise the other two.

Pete

The thing is I am on that flight as well, which still did not make any difference. Also as someone has already stated they are quite happy to confirm someone is on that flight if you want to order champagne or a cake as a surprise. So I think that they are not be very consistent.

Originally posted by honey lamb
Careful, folks! We've got a Data Protection Officer on board.

Yep, and often thought of in the same sentence as traffic wardens and back seat drivers

It's all to do with the 7th Principle of the Act, which reads:

Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.

Trust me when I say there is a lot of devil in the detail of that sentence! To be honest, I think it's good practice although it obviously has it's drawbacks.