Bumped off St Lucia flight - rights on a Tribe ticket?

Posting this for a friend

She was scheduled to fly Gatwick St Lucia on 5 Feb. Got a call 13 days before departure to say she could not fly on that flight and was being re-booked onto 8 Feb. No clear explanation beyond being bumped (the flight still appears to be operating)

I suggested calling back citing EU Regs, saying you have to re-route on the same day and compensation is due, because canx was <14 days. They responded by saying it was a Friends & Family (Tribe) ticket, and therefore no compensation due, but she can have a refund if she wants

Now... I don't know the Ts&Cs for Tribe, but the BA and bmi F&F tickets are definitely "normal" tickets

1. Can anyone shed light?
2. Any suggested recourse?
3. How come VS needs to bump peeps off the flight in first place?!

What your friend was quoted is correct.

The friends and family "mates" or "tribe" tickets have a clause that they are staff tickets and as such no compensation is allowed to be recieved in event of delay/cancellation/overbooking etc.

So if they went down the EU route it would be frejected by VS as it is considered a staff ticket (as per T's and C's).

I would also be careful how much of a stink they kick up as it could also effect the employees staff travel rights (if sourced through that avenue) or if through a partner like say virgin trains, VS could make a complaint through to them which may result in other actions to your friend.

EU261/2004 does not apply to tickets which are generally not available to the broader public, including staff/friends and family travel and "free" tickets*

*It does cover miles tickets though, as they are availalbe to anyone who signs up and earns, and in the UK are not free anyway due to the Taxes and surcharges levied

OK, fair enough

She is actually leaving the Virgin family (enough kool aid already...), so doesn't mind kicking up a stink, but has been polite so far. When she called up to say that she is losing money (hotel, holiday days, etc), they said you shouldn't have bought a staff ticket then. I think it's a bit rich, because they weren't *that* cheap - they are hardly the price of standby travel ID90s or whatever. And the risk of being bumped and lack of EU protection is not stated anywhere on the Tribe booking webpage. But the T&Cs are what they are, so we live and learn

More to the point, why is Virgin bumping people off flights 13 days before departure? Sounds like (a) a yield management snafu and (b) if they can sell a seat more expensive, they look for anything to bump out of the way. It's a non-half term Tuesday in February! Can't understand why they are bumping people already...

If VS treat their employees like this I can see why there are so any trip reports complaining about de-motivated crew

Exactly why I always paid for revenue tickets when I had access to F&F tickets. That and F&F tickets arent Upper most the time.

But surely all the "perks" that VS employees get make up the total remuneration package and in effect allow VS to pay a lower basic salary. To m
e as an outsider the ticket should afford the same rights and protection as it is basically in lieu of salary!

Thats a good point. It always amazes me what cabin crew get paid.

Tribe tickets are for virgin group employees from other virgin companies and also a small group of selected companies.

VS employees gets Mates tickets, I have never heard of something like this happening before, sounds a bit strange.

[Darren Wheeler]

This has come up before.

Tribe/mates/staff/whatever tickets are mostly Standby tickets. If the plane is full, revenue passengers will get priority, and quite rightly too.

Tribe and mates fares are not standby. They are 'slightly' discounted tickets which are confirmed.

Standby/zed/id90 are standby and therefore subject to space avaliable.

[Darren Wheeler]

Just looked and there is no flight on the 5th. Only 3rd and 8th so possibly it's been cancelled.

Thats a good point. It always amazes me what cabin crew get paid.

Me too... lol

Would make more sense if its been cancelled rather than the op being bumped as tribe and mates tickets are firm tickets and only offered if seats are available

Looks like the UVF and BGI have been combined on 5th on a LHR 744 and is overbooked in which case they would bump 'firm' mates/tribe ticket holders first - which is in the small print when you book your ticket

Ah ok, that makes sense. Empty-ish planes on a wet Tuesday in February = combine flights, and bump off whomever they can. Why VS had to leave it till 13 days before departure is a mystery to the incompetence of the scheduling and yield management departments. It fully ensures there are no other affordable options left to get to St Lucia, and 3 days of hotel room are wasted

To be clear, this person works at another Virgin company and booked a Tribe ticket to fly VS (yup, she fell for the adverts...), even though it was more expensive than other options. Tribe tickets are about the same price as fare sale tickets, so they are not particularly cheap. While I understand that these are the right people to bump off first in case of overbooking, it is poor show, because the fact that these are staff tickets with no rights is hidden in the depths of the small print. These are not highly discounted ID90s being sold to industry pros, or to frequent flyers like you and me; these are being sold to people who work on trains, at gyms, on or near minimum wage

Yes, this is a lesson to all of us to read the small print. But it is very poor show by Virgin to its own Group employees