V-Flyer

CPT flight cancelled with no chance of re-booking until the 29th. Time to start unpacking. Breaking the news to Tizer should be fun.

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that

Nightmare, so sorry for your best laid plans..hope you manage to recoup any secondary bookings...
On the upside, least you didn't end up camped down at LHR to be told that news..

Sorry to hear the news

Oh no, not good news at all

So sorry to hear that :# Hope you manage to get something sorted.

Sorry to hear your bad news. At least you're weren't in transit and stuck at either MAN or LHR.

Hope Tizer takes it well.

How disappointing for you, and for everyone in the same situation.

Will you go on the 29th, or cancel?

Think we have no choice but to cancel. I'll struggle to re-book hotels, car hire etc., and taking Tizer out of school won't be very popular.

Sorry to hear about your cancellation - as you had doubtless been looking forward to CPT... and there would doubtless have been an entertaining TR to read.

Hope Tizer takes the news well & that your insurance covers all your losses.

Is there no chance of a flight to JNB?

flashgordon wrote:Is there no chance of a flight to JNB?

I believe the JNB is cancelled as well.

Look on the bright side (if you can) - at least you are still at home (and not stuck in an airport) so can try and have a nice Christmas at home.

So sorry to hear that, I hope you and the family can make the best of it at home and that you are not left out of pocket with cancellations

Tizer's not taking it particularly well; but then, neither are us 'grown-ups'. No tree, no decorations, no food and not much motivation to go out and get any of the above, to be honest. Still, as you say, better than being stranded somewhere.

Because we're booked on Gs, our options for re-scheduling are pretty limited. There has to be G availability before we can re-book, unfortunately. And any such plans will be dependent on our insurers, as I can't afford to pay for hotels, car hire etc. twice...

I know it won't be much consolation but on a far less grand scale, my GF and I were supposed to be in Berlin for a long weekend at the moment. However a combination of snow + her having the flu has scuppered it! n(

mdvipond wrote:
Because we're booked on Gs, our options for re-scheduling are pretty limited. There has to be G availability before we can re-book, unfortunately.

This seems rather unfair (but no doubt detailed somewhere in T+Cs) ! .

What rotten news on the flight being cancelled. Maybe the school will be more sympathetic to your plight as your genuine intent was to take her away in the holidays?
Hopefully all your disappointments will ease over the coming days and Santa will put an appearance in the vipond household to cheer Tizer (and you two ) up .
DL

mdvipond wrote: No tree, no decorations, no food and not much motivation to go out and get any of the above, to be honest.

Perhaps we could organise a V-F rescue mission and each of us pitch up with an item on the list? Combine it with a V-F pre-Christmas party?


Paul

DragonLady wrote:Maybe the school will be more sympathetic to your plight as your genuine intent was to take her away in the holidays?

On the one hand, yes.

On the other hand, there will probably be a number of members of the school staff who have had their trips to Disney and the like cancelled and are therefore seriously grumpy.

pjh wrote:

DragonLady wrote:Maybe the school will be more sympathetic to your plight as your genuine intent was to take her away in the holidays?

On the one hand, yes.

On the other hand, there will probably be a number of members of the school staff who have had their trips to Disney and the like cancelled and are therefore seriously grumpy.

Maybe organise some strategically arranged "training days" as these seem to handily placed within termtime, with no questions asked, just advise it's a complex subject.. (

mdvipond wrote:Because we're booked on Gs, our options for re-scheduling are pretty limited. There has to be G availability before we can re-book, unfortunately.

Dear Dr V, I am so sorry this much anticipated trip has been curtailed. Did Virgin not even try to attempt a rerouting for you?

Would be worth getting to the bottom of this, for the benefit of those who might find themselves in a similar situation (not that I have a vested interest of course ). The flight disruption information says:

Re-book/Re-route at the earliest opportunity

Take an alternative flight under comparable transport conditions, to your final destination at the earliest opportunity, subject to the availability of seats in the cabin originally purchased (the option to re-route applies if your flight is cancelled, not delayed).

Re-book/Re-route to a later date

Take an alternative flight to your destination under comparable transport conditions at a later date more convenient to you, subject to the availability of seats in the ticket class originally purchased and seasonal supplements being paid. If the new fare is lower the difference will be refunded. (The option to re-route applies if your flight is cancelled not delayed)

So I take this to be if you take the first option there only has to be availability in the CABIN you originally booked, i.e. upper, but for the latter there needs to be availability for the same ticket class - e.g. G

The only reference in the main t&cs in the case of disruption (section 4) say either refund of miles or rebooking with an alternative carrier - in which case you would be booked in coach.

And there is a mention on the flight disruptions page about not being entitled to any compensation (under EU regs)if you are a passenger travelling on a free ticket or "a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public" but I don't think they could argue this applied to rewards.

Do we have any experience of how VS has handled this on previous occasions? I have been rebooked before but I was "away from home" at the time and suspect that is different.

Regards
R3dV

Oh how dissapointing and annoying especally for Tizer and the not so young Mdvipond (thats YOU btw, one won't dare suggest that your good lady is anything less that young).

You could bring a taste of SA to the Mdvipond abode.

Am sure young Tizer has a selection of African animals lurking in a toybox so maybe you could organise a 'home safari' for her possibly tied into a treasure hunt scenario.

For the grown ups a couple of bottles of something South Africany from a purveyor of alcoholic bevererdges could be purchased as could some edible delacacies too.

Not the same as the real thing I know...

:#

Sorry to learn of the news :#

I am sure that you will be resourceful enough to achieve something memorable for the Christmas weekend for young Tizer

buns

Ladies and gents - thanks for your kind words of concern and support. It's been a funny old day, but we've muddled through a packed itinerary:

1. Purchased over-priced Christmas tree (small blue spruce. Spiky);
2. Trailed around a frigid Sainsbury's - bought pistachios, dates and a general seasonal miscellany of gourmet 'delights';
3. Re-booked CPT flights for the New Year thanks to a very helpful lady at VS central;
4. Spoke with a couple of equally helpful hotel reservation types in South Africa to shift (and, in fact, extend) our bookings.

Yes, we're going to have to return Tizer to school after the Christmas hols a little later than we ought, but circumstances being what they are we decided to adopt the Northern Henry approach (no offence, Mike) and say to hell with it - along with a very, very apologetic email to school.

So only 13 more days of freezing my arse off. Could be worse.

Great news, you will be there before you know it!