V-Flyer

Hi there

Can anyone help?

Just logged into my booking and it seems that my return flight from Las Vegas to London Gatwick has changed yet again.

Originally they changed my Saturday 19th January flight to Sunday 20th January and now they have changed the times and the flight number from VS044 to VS944 leaving 18:20 and arriving at 14:00 the next day. I can't find any trace of this flight number and it doesn't make sense as it leaves 1 hour 45 mins later than originally planned but seems to land 3 hours 25 mins later than originally planned. A difference of 1 hour 40 mins. ?| ?| ?|

Can't help I am afraid, no information I can see anywhere. Usually flights with 9 at the front are code share flights, so I am thinking that maybe VS are not operating their flight on the Sunday now and are moving pax on to another airline instead (maybe with a connection hence the longer flight time).

I see you have posted on the VS FB page so I imagine they should be able to confirm for certain what is the situation.

Thanks,
Neil

Doesn't the BA flight land about 2pm? Maybe they've swapped to las-LHR?

Maybe it's on a 330 might explain the longer flight time?

The 43/44 have been cancelled on several days in Jan, it looks as though you have been reprotected to the next day and you will fly as follows...

LAS-MAN-LGW (its all VS fleet so your not on a different airline) This would explain the flight time changes and length of journey.

I hope that helps.

Vs943 LGW MAN LAS on Sundays only from 13th jan until 3rd feb

VS954 LAS MAN LGW.

Depart Vegas 1820 arrive MAN 1145
Depart MAN 1300 arrive LGW 1400

I understand the logic behind selective flight cancellations and merging flights, but the OP has been mucked about once and now having to fly back to LGW via MAN is frankly another pain (if that's what it is). I hope VS compensates accordingly.

Surely if you have booked a direct flight and then find yourself in this Situation compensation would be due. I certainly would not be a happy bunny.

So they're flying people from Gatwick to Las Vegas via Manchester (and vice versa)? How random.

clarkeysntfc wrote:So they're flying people from Gatwick to Las Vegas via Manchester (and vice versa)? How random.

Double drops are not unknown on the caribbean routes (albeit on the non UK part of the journey).

PaulS wrote:Surely if you have booked a direct flight and then find yourself in this Situation compensation would be due. I certainly would not be a happy bunny.

When a flight to BGI was rolled into our flight to UVF in the summer with BGI as first stop, those on the BGI flight were offered compensation; those of us on the original UVF flight were not, despite the extension of our flight time by 2 hours. The BGI compensation may have been based on the fact of the short notice of the cancellation.

I wasn't a happy bunny when notified of the extended length of the flight, but it was fun to have two take off / landing cycles for the price of one and a relatively low altitude flight between UVF and BGI. Mind you, we were going on holiday so were in a relaxed frame of mind.

PaulS wrote:Surely if you have booked a direct flight and then find yourself in this Situation compensation would be due. I certainly would not be a happy bunny.

However, even as I was writing my post above I realized that VS have given sufficient advance notice to obviate giving any compensation ... sucks really.

Doesn't sound very impressive.

It is pretty invidious that the airline can refuse to let you change your own ticket, or charge you a small fortune to do so, in some circumstances - and then on the other hand muck you about like this purely for commercial reasons. The balance of power in the contract is completely skewed.

Does the latest EU court ruling re 261/2004 apply?

Not in terms of compensation per se but reimbursement of any additional costs (like hotel rooms) arising from the change in flight times ( even though more that 2 weeks notice has been given)

Thanks for all your replies.

I'm going to call them directly later but it's just not good enough. I completely get way they are doing it but surely these decision should have been made months ago and not 7 weeks before a trip. I mean they have been doing this flight for quite some time now, it's not a new route!

To have a flight changed once is bad enough but something I accepted but to change it a 2nd time is not acceptable.

I doubt they wil reimburse my the cost of my train tickets but they are certainly going to get a piece of my mind either way.

I will seriously reconsider using Virgin in future. Problem is BA are the only alternative airline that fly direct and I'm not keen on them either. Maybe time to consider a non direct approach and lower airfares after all.

tontybear wrote:Does the latest EU court ruling re 261/2004 apply?

Not in terms of compensation per se but reimbursement of any additional costs (like hotel rooms) arising from the change in flight times ( even though more that 2 weeks notice has been given)

Such as I can gather from m'learned friend Google the answer would be no, assuming the latest ruling is the reaffirmation of Sturgeon, which was to do with the denial of the applicability of various Articles (including 9 Right to Care) when the airline claimed "extraordinary circumstances". As long as more than two weeks notice is given, the best you can hope for is to be able to cancel and get your money back.

ISTBC on all of this.

clarels wrote:Thanks for all your replies.

I'm going to call them directly later but it's just not good enough. I completely get way they are doing it but surely these decision should have been made months ago and not 7 weeks before a trip. I mean they have been doing this flight for quite some time now, it's not a new route!

To have a flight changed once is bad enough but something I accepted but to change it a 2nd time is not acceptable.

I doubt they wil reimburse my the cost of my train tickets but they are certainly going to get a piece of my mind either way.

I will seriously reconsider using Virgin in future. Problem is BA are the only alternative airline that fly direct and I'm not keen on them either. Maybe time to consider a non direct approach and lower airfares after all.

I fully sympathise with you, and would be seriously annoyed if this happened to me. I'd be looking for reimbursement of the train fares or VS funded transport.

Thanks for that. Wasn't 100% sure of the exact nature of the ruling but I thought best to mention it in case it applied than not and find out that it did.

261/2004 is a good idea in principal but it needs reworking in some respects. The no compensation if a flight is cancelled more than 14 days on advance certainly does but id write it to allow compensation and reimbursement of eg an extra nights hotel or rebooking connectiing flights snd train costs if a flight is cancelled within 3 months and reimbursement only if cancelled with more than three moonths notice.

We needi to be fair to passengers but it needs to be workable and fair for the airlines too and recognise that some cancellations are really necessary.

I fear the best you can hope for is a few miles as a goodwill gesture.

Legally they've given you far more than the minimum required notice so don't owe you anything. It's the job of travel insurance to cover incidentals like unusable train tickets.

At the end of the day airlines are always changing and cancelling flights to match demand - it's incredibly frustrating for the affected passengers but it's a reality of the industry. Flying half empty 747s across the Atlantic and back simply isn't viable for a business that already exists on very tight margins.

Seems strange that its via MAN, if anything i'd have thought it'd be via LGW as isn't Gatwick-Vegas their primary Vegas service? (i.e daily instead or 2 or 3 weekly).

I've called them and the info above is correct. The flight now goes LAS - MAN - LGW ...no reimbursement for train tickets. I can have a full refund as technically they have cancelled my flight or i can move the flight to the next day which is direct (for now anyway).

Interesting that the guy I spoke to didn't know what was going on either. Told me initially that the flight had been cancelled due to work taking place on the plane that day and that the reason it took longer is because they lost the slot and had to wait for a later one...seems Virgin don't tell their staff what's going on either!